My Great Grandparents

Kangaku 寛学 and Makato マカト Izumigawa 泉川

My great grandparents were both from the Izumigawa family. They were born in the Ryukyu Kingdom. I don’t know how distantly related they were, but the marriage was probably arranged to preserve family holdings as they were both from elite families. Pechin in Okinawan and upper-level shizoku samurai in Japanese.

Official family records go back to the reign of Sho Shin when he asked our ancestor, named Tamanaha to take the name Kanhan Izumigawa and to have his sons also carry the name Kan___ Izumigawa in 1526. More of this family history is here. The official record was lost during WWII when Shuri Castle and much of Okinawa burned. Family has tried to recreate the records.

My great grandfather Kangaku Izumigawa 寛学, was born on February 3, 1850, and was the first son of Kanyei Izumigawa 寛永 (not the famous painter). I believe family said that Kangaku was from a long line of first sons.

Kangaku was born in Nakagusuku, Okinawa. “Gusuku” means castle. We visited Nakagusuk Castle in 2012, here is a video. Nakagusuku is on the central coast of Okinawa. The ancestral home probably had views of the ocean. I do not know the name of my great grandmother, Kanyei’s wife.

Nakagusuku Castle ruins in my grandfather’s hometown. It was built in the 1400s.

My great grandmother Makato Izumigawa マカト was born in 1848, two years before my great grandfather Kangaku…