Situated at T- and L-intersections and at four-corner intersections to drive away evil spirits or energy, Ishigantou talismanic stone tablets were a part of the so-called traditional geographical outlook that was transmitted from China. In the kingdom of Ryukyu in Japan, Ishigantou were installed throughout the cities and villages, and this paper attempts to examine their distribution, etc., with the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture that was once a part of Ryukyu as the main area of focus. This tradition was brought from China to Okinawa Island, the center of the Ryukyu kingdom, and, as a result, it was then diffused throughout Ryukyu. At the same time, however, due to Ryukyu coming under the rule of the Kagoshima clan at the beginning of the 17th century, after it had spread from Okinawa’s capital city of Naha to Kagoshima, it was transmitted from Kagoshima to Edo (present day Tokyo) and throughout the whole of Japan. On the other hand, it was possible to confirm that this tradition also propagated and spread in the opposite direction, from Kagoshima to the Amami Islands. Cultural phenomena must be understood as a multi-directional and intricate thing, and I have illustrated the facts that there are many cases of culture originating from individuals or specific groups, and that its original character is changed by the process of cultural negotiation and new aspects emerge.
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