The Original Reference to Luiqui 流求 – The Book of Sui (600 A.D.)
Testing the narrative proves this is not Ryukyu, but Batanes/Lequios, Philippines.

 Pages from the Book of Sui, from a printed edition dating to 1297-1307. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.

🪶 THE SMOKING QUILL | June 17, 2025

流求 Was Never Ryukyu: The Real Identity of Ancient ‘Liuqiu’

How the Chinese Book of Sui Was Misinterpreted by Centuries of Scholars — And Why the Philippines, Not Okinawa, Was the True Kingdom of the Flowing Dragon

📜 The Name That Floated Across the Sea

The ancient Chinese toponym 流求 (Liúqiú) appears prominently in the Book of Sui (636 AD). For centuries, it has been misassigned as the origin of the modern Ryukyu Kingdom (琉球). But just because later records equated the names does not mean they referred to the same place.

We’re here to set the record straight. Let's test the data.

🧭 What the Book of Sui Actually Said

In 607–608, the Sui Dynasty launched three voyages to a place they called Liuqiu:

"The country of Liuqiu is situated amidst islands in the sea, to the east of Jian'an. One may arrive there by five days’ travel by water…"

That rules out Okinawa immediately.

▶️ Ryukyu is 2–3 days closer to China by sail.
▶️ Five days from Fujian puts you in Batanes or Northern Luzon.

That's not a little problem for the Ryukyu theory, it fails!

Full Section Translation:

"Book of Sui: [English Translation from Wikipedia]

"A detailed description of an island kingdom called "Liuqiu" may be found in the Book of Sui. Chinese Liuqiu was first attested in the Book of Sui (636), which stated that Sui China had sent expeditions to what it called Liuqiu (流求) three times in 607 and 608.[3] The Book of Sui places the report on Liuqiu second to last within the chapter on "Eastern Barbarians" (Dongyi), following the report on Mohe and preceding the report on Wa (Japan). The text describes the territory of Liuqiu and its people as follows:

"The country of Liuqiu is situated amidst islands in the sea, in a location that should be east of Jian'an County, to which one may arrive with five days' travel by water. The land has many caves. Its king's clan name is Huansi, and his given name is Keladou; it is not known how many generations have passed since he and his have come to possess the country. The people of that land call him Kelaoyang, and for his wife, [they] say Duobatu. His place of residence they call Boluotan Grotto, with threefold moats and fences; the perimeter has flowing water, trees and briars as barriers. As for the domicile of the king, it is sixteen rooms large, and engraved with carvings of birds and beasts. There are many Doulou trees, which resemble the orange but with foliage that is dense. The country has four or five chiefs, who unite several villages under their rule; the villages have [their own] little kings.'"

"The people have deep eyes and long noses, seeming to be rather akin to the Hu, and also having petty cleverness. There is no observance of hierarchy of ruler and minister nor the rite of prostrating oneself with one's palms pressed together. Fathers and children sleep together in the same bed. The men pluck out their whiskers and beards, and any place on their bodies where they happen to have hair, they will also remove it. The adult women use ink to tattoo their hands in the design of insects and serpents. As for marriage, they use wine, delicacies, pearls and shells to arrange a betrothal; if a man and a woman have found pleasure in each other, then they get married."

Zhu Kuan, the leader of the first Sui expeditions to "Liuqiu", originally wrote the name with the characters 流虬 or "flowing dragon" because the shape of the island reminded him of a dragon floating on the sea. While Okinawa is a long and thin island that later commentators also associated with a dragon, Taiwan is an oval-shaped island rather than dragon-shaped."

Wikipedia then clarifies: "There is no scholarly consensus on what specific territory "Liuqiu" refers to in the Book of Sui and History of Yuan." There is no definitive position of Ryukyu as the Liuqiu.

🌿 Botanical & Environmental Match

The Book of Sui mentions:

“Doulou trees… like oranges, with dense foliage.”

No such plant native to Okinawa.

But in the Philippines? That’s duhat (Syzygium cumini):

• Turns orange before ripening

• Dense canopy

• Known locally as duat, dungboi, lomboi, longboi — depending on dialect.

🧠 Botanical Match: Luzon/Batanes ✅ | Ryukyu ❌

👤 Cultural Anthropology of Liuqiu

The Book of Sui also describes:

📍 Toponym Breakdown: Matching Names

• Huansi (king’s clan name) ≈ Hangsa (Ivatan for a surgeonfish — common symbolism for leadership and maritime connection)

• Duobatu (queen’s name) ≈ Datwaw (place name in Babuyan even), Batoy, or Vatuy (rock, boulder, or rocky formation — feminine metaphors)

• Boluotan Grotto (royal palace) ≈ Balogan, a cave-rich zone in Babuyan Claro — still used in local Ivatan speech

[Ibatan-English Dictionary]

🗺️ How Did Ryukyu Get the Name?

• The later term 琉球 (Liúqiú with different characters) was retroactively applied to Okinawa by Ming dynasty scholars, over 700 years after the Sui dynasty expeditions. That is not scientific nor definitive. They conducted no resource test to match the story which is the only way to understand it. They failed to note the journey distance.

• As Ming China expanded tribute routes and redefined political territories, names were reassigned for bureaucratic convenience.

That’s not evidence of origin. That’s imperial rebranding.

🚨 What This Means

The “Flowing Dragon” Liuqiu of 636 AD is NOT Okinawa.

It’s the Batanes Islands, or Northern Luzon — the very same area Portuguese sources would later call “Lequios.” The origin is far more likely the Ilocono "Leuk" (Lawak), not even Chinese, and that ain't Spanish either.

This confirms:

✅ 流求 = Lequios = Luzon–Batanes
❌ 流求 ≠ Ryukyu

🧠 The Smoking Quill Conclusion:

The Book of Sui didn’t describe Okinawa.
It described the dragon-shaped, tattoo-bearing, tropical, rock-lined, serpent-tattooed, wine-trading, cave-dwelling tribes of Batanes and Northern Luzon of the right distance.

And the dragon didn’t lie.

📌 #LiúqiúUnmasked #SmokingQuill #LuzonDragon #BookOfSuiTruth #PhilippinesHistory #LequiosRevealed #JesuitGeographyFails #MapForgeryExposed #AncientLiuqiu #RyukyuMyth #PhilippineAncientSovereignty