The are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. In Japan, most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. They speak the Ryukyuan languages, one of the branches of the Japonic language family along with the Japanese language and its dialects.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee in 2008 recommended that Japan, "should expressly recognize the Ainu and Ryukyu/Okinawa as indigenous peoples in domestic legislation, adopt special measures to protect, preserve, and promote their cultural heritage and traditional way of life, and recognize their land rights." The Japanese government has not accepted this recommendation. Multiple Okinawan municipal assemblies have also passed resolutions protesting the UN recommendation and rejecting the "indigenous" label. The Association of Indigenous People in the Ryukyus (AIPR) has commented that for the Japanese government to recognise "the Ryukyuan as Indigenous Peoples [would require Japan] to adhere to international law, thus prohibiting military bases on [Ryukyuan] land."
Ryukyuans are not a recognized minority group in Japan, as Japanese authorities consider them a subgroup of the Japanese people, akin to the Yamato people. Although officially unrecognized, Ryukyuans constitute the largest ethnolinguistic minority group in Japan, with more than 1.4 million living in the Okinawa Prefecture alone. Ryukyuans inhabit the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture as well, and have contributed to a considerable Ryukyuan diaspora.
Ryukyuans have a distinct culture with some matriarchal elements, an indigenous religion and a cuisine where rice was introduced fairly late (12th century). The population lived on the islands in isolation for many centuries. In the 14th century, three separate Okinawan political polities merged into the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1872), which continued the maritime trade and tributary relations started in 1372 with Ming China. In 1609, the Satsuma Domain (based in Kyushu) invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Kingdom maintained a fictive independence in vassal status, in a dual subordinate status to both China and Japan, because Tokugawa Japan was prohibited to trade (directly) with China.
During the Japanese Meiji era, the kingdom became the Ryukyu Domain (1872–1879) after its political annexation by the Empire of Japan. In 1879, the Ryukyu Domain was abolished, and the territory was reorganized as Okinawa Prefecture, with the last king (Shō Tai) forcibly exiled to Tokyo. China renounced its claims to the islands in 1895. During this period, the Meiji government, which sought to assimilate the Ryukyuans as Japanese (Yamato), suppressed Ryukyuan ethnic identity, tradition, culture, and language. After World War II, the Ryūkyū Islands were occupied by the United States between 1945 and 1950 and then from 1950 to 1972. Since the end of World War II, many Ryukyuans have expressed strong resentment against the extensive U.S. military facilities stationed in Okinawa and Tokyo's handling of related issues.
United Nations special rapporteur on discrimination and racism Doudou Diène, in his 2006 report, noted a perceptible level of discrimination and xenophobia against the Ryukyuans, with the most serious discrimination they endure linked to their opposition of American military installations in the archipelago.
Etymology In English, they are also known as Okinawans or Lewchewans. About the Ryukyu Islands.
The English term "Ryukyuan" derives from , the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name for the islands, (also spelled as Loo Choo, Lew Chew, Luchu, and more). In the Okinawan language, it is pronounced . However, it is an exonym rather than a self-designation. In the indigenous language of the main island of Okinawa, locals often refer to themselves and their identity as Okinawan or Uchinaanchu. Another endonym is Shimanchu (). These terms are rarely used outside of the ethnic community, and are politicized markers of a distinct culture. Meanwhile, residents of the other island groups in the Ryukyu Islands maintain their own distinct self-designations and identities, and do not generally call themselves Uchinaanchu.
"Ryukyu" is another name from the Chinese side, and "Okinawa" is a Japanese cognate of Okinawa's indigenous name "Uchinaa", originating from the residents of the main island referring to the main island against the surrounding islands, Miyako and Yaeyama. Mainland Japanese adapted Okinawa as the way to call these people.
Origins
Genetic studies According to recent genetic studies, the Ryukyuans are a distinct genome-wide cluster within the Japanese people. They share more alleles with Southern Jōmon hunter-gatherers than Yayoi agriculturalists and have about 28% Jōmon ancestry although other studies estimate their Jōmon ancestry at 36% and 26.1%. This aligns with the dual-structure model proposed by Hanihara (1991), which suggests that the Yamato Japanese are more admixed with Asian agricultural continental people (from the Korean Peninsula) than the Ainu and the Ryukyuans, with major admixture occurring in and after the Yayoi period (3,000–1,700 years ago). This Jōmon ancestry lasted until the Gusuku Period, around 11th century AD, where there was significant admixture with mainland Japanese, who had tripartite ancestry consisting of Jōmon, East Asian and Northeast Asian ancestries. Overall, admixture rates with mainland Japanese differed between Northern Ryukyuans (77%) and Southern Ryukyuans (81%) despite the geographic distance between the southern islands and mainland Japan. Other studies estimate higher mainland Japanese contribution at 82–83%.
According to archaeological evidence, Northern Ryukyuan islands (Amami Islands and Okinawa Islands) and Southern Ryukyuan islands (Miyako Islands and Yaeyama Islands) are culturally and genetically differentiated. The differentiation was especially pronounced between Okinawa and Miyako. It arose due to Holocene-era divergence between the populations and subsequent genetic drift rather than admixture with neighboring populations. There is also evidence of Amami islanders being more related to Mainland Japanese than Okinawan islanders. Northern Ryukyuan Jōmon were more related to Kyushuan Jōmon whilst Southern Ryukyuan Jōmon were more related to Late Jōmon population from Western Japan, especially Western Honshu and Shikoku, who were also closely related to the Jōmon population from ancient Korea. Other studies, however, suggest genetic homogeneity within the Jōmon. According to a 2026 study, the Ryukyuan Jōmon are differentiated from Mainland Jōmon by having slightly higher genetic input from continental Asians, represented by Oroqens.
Overall, mainland Japanese are genetically the closest to Ryukyuans, followed by Koreans and Chinese. Taiwanese aborigines are genetically distant from Ryukyuans despite being neighbors, with no evidence of gene flow from the former. According to an autosomal DNA analysis of Okinawan samples, they are closely related to contemporary East Asian populations, especially Japanese populations. They exhibit about 80% admixture with mainland Japanese, followed by 19% admixture with Chinese populations. They also have isolate characteristics. Mainland Japanese themselves also have high genetic affinities with Ryukyuans, especially contemporary Tōhoku, Kantō, and Kyūshū populations. Likewise, there are high genetic affinities between Ainu and Ryukyuans due to having higher Jōmon ancestry than the average mainland Japanese.
The female mtDNA and male Y chromosome markers are used to study human migrations. The research on the skeletal remains from the Neolithic Shell midden period (also known as Kaizuka period) in Okinawa, as well from the Gusuku Period, showed predominance of female haplogroups D4 and M7a and their genetic continuity in the contemporary female population of Okinawa. It is assumed that M7a represents "Jomon genotype" introduced by a Paleolithic ancestor from Southeast Asia or the southern region of the Asian continent, around the Last Glacial Maximum with the Ryukyu Islands as one of the probable origin spots; in contrast, the frequency of the D4 haplogroup is relatively high in East Asian populations, including in Japan, indicating immigrant Yayoi people, probably by the end of the late Kaizuka period, while haplogroup B4 presumably derived from aboriginal Taiwanese. However, as in the contemporary Japanese population, M7 showed a decrease, whereas the frequency of the haplogroup N9b showed an increase from the south to north direction, it indicates that the mobility pattern of females and males was different as the distribution of Y haplogroups do not show a geographical gradient in contrast to mtDNA, meaning mainly different maternal origins of the contemporary Ryukyuan and Ainu people. A 2023 study, however, suggests an indigenous origin for haplogroup M7a.
The research on the contemporary Okinawan male Y chromosome showed, in 2006; 55.6% of haplogroup D-P-M55, 22.2% O-P31, 15.6% O-M122, 4.4% C-M8, and 2.2% others. It is considered that the Y haplogroups expanded in a demic diffusion. The haplogroups D and C are considered to be of Neolithic and Paleolithic origin, with coalescence time of 19,400 YBP and expansion 12,600 YBP (14,500 YBP and 10,820 YBP respectively), and were isolated for thousands of years once land bridges between Japan and continental Asia disappeared at the end of the last glacial maximum 12,000 YBP. The haplogroup O began its expansion circa 4,000–3,810 years ago, and thus the haplogroups D-M55 and C-M8 belong to the Jomon's male lineage, and haplogroup O belongs to the Yayoi's male lineage. Haplogroup M12 is considered as mitochondrial counterpart of Y chromosome D lineage. This rare haplogroup was detected only in Yamato Japanese, Koreans, and Tibetans, with the highest frequency and diversity in Tibet.
Anthropological studies Comparative studies on dental diversity showed long-term gene flow from outside sources (Honshu Island and southern East Asia), long-term isolation, and genetic drift, which produced morphological diversity among the modern Ryukyuans. This analysis, however, contradicts the idea of homogeneity among the Jōmon people and close affinities between the Ainu and the Ryukyuans. A 2017 craniometric study states that the Ryukyuans were more similar to Yamato people and their ancestors, the Yayoi people. The Ryukyuans differ strongly from the Ainu people, which, according to the authors, is strong evidence for heterogeneity among the Jōmon period population.
According to a 2019 study, Ryukyuans shared some facial features with Ainu but there were also some differences. Specifically, they retained the phenotypes of Neolithic Shell midden-era populations. Compared to mainland Japanese, Ryukyuans were shorter, had broader faces and lower facial and nasal heights. But they also had broader nasal bones and more prominent glabellas and nasal roots. Their non-metric dental characteristics were intermediate between the Sinodonty of mainland Japanese and Sundadonty of Ainu. Another study suggests better preservation of phenotypes associated with the Jōmon, including Ainu people, and Yayoi populations in the southernmost regions of Japan due to less influence from recent Northeast Asian migrations.