Shika deer bones Excavated from Shuri Castle and Tenkai Temple

首里城および周辺遺跡出土のシカに関する考察

The Shuri Castle and neighboring sites such as the Tenkai Temple often yield the remains of Shika deer, which is not native to the Okinawa islands. Based on comparative studies with modern deer specimens, Shika deer bones recovered from the region belong to Cervus nippon. Furthermore, it is possible to further classify them into subspecies by measuring the size of the bones. The smaller are C. nippon keramae, C. nippon yakushimae, and C. nippon mageshimae; the larger ones are C. nippon pulchellus, C. nippon nippon, C. nippon centralis and C. nippon yesoensis.
The analysis of these bones shed light on the external relationship of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The analysis indicates that C. nippon was brought to the Okinawa Islands several times. One of the reasons that Shika deer were imported was for consumption as indicated by the presence of cut marks. Ryukyu-koku-yurai-ki (the genesis of the Ryukyu Kingdom), describes that in the early 17th century deer were carried from Satuma into Ryukyu. Additionally some documents record that venison was one of the menu items with which the king regaled Chinese envoys. Thus the existence of C. nippon remains from Shuri and Tenkai Temple evidences some form of relationship among Ryukyu, China, and Japan.