By TARO ONO/ Staff Writer
March 19, 2024 at 15:57 JST
A portrait of the Ryukyu Kingdom’s 13th King Sho Kei, returned from the United States (Provided by Okinawa Prefecture)
NAHA--Believed looted in World War II and missing for nearly eight decades, royal portraits and other precious Okinawan artifacts were found in the United States and finally returned home.
According to the FBI, the 22 items, including scrolls, plates and incense burners from the Ryukyu Kingdom era, were discovered last year in the attic of a deceased American veteran’s home in Massachusetts.
They are believed to have been looted during the fierce Battle of Okinawa in 1945 on the subtropical island.
“It is a great joy that these treasures of Okinawa, a tangible link to the Ryukyu Kingdom era, have returned,” said Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki on March 15.
The returned items include six scrolls depicting portraits of Ryukyu kings. Three of the scrolls appear to have originally been one piece that was later split.
The portraits include depictions of the 13th King Sho Kei, who reigned from 1713 to 1751, and the 18th King Sho Iku, who reigned from 1835 to 1847.
Historians were able to see these paintings in color for the first time, as the only remaining records had been black-and-white photographs taken in the early 20th century.
The portraits are believed to be replicas of murals painted on the walls of Enkakuji, the royal family’s Buddhist temple, according to prefectural officials.
The recovered artifacts were among items registered with the FBI’s stolen art file in 2001.
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