This article is about the history of the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyu Islands stretch from Kyushu to Taiwan and historically served as an important maritime crossroads linking Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. In the 15th century, Shō Hashi unified the three kingdoms of Okinawa and established the Ryukyu Kingdom. The kingdom prospered through intermediary trade and developed its own distinct culture, languages, and political system centered on Shuri Castle. In 1609, the Satsuma Domain invaded the islands, bringing them under Japanese control, although the kingdom formally maintained its independence. In 1879, the Meiji government reorganized the territory as Okinawa Prefecture. During World War II, the Battle of Okinawa caused devastating destruction and loss of life. After the war, the islands were placed under U.S. administration until they were returned to Japan in 1972.
Etymology The name "Ryūkyū" originates from Chinese writings.Minamijima Fudoki Chimei-gaisetsu Okinawa, Higashionna Kanjun, p.16 in JapaneseThe transition of Okinawa and Ryukyu Ryukyu-Shimpo-Sha, 2007, in Japanese The Chinese monk Jianzhen, who traveled to Japan in the mid-8th century CE to promote Buddhism, wrote "Okinawa" as 阿児奈波 ().
Early history
Prehistoric period The ancestry of the modern-day Ryukyuan people is disputed. One theory claims that the earliest inhabitants of these islands crossed a prehistoric land bridge from modern-day China, with later additions of Austronesians, Micronesians, and Japanese merging with the population.An Austronesian Presence in Southern Japan: Early Occupation in the Yaeyama Islands , Glenn R. Summerhayes and Atholl Anderson, Department of Anthropology, Otago University, retrieved November 22, 2009 The time when human beings appeared in Okinawa remains unknown. The earliest human bones were those of the Yamashita Cave Man, about 32,000 years ago, followed by the Pinza-Abu Cave Man, the Miyakojima Cave Man about 26,000 years ago and the Minatogawa Man about 18,000 years ago. They probably came through China and were once considered to be the direct ancestors of those living in Okinawa. No stone tools were discovered with them. For the following 12,000 years, no trace of archaeological sites was discovered after the Minatogawa Man site. in which 3 more sites in Okinawa are described. Coral islands favor the preservation of olden human bones. Multiple genetic studies, however, found that there was no genetic input from Austronesian-related populations in Ryukyuans.
Okinawa midden culture
Okinawa midden culture or shell heap culture is divided into the early shell heap period corresponding to the Jōmon period of Japan and the latter shell heap period corresponding to the Yayoi period of Japan. However, the use of Jōmon and Yayoi of Japan is questionable in Okinawa. In the former, it was a hunter-gatherer society, with wave-like opening Jōmon pottery. In the latter part of Jōmon period, archaeological sites moved near the seashore, suggesting the engagement of people in fishery. In Okinawa, rice was not cultivated during the Yayoi period but began during the latter period of shell-heap age. Shell rings for arms made of shells obtained in the Sakishima Islands, namely Miyakojima and Yaeyama islands, were imported by Japan. In these islands, the presence of shell axes, 2,500 years ago, suggests the influence of a southeastern-Pacific culture.Ito, Masami, "Between a rock and a hard place", Japan Times, May 12, 2009, p. 3.
Mythology, the Shunten Dynasty and the Eiso Dynasty The first history of Ryukyu was written in Chūzan Seikan ("Mirrors of Chūzan"), which was compiled by Shō Shōken (1617–1675), also known as Haneji Chōshū. The Ryukyuan creation myth is told, which includes the establishment of Tenson as the first king of the islands and the creation of the Noro, female priestesses of the Ryukyuan religion. The throne was usurped from one of Tenson's descendants by a man named Riyu. Chūzan Seikan then tells the story of a Japanese samurai, Minamoto no Tametomo (1139–1170), who fought in the Hogen Rebellion of 1156 and fled first to the Izu Islands and then to Okinawa. He had relations with the sister of the Aji of Ōzato and sired Shunten, who then led a popular rebellion against Riyu and established his own rule at Urasoe Castle. Most historians, however, discount the Tametomo story as a revisionist history that is intended to legitimize Japanese domination over Okinawa.Tze May Loo, Heritage Politics: Shuri Castle and Okinawa's Incorporation into Modern Japan (New York: Lexington Books, 2014), 94–96.
Gusuku period
Gusuku is the term used for the distinctive Okinawan form of castles or fortresses. Multiple gusukus and related cultural remains in the Ryukyu Islands have been listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites under the title Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. After the midden culture, agriculture started about the 12th century, with the center moving from the seashore to higher places. This period is called the gusuku period. There are three perspectives regarding the nature of gusukus: 1. a holy place, 2. dwellings encircled by stones, 3. a castle of a leader of a people. In this period, porcelain trade between Okinawa and other countries became busy, and Okinawa became an important relay point in East Asian trade. Ryukyuan kings, such as Shunten and Eiso, were considered to be important governors. In 1272, Kublai Khan ordered Ryukyu to submit to Mongol suzerainty, but Eiso refused. In 1276, the Mongol envoys returned, but were driven off the island by the Ryukyuans.George H. Kerr, Okinawa: History of an Island People (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1958), 51.
Three-Kingdom period
The Three-Kingdom period, also known as the (Three Mountains), lasted from 1322 until 1429. There was a gradual consolidation of power under the Shō family. Shō Hashi (1372–1439) conquered Chūzan, the middle kingdom, in 1404 and made his father, Shō Shishō, the king. He conquered Hokuzan, the northern kingdom, in 1416 and conquered the southern kingdom, Nanzan, in 1429, thereby unifying the three kingdoms into a single Ryukyu Kingdom. Shō Hashi was then recognized as the ruler of the Ryukyu Kingdom (or Liuqiu Kingdom in Chinese) by the Ming Emperor of China, who presented him a red lacquerware plaque known as the Chūzan Tablet.
Ryukyu Kingdom
1429–1609
Many Chinese moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period. In 1392, during the Hongwu Emperor's reign, the Ming dynasty had sent 36 Chinese families from Fujian at the request of the Ryukyuan king to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom. A number of Ryukyuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers. They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations.
Satsuma domination (1609–1871) The invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom by the Shimazu clan of Japan's Satsuma Domain took place in April 1609. Three thousand men and more than one hundred war-junks sailed from Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. The invaders defeated the Ryukyuans in the Amami Islands, then at Nakijin Castle on Okinawa Island. The Satsuma samurai made a second landing near Yomitanzan and marched overland to Urasoe Castle, which they captured. Their war-junks attempted to take the port city of Naha, but they were defeated by the Ryukyuan coastal defences. Finally Satsuma captured Shuri Castle, the Ryukyuan capital, and King Shō Nei. Only at this point did the King famously tell his army that "nuchidu takara" (life is a treasure), and they surrendered.Turnbull, Stephen. The Samurai Capture a King: Okinawa 1609. 2009.
After 1609 the Ryukyuan kings became vassals of Satsuma. Though recognized as an independent kingdom,Smits, Gregory (1999). Visions of Ryūkyū: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics, p. 28. the islands were occasionally also referred to as being a province of Japan.Toby, Ronald P. (1991). State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia and the development of the Tokugawa bakufu, pp. 45–46, citing manuscripts at the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo: "Ieyasu granted the Shimazu clan the right to "rule" over Ryukyu... [and] contemporary Japanese even referred to the Shimazu clan as 'lords of four provinces', which could only mean that they were including the Ryukyu Kingdom in their calculations. However, this does not mean that Ryūkyū ceased to be a foreign country or that relations between Naha and Edo ceased thereby to be foreign relations." The Shimazu introduced a policy banning sword ownership by commoners. This led to the development of the indigenous Okinawan martial arts, which utilize domestic items as weapons. This period of effective outside control also featured the first international matches of Go, as Ryukyuan players came to Japan to test their skill. This occurred in 1634, 1682, and 1710.Sensei's Library: Ryukyuan players Go – Feature: Go in old Okinawa, MindZine
In the 17th century the Ryukyu Kingdom thus became both a tributary of China and a vassal of Japan. Because China would not make a formal trade agreement unless a country was a tributary state, the kingdom served as a convenient loophole for Japanese trade with China. When Japan officially closed foreign trade, the only exceptions for foreign trade were with the Dutch through Nagasaki, with the Ryukyu Kingdom through the Satsuma Domain, and with Korea through Tsushima.Hamashita Takeshi, "The Intra-Regional System in East Asia in Modern Times", in Network Power: Japan and Asia, ed. P. Katzenstein & T. Shiraishi (1997), 115. Perry's "Black Ships", official envoys from the United States, came in 1853.
Ryukyu Domain (1872–1879)
In 1872 the Ryukyu Kingdom was reconfigured as a feudal domain (han).Lin, Man-houng. "The Ryukyus and Taiwan in the East Asian Seas: A Longue Durée Perspective," Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. October 27, 2006, transl. & abridged from Academia Sinica Weekly, No. 1084. August 24, 2006. The people were described as appearing to be a "connecting link" between the Chinese and Japanese. After the Taiwan Expedition of 1874, Japan's role as the protector of the Ryukyuan people was acknowledged, but the fiction of the Ryukyu Kingdom's independence was partially maintained until 1879.Goodenough, Ward H. GEORGE H. KERR. Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Pp. xviii, 542. Rut land, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1958. $6.75 Book Review: "George H. Kerr. Okinawa: the History of an Island People..., The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, May 1959, Vol. 323, No. 1, p. 165. In 1878 the islands were listed as a "tributary" to Japan. The largest island was listed as "Tsju San", meaning "middle island". Others were listed as Sannan in the south and Sanbok in the North Nawa. The main port was listed as "Tsju San". It was open to foreign trade.Ross/Globe Vol. IV: Loo-Choo, 1878. Agricultural produce included tea, rice, sugar, tobacco, camphor, fruits, and silk. Manufactured products included cotton, paper, porcelain, and lacquered ware.
Japan annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom