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|common_languages = [[Ryukyuan languages|Ryukyuan]] (native languages), [[Classical Chinese]], [[Classical Japanese language|Classical Japanese]]
|religion = [[Ryukyuan religion|native Ryukyuan religion]], [[Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]]
|religion = [[Ryukyuan religion|native Ryukyuan religion]], [[Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]]

Revision as of 08:17, 2 July 2018

Ryukyu Kingdom
琉球國
1429–1879
Flag of Ryukyu
Royal Standard
Royal Crest of Ryukyu
Royal Crest
Anthem: 石なぐの歌
Status
CapitalShuri
Common languagesRyukyuan (native languages), Classical Chinese, Classical Japanese
Religion
native Ryukyuan religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism
GovernmentMonarchy
King (國王) 
• 1429–1439
Shō Hashi
• 1477–1526
Shō Shin
• 1587–1620
Shō Nei
• 1848–1879
Shō Tai
Sessei (摂政) 
• 1666–1673
Shō Shōken
Regent (國師, Kokushi) 
• 1751–1752
Sai On
LegislatureShuri cabinet (首里王府), Sanshikan (三司官)
History 
• Unification
1429
April 5, 1609
• Reorganized into Ryukyu Domain
1875
• Annexed by Japan
March 11 1879
Area
2,271 km2 (877 sq mi)
CurrencyRyukyuan, Chinese, and Japanese mon coins[1]
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Hokuzan
Chūzan
Nanzan
Empire of Japan
Satsuma Domain
Ryukyu Domain
Today part of Japan

The Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawan: 琉球國 Ruuchuu-kuku; Japanese: 琉球王国 Ryūkyū Ōkoku; Middle Chinese: Ljuw-gjuw kwok; historical English name: Lewchew, Luchu, and Loochoo) was an independent kingdom that ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th to the 19th century.[note 1] The kings of Ryukyu unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan. Despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia, especially the Malacca Sultanate.

History

See also: History of the Ryukyu Islands

Origins of the Kingdom

Royal seal of the Ryukyu Kingdom (首里之印)

In the 14th century, small domains scattered on Okinawa Island were unified into three principalities: Hokuzan (北山, Northern Mountain), Chūzan (中山, Central Mountain), and Nanzan (南山, Southern Mountain). This was known as the Three Kingdoms, or Sanzan (三山, Three Mountains) period.[citation needed] Hokuzan, which constituted much of the northern half of the island, was the largest in terms of land area and military strength but was economically the weakest of the three. Nanzan constituted the southern portion of the island. Chūzan lay in the center of the island and was economically the strongest. Its political capital at Shuri, Nanzan was adjacent to the major port of Naha, and Kume-mura, the center of traditional Chinese education. These sites and Chūzan as a whole would continue to form the center of the Ryukyu Kingdom until its abolition.[citation needed]

Many Chinese people moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period [citation needed]. At the request of the Ryukyuan King, the Ming Chinese sent 36 Chinese families from Fujian to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom in 1392, during the Hongwu emperor's reign. Many Ryukyuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers.[2] They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations.[3][4][5] According to statements by Qing imperial official Li Hongzhang in a meeting with Ulysses S. Grant, China had a special relationship with the island and the Ryukyu had paid tribute to China for hundreds of years, and the Chinese reserved certain trade rights for them in an amicable and beneficial relationship.[6]

These three principalities (tribal federations led by major chieftains) battled, and Chūzan emerged victorious. The Chūzan leaders were officially recognized by Ming dynasty China as the rightful kings over those of Nanzan and Hokuzan, thus lending great legitimacy to their claims. The ruler of Chūzan passed his throne to King Hashi; Hashi conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429, uniting the island of Okinawa for the first time, and founded the first Shō Dynasty. Hashi received the surname "Shō" (Chinese: "Shang") 尚 from the Ming emperor in 1421, becoming known as Shō Hashi (Chinese: Shang Bazhi) 尚巴志.[citation needed]

Shō Hashi adopted the Chinese hierarchical court system, built Shuri Castle and the town as his capital, and constructed Naha harbor. When in 1469 King Shō Toku, who was a grandson of Shō Hashi, died without a male heir, a palatine servant declared he was Toku's adopted son and gained Chinese investiture. This pretender, Shō En, began the Second Shō Dynasty. Ryukyu's golden age occurred during the reign of Shō Shin, the second king of that dynasty, who reigned from 1478 to 1526.[citation needed]

The kingdom extended its authority over the southernmost islands in the Ryukyu archipelago by the end of the 15th century, and by 1571 the Amami-Ōshima Islands, to the north near Kyūshū, were incorporated into the kingdom as well.[7] While the kingdom's political system was adopted and the authority of Shuri recognized, in the Amami-Ōshima Islands, the kingdom's authority over the Sakishima Islands to the south remained for centuries at the level of a tributary-suzerain relationship.[8]

Golden age of maritime trade

For nearly two hundred years, the Ryukyu Kingdom would thrive as a key player in maritime trade with Southeast and East Asia.[9][10] Central to the kingdom's maritime activities was the continuation of the tributary relationship with Ming Dynasty China, begun by Chūzan in 1372,[7][note 2] and enjoyed by the three Okinawan kingdoms which followed it. China provided ships for Ryukyu's maritime trade activities,[11] allowed a limited number of Ryukyuans to study at the Imperial Academy in Beijing, and formally recognized the authority of the King of Chūzan, allowing the kingdom to trade formally at Ming ports. Ryukyuan ships, often provided by China, traded at ports throughout the region, which included, among others, China, Đại Việt (Vietnam), Japan, Java, Korea, Luzon, Malacca, Pattani, Palembang, Siam, and Sumatra.[12]

Seal from Qing China giving authority to the King of Ryukyu to rule
The main building (Seidan) of Shuri Castle

Japanese products—silver, swords, fans, lacquerware, folding screens—and Chinese products—medicinal herbs, minted coins, glazed ceramics, brocades, textiles—were traded within the kingdom for Southeast Asian sappanwood, rhino horn, tin, sugar, iron, ambergris, Indian ivory, and Arabian frankincense. Altogether, 150 voyages between the kingdom and Southeast Asia on Ryukyuan ships were recorded in the Rekidai Hōan, an official record of diplomatic documents compiled by the kingdom, as having taken place between 1424 and the 1630s, with 61 of them bound for Siam, 10 for Malacca, 10 for Pattani, and 8 for Java, among others.[12]

The Chinese policy of hai jin (海禁, "sea bans"), limiting trade with China to tributary states and those with formal authorization, along with the accompanying preferential treatment of the Ming Court towards Ryukyu, allowed the kingdom to flourish and prosper for roughly 150 years.[13] In the late 16th century, however, the kingdom's commercial prosperity fell into decline. The rise of the wokou ("Japanese pirate") threat among other factors led to the gradual loss of Chinese preferential treatment;[14] the kingdom also suffered from increased maritime competition from Portuguese traders.[7]

Japanese invasion and subordination

Main article: Invasion of Ryukyu

Around 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked the Ryukyu Kingdom to aid in his campaign to conquer Korea. If successful, Hideyoshi intended to then move against China. As the Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, the request was refused. The Tokugawa shogunate that emerged following Hideyoshi's fall authorized the Shimazu family—feudal lords of the Satsuma domain (present-day Kagoshima prefecture)—to send an expeditionary force to conquer the Ryukyus. The subsequent invasion took place in 1609.[7] Occupation occurred fairly quickly, with some fierce fighting, and King Shō Nei was taken prisoner to Kagoshima and later to Edo (modern-day Tokyo). When he was released two years later, the Ryukyu Kingdom regained a degree of autonomy; however, the Satsuma domain seized control over some territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom, notably the Amami-Ōshima island group, which was incorporated into the Satsuma domain and remains a part of Kagoshima prefecture, not Okinawa prefecture, to this day.

The kingdom was described by Hayashi Shihei in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu, which was published in 1785.[15]

Tributary relations

A Ryukyuan embassy in Edo, Japan.
Traditional Ryukyuan clothes

The Ryukyu Kingdom found itself in a period of "dual subordination" to Japan and China, wherein Ryukyuan tributary relations were maintained with both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Ming Chinese court. In 1655, tribute relations between Ryukyu and Qing Dynasty (the dynasty that followed Ming in 1644) were formally approved by the shogunate. This was seen to be justified, in part, because of the desire to avoid giving Qing any reason for military action against Japan.[16]

Since Ming China prohibited trade with Japan, the Satsuma domain, with the blessing of the Tokugawa shogunate, used the trade relations of the kingdom to continue to maintain trade relations with China. Considering that Japan had previously severed ties with most European countries except the Dutch, such trade relations proved especially crucial to both the Tokugawa shogunate and Satsuma domain, which would use its power and influence, gained in this way, to help overthrow the shogunate in the 1860s.[citation needed]

The Ryukyuan king was a vassal of the Satsuma daimyō, but his land was not considered as part of any han (fief): up until the formal annexation of the islands and abolition of the kingdom in 1879, the Ryukyus were not truly considered part of Japan, and the Ryukyuan people were not considered to be Japanese.[citation needed] Though technically under the control of Satsuma, Ryukyu was given a great degree of autonomy, to best serve the interests of the Satsuma daimyō and those of the shogunate, in trading with China. Ryukyu was a tributary state of China, and since Japan had no formal diplomatic relations with China, it was essential that China not realize that Ryukyu was controlled by Japan. Thus, Satsuma—and the shogunate—was obliged to be mostly hands-off in terms of not visibly or forcibly occupying Ryukyu or controlling the policies and laws there. The situation benefited all three parties involved—the Ryukyu royal government, the Satsuma daimyō, and the shogunate—to make Ryukyu seem as much a distinctive and foreign country as possible. Japanese were prohibited from visiting Ryukyu without shogunal permission, and the Ryukyuans were forbidden from adopting Japanese names, clothes, or customs. They were even forbidden from divulging their knowledge of the Japanese language during their trips to Edo; the Shimazu family, daimyōs of Satsuma, gained great prestige by putting on a show of parading the King, officials, and other people of Ryukyu to and through Edo. As the only han to have a king and an entire kingdom as vassals, Satsuma gained significantly from Ryukyu's exoticness, reinforcing that it was an entirely separate kingdom.[citation needed]

Annexation by the Japanese Empire

In 1872, the Japanese tributary kingdom was reconfigured as the Ryukyu Domain.[17][18][19] At the same time, the fiction of independence was maintained for diplomatic reasons[20] until the Meiji Japanese government abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom when the islands were incorporated as Okinawa Prefecture on March 11, 1879.[citation needed] The Amami-Ōshima island group which had been integrated into the Satsuma domain became a part of Kagoshima prefecture. Nowadays, the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport still uses the Chinese characters Ryukyu (Okinawa) as the destination, although the English is Okinawa (OKA). The last king of the Ryukyus was forced to relocate to Tokyo, and was given a compensating kazoku rank as Marquis Shō Tai.[21][22][page needed] His death in 1901 diminished the historic connections with the former kingdom.[23] The Sho family now lives normally in Japan.[24] Many royalists fled to China.[25]

Major events

List of Ryukyuan kings

For a more comprehensive list, see List of monarchs of Ryukyu Islands and Genealogy of the Shō Dynasties.
Kings of Ryukyu Islands
Name Chinese Characters Reign Line or Dynasty Notes
Shunten 舜天 1187–37 Tenson Lineage
Shunbajunki 舜馬順熈 1238–48 Tenson Lineage
Gihon 義本 1249–59 Tenson Lineage
Eiso 英祖 1260–99 Eiso Lineage
Taisei 大成 1300–08 Eiso Lineage
Eiji 英慈 1309–13 Eiso Lineage
Kings of Chūzan
Tamagusuku 玉城 1314–36 Eiso Lineage
Seii 西威 1337–54 Eiso Lineage
Satto 察度 1355–97 Satto Lineage
Bunei 武寧 1398–1406 Satto Lineage
Shō Shishō 尚思紹 1407–21 First Shō Dynasty
Shō Hashi 尚巴志 1422–29 First Shō Dynasty as King of Chūzan
Kings of Ryukyu
Name Chinese Characters Reign Line or Dynasty Notes
Shō Hashi 尚巴志 1429–39 First Shō Dynasty as King of Ryukyu
Shō Chū 尚忠 1440–42 First Shō Dynasty
Shō Shitatsu 尚思達 1443–49 First Shō Dynasty
Shō Kinpuku 尚金福 1450–53 First Shō Dynasty
Shō Taikyū 尚泰久 1454–60 First Shō Dynasty
Shō Toku 尚徳 1461–69 First Shō Dynasty
Shō En 尚円 1470–76 Second Shō Dynasty AKA Kanemaru Uchima
Shō Sen'i 尚宣威 1477 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Shin 尚真 1477–1526 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Sei 尚清 1527–55 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Gen 尚元 1556–72 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Ei 尚永 1573–86 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Nei 尚寧 1587–1620 Second Shō Dynasty ruled during Satsuma invasion; first king to be Satsuma vassal
Shō Hō 尚豊 1621–40 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Ken 尚賢 1641–47 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Shitsu 尚質 1648–68 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Tei 尚貞 1669–1709 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Eki 尚益 1710–12 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Kei 尚敬 1713–51 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Boku 尚穆 1752–95 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō On 尚温 1796–1802 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Sei (r. 1803) 尚成 1803 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Kō 尚灝 1804–28 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Iku 尚育 1829–47 Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Tai 尚泰 1848 – March 11, 1879 Second Shō Dynasty last King of Ryukyu (then Japanese Marquess 1884–1901)

See also

Location of the Ryukyu Islands
Hokuzan, Chūzan, Nanzan

Notes

  1. ^ Although the Ryukyuan king was a vassal of the Satsuma domain, the Ryukyu Kingdom was not considered part of any Han due to trade relations with China.
  2. ^ Nanzan and Hokuzan also entered into tributary relationships with Ming China, in 1380 and 1383 respectively.[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^ "Ryuukyuuan coins". Luke Roberts at the Department of History - University of California at Santa Barbara. 24 October 2003. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  2. ^ Tsai, Shih-shan Henry (1996). The eunuchs in the Ming dynasty (illustrated ed.). SUNY Press. p. 145. ISBN 0-7914-2687-4. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  3. ^ Schottenhammer, Angela (2007). Schottenhammer, Angela (ed.). The East Asian maritime world 1400–1800: its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges. Vol. Volume 4 of East Asian economic and socio-cultural studies: East Asian maritime history (illustrated ed.). Otto Harrassowitz. p. xiii. ISBN 3-447-05474-3. Retrieved 2011-02-04. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  4. ^ Deng, Gang (1999). Maritime sector, institutions, and sea power of premodern China. Contributions in economics and economic history. Vol. 212 (illustrated ed.). Greenwood. p. 125. ISBN 0-313-30712-1. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  5. ^ Hendrickx, Katrien (2007). The Origins of Banana-fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan (illustrated ed.). Leuven University Press. p. 39. ISBN 90-5867-614-5. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  6. ^ Grant, Ulysses Simpson (2008). Simon, John Y (ed.). The Papers. Vol. 29: October 1, 1878 – September 30, 1880 (illustrated ed.). SIU Press, Ulysses S. Grant Association. p. 165. ISBN 0-8093-2775-9. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  7. ^ a b c d e Matsuda 2001, p. 16.
  8. ^ Murai 2008, pp. iv–v.
  9. ^ Okamoto 2008, p. 35.
  10. ^ Okinawa Prefectural reserve cultural assets center (2012). "東南アジアと琉球". Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan. Retrieved 2016-09-02.
  11. ^ a b Okamoto 2008, p. 36.
  12. ^ a b Sakamaki, Shunzō (1964). "Ryukyu and Southeast Asia". Journal of Asian Studies. 23 (3): 382–4. doi:10.2307/2050757.
  13. ^ Murai 2008, p. iv.
  14. ^ Okamoto 2008, p. 53.
  15. ^ Klaproth, Julius (1832), San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes [San kokf tsou ran to sets, or General overview of the three kingdoms] (in French), pp. 169–80.
  16. ^ Kang 2010, p. 81.
  17. ^ Matsuo, Kanenori Sakon (2005). The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu, p. 40, at Google Books.
  18. ^ Kerr 1953, p. 175.
  19. ^ Lin, Man-houng. "The Ryukyus and Taiwan in the East Asian Seas: A Longue Durée Perspective", Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. October 27, 2006, translated and abridged from Academia Sinica Weekly, No. 1084. August 24, 2006.
  20. ^ Goodenough, Ward H. 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.
  21. ^ a b Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph (2003), "Sho", Nobiliare du Japon [Nobility of Japan] (PDF@60) (in French), p. 56.
  22. ^ Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph (1906), Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon [Dictionary of History & Geography of Japan] (in French).
  23. ^ Kerr 1953, p. 236.
  24. ^ "Forgotten Dynasty".
  25. ^ 论战后琉球独立运动及琉球归属问题- 百度文库
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h Hamashita, Takeshi. Okinawa Nyūmon (沖縄入門, "Introduction to Okinawa"). Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2000, pp. 207–13.

Sources

External links

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Ryukyu Kingdom (category)

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