Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawan: 琉球國 Ruuchuu-kuku; Japanese: 琉球王国 Ryūkyū Ōkoku; Middle Chinese: Ljuw-gjuw kwok; historical English names: Lewchew, Luchu, and Loochoo) was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879.

Ryukyu Kingdom

琉球國 Ruuchuukuku
1429–1879
Status
CapitalShuri
Common languagesRyukyuan (native languages), Classical Chinese, Classical Japanese
Ethnic groups
Ryukyuan
Religion
Ryukyuan religion, Shinto, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism
GovernmentMonarchy
King (國王) 
• 1429–1439
Shō Hashi (Shoo Hashii)
• 1477–1526
Shō Shin (Shoo Shin)
• 1587–1620
Shō Nei (Shoo Nii)
• 1848–1879
Shō Tai (Shoo Tee)
Sessei (摂政 shisshii) 
• 1666–1673
Shō Shōken (Shoo Shoochin)
Regent (國師, Kokushi) 
• 1751–1752
Sai On (Sai Un)
LegislatureShuri cabinet (首里王府), Sanshikan (三司官 sanshikwan)
History 
• Unification
1429
5 April 1609
• Reorganized into Ryukyu Domain
1872
• Annexed by Japan
27 March 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 ofJapan

The Ryukyu Kingdom was ruled as a tributary state of China by the Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island to end the Sanzan period, and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands and Sakishima Islands. The Ryukyu Kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East Asia and Southeast Asia despite its small size. The Ryukyu Kingdom became a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain of Japan after the Invasion of Ryukyu in 1609 but retained de jure independence until it was transformed into the Ryukyu Domain by the Empire of Japan in 1872.[note 1] The Ryukyu Kingdom was formally annexed and dissolved by Japan in 1879 to form Okinawa Prefecture, and the Ryukyuan monarchy was integrated into the new Japanese nobility.

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. 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.

Many Chinese people moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or to engage in business during this period . At the request of the Ryukyuan King, the Ming Chinese sent thirty-six 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] On 30 January 1406, the Yongle Emperor expressed horror when the Ryukyuans castrated some of their own children to become eunuchs to serve in the Ming imperial palace. Emperor Yongle said that the boys who were castrated were innocent and did not deserve castration, and he returned them to Ryukyu, and instructed the kingdom not to send eunuchs again. 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.

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.

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 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 haijin (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" although mostly ethnic Chinese at this time) 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, but Satsuma still allowed the Ryukyu Kingdom to find itself in a period of "dual subordination" to Japan and China, wherein Ryukyuan tributary relations were maintained with both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Chinese court.[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). To avoid giving the Qing any reason for military action against Japan, the king was released two years later and the Ryukyu Kingdom regained a degree of autonomy;[15] 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.[16]

Tributary relations
An early period Ryukyuan embassy in Edo, Japan. Ryukyuans wear the clothes which were near to the Chinese Hanfu.
Traditional Ryukyuan clothes in late period, which were much closer to the Japanese Kimono.

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.[15]

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.

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. 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.

Japan ordered tributary relations to end in 1875 after the tribute mission of 1874 was perceived as a show of submission to China.[17]

Annexation by the Japanese Empire

In 1872, Emperor Meiji unilaterally declared that the kingdom was then Ryukyu Domain.[18][19][20] At the same time, the appearance of independence was maintained for diplomatic reasons with Qing China[21] until the Meiji government abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom when the islands were incorporated as Okinawa Prefecture on 27 March 1879.[22] The Amami-Ōshima island group which had been integrated into Satsuma Domain became a part of Kagoshima Prefecture.

The last king of Ryukyu was forced to relocate to Tokyo, and was given a compensating kazoku rank as Marquis Shō Tai.[23][24] Many royalist supporters fled to China.[25] The king's death in 1901 diminished the historic connections with the former kingdom.[26] With the abolition of the aristocracy after World War II, the Sho family continues to live in Tokyo.[27]

Major events

List of Ryukyuan kings
Kings of Ryukyu Islands
NameChinese charactersReignLine or DynastyNotes
Shunten舜天 (shuntin)1187–1237Tenson Lineage
Shunbajunki舜馬順熈1238–1248Tenson Lineage
Gihon義本(gifun)1249–1259Tenson Lineage
Eiso英祖 (insu)1260–1299Eiso Lineage
Taisei大成 (teeshii)1300–1308Eiso Lineage
Eiji英慈 (intchuu)1309–1313Eiso Lineage
Kings of Chūzan
Tamagusuku玉城 (tamagushiku)1314–1336Eiso Lineage
Seii西威 (seeyi)1337–1354Eiso Lineage
Satto察度 (sattu)1355–1397Satto Lineage
Bunei武寧 (bunii)1398–1406Satto Lineage
Shō Shishō尚思紹 (shoo shishoo)1407–1421First Shō Dynasty
Shō Hashi尚巴志 (shoo hashii)1422–1429First Shō Dynastyas King of Chūzan
Kings of Ryukyu
NameChinese charactersReignLine or DynastyNotes
Shō Hashi尚巴志 (shoo hashii)1429–1439First Shō Dynastyas King of Ryukyu
Shō Chū尚忠 (shoo chuu)1440–1442First Shō Dynasty
Shō Shitatsu尚思達 (shoo shitaa)1443–1449First Shō Dynasty
Shō Kinpuku尚金福 (shoo chinfuku)1450–1453First Shō Dynasty
Shō Taikyū尚泰久 (shoo teechuu)1454–1460First Shō Dynasty
Shō Toku尚徳 (shoo tuku)1461–1469First Shō Dynasty
Shō En尚円 (shoo in)1470–1476Second Shō DynastyAKA Kanemaru Uchima
Shō Sen'i尚宣威 (shoo shinyi)1477Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Shin尚真 (shoo shin)1477–1526Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Sei尚清 (shoo shii)1527–1555Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Gen尚元 (shoo gwan)1556–1572Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Ei尚永 (shoo ei)1573–1586Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Nei尚寧 (shoo nii)1587–1620Second Shō Dynastyruled during Satsuma invasion; first king to be Satsuma vassal
Shō Hō尚豊 (shoo hoo)1621–1640Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Ken尚賢 (shoo chin)1641–1647Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Shitsu尚質 (shoo shichi)1648–1668Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Tei尚貞 (shoo tii)1669–1709Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Eki尚益 (shoo yichi)1710–1712Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Kei尚敬 (shoo chii)1713–1751Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Boku尚穆 (shoo buku)1752–1795Second Shō Dynasty
Shō On尚温 (shoo un)1796–1802Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Sei (r. 1803)尚成 (shoo shii)1803Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Kō尚灝 (shoo koo)1804–1828Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Iku尚育 (shoo iku)1829–1847Second Shō Dynasty
Shō Tai尚泰 (shoo tee)1848 – March 11, 1879Second Shō Dynastylast King of Ryukyu (then Japanese Marquis 1884–1901)

In the video game Europa Universalis IV there is an achievement called The Three Mountains, which is achieved by conquering the world as the Ryukyu Kingdom.[29]

gollark: Do they actually work? I thought a big percentage of the US believed in creationism and such.
gollark: "Never used"?
gollark: It does say there it can only measure X-rays/gamma rays.
gollark: I don't like GPUs because you should just do trillions of mathematical operations per second by hand and then sketch points very precisely.
gollark: ↑ observe, my excellent memory remembering things

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. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. 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. Volume 4 of East Asian economic and socio-cultural studies: East Asian maritime history (illustrated ed.). Otto Harrassowitz. p. xiii. ISBN 978-3-447-05474-4. Retrieved 2011-02-04.
  4. Deng, Gang (1999). Maritime sector, institutions, and sea power of premodern China. Contributions in economics and economic history. 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 978-90-5867-614-6. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  6. Grant, Ulysses Simpson (2008). Simon, John Y (ed.). The Papers. 29: October 1, 1878 – September 30, 1880 (illustrated ed.). SIU Press, Ulysses S. Grant Association. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-8093-2775-1. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  7. 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. Okamoto 2008, p. 36.
  12. Sakamaki, Shunzō (1964). "Ryukyu and Southeast Asia". Journal of Asian Studies. 23 (3): 382–384. doi:10.2307/2050757. JSTOR 2050757.
  13. Murai 2008, p. iv.
  14. Okamoto 2008, p. 53.
  15. Kang 2010, p. 81
  16. 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. 169–180.
  17. Kerr 1953, p. 366-367.
  18. Matsuo, Kanenori Sakon (2005). The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu, p. 40, at Google Books.
  19. Kerr 1953, p. 175.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. Kerr 1953, p. 381.
  23. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph (2003), "Sho" (PDF@60), Nobiliare du Japon [Nobility of Japan] (in French), p. 56.
  24. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph (1906), Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon [Dictionary of History & Geography of Japan] (in French).
  25. 论战后琉球独立运动及琉球归属问题- 百度文库
  26. Kerr 1953, p. 236.
  27. "Forgotten Dynasty".
  28. Hamashita, Takeshi. Okinawa Nyūmon (沖縄入門, "Introduction to Okinawa"). Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 2000, pp. 207–13.
  29. "Ryukyu - Europa Universalis 4 Wiki". eu4.paradoxwikis.com. Retrieved 2019-09-26.

Sources
  • Akamine, Mamoru (2016). The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia. University of Hawaii. ISBN 978-0824855178.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kang, David C. (2010), East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute, New York, NY: Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-23115318-8, OCLC 562768984.
  • Kerr, George H. (1953), Ryukyu Kingdom and Province before 1945, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council, OCLC 5455582.
  • ——— (1958), Okinawa: the History of an Island People, Rutland, VT: Charles Tuttle Co, OCLC 722356.
  • Matsuda, Mitsugu (2001), 'The Government of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, 1609–1872 (dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Hawaii in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, January 1967), Gushikawa: Yui Pub., ISBN 4-946539-16-6, 283 pp.
  • Murai, Shōsuke (2008), "Introduction", Acta Asiatica, Tokyo: The Tōhō Gakkai (The Institute of Eastern Culture), 95.
  • Okamoto, Hiromichi (2008), "Foreign Policy and Maritime Trade in the Early Ming Period Focusing on the Ryukyu Kingdom", Acta Asiatica, 95.
  • Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2002), Japan Encyclopedia, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC 48943301.
  • Smits, Gregory (1999), Visions of Ryukyu: identity and ideology in early-modern thought and politics, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0-8248-2037-1, 213 pp.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.