Ryūkyū Kingdom

琉球國
Kingdom of Ryūkyū Tributary to China¹
Vassal of Satsuma ←

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1429 – 1879 →

Flag (1875–1879) Royal Seal (琉球國王之印)

Capital Shuri Language(s) Chinese (official language, see zh:冲绳县#文化语言 entry), Ryukyuan (native language) , Japanese Religion Buddhism, Confucianism, native Ryukyuan religion, Shinto Government Monarchy King (国王) - 1429–1439 Shō Hashi - 1477–1526 Shō Shin - 1587–1620 Shō Nei - 1848–1879 Shō Tai Sessei (摂政) - 1666–1673 Shō Shōken Kokushi (国司) - 1751–1752 Sai On Legislature Shuri Ō-fu (首里王府), Sanshikan (三司官) History - Unification 1429 - Japanese invasion 5 April 1609 - Prefecture reform 1871 - Annexed by Japan March 11, 1879 - Battle of Okinawa April 1–June 21, 1945 Area 2,271 km² (877 sq mi) ¹ Ming and Qing dynasties.

The Ryūkyū Kingdom (Ryukyuan: 琉球國 rūchū－kuku, Japanese: 琉球王国 ryūkyū-ō-koku), traditional Chinese: 琉球國 liúqiúguó) was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Yaeyama Islands near Taiwan.

1 History
2 Asian trade (15th-16th century)
3 Japanese invasion (1609)
4 Major events
5 List of Ryūkyū Kings
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

History

In the three Ryūkyū historical annals—Chūzan Seikan (中山世鑑, Chūzan Seikan? Mirror of Chūzan), Chūzan Seifu (中山世譜, Chūzan Seifu? Genealogy of Chūzan), and Kyūyō (球陽, Kyūyō? Chronicle of Ryūkyū)—the history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom began with the Tenson Dynasty (天孫王朝, Tenson Dynasty? Dynasty of Heavenly Descent), which was said to have lasted 17,000 years. Many historians today believe that this is a mythological legend created in the 16th or 17th century to lend more legitimacy to the ruling dynasty, the Shō family, over other local aristocratic families.

The Tenson Dynasty ended with three kings of the Shunten Line (舜天王朝, Shunten Line?), lasting from 1187 to 1259. According to Chūzan Seikan, written by Shō Shōken, the founder of the dynasty was a son of Minamoto no Tametomo, a Japanese aristocrat and relative of the Imperial family. Minamoto no Tametomo was exiled to the Izu Islands after he failed to gain power in the Kyoto court; he then fled and drifted to Ryūkyū, where his son Shunten established their own dynasty. Some Japanese and Chinese scholars claim that the Shunten dynasty was again invented by the Shō family historians, for the same reason that they created the Tenson legend.

In the 14th century, small domains scattered on Okinawa Island were unified into three principalities: Hokuzan (北山, Hokuzan ? Northern Mountain), Chūzan (中山, Chūzan ? Central Mountain) and Nanzan (南山, Nanzan ? Southern Mountain). This was known as the Three Kingdoms or Sanzan (三山, Three Mountains) period. These three principalities, or tribal federations led by major chieftains, battled, and Chūzan emerged victorious, receiving Chinese investiture in the early 15th century. That is to say, the leaders of Chūzan were officially recognized by China as the rightful kings over those of Nanzan and Hokuzan, thus lending great legitimacy to their claims, if not victory outright. The ruler of Chūzan passed his throne to king Hashi; he received the surname "Shō" from the Ming emperor in 1421, becoming known as Shō Hashi (尚巴志, Shō Hashi ?). Hashi had already conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429, uniting the island of Okinawa for the first time, and founding the first Shō Dynasty.

Shō Hashi adopted the Chinese hierarchical court system, built Shuri Castle and the town as his capital, and constructed Naha harbor. Several generations later, in 1469, King Shō Toku 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. Ryūkyū's golden age occurred during the reign of Shō Shin, the second king of that dynasty, who reigned from 1478-1526.

Asian trade (15th-16th century)

Diplomatically, the kingdom established tributary relations with China during its Ming and Qing Dynasties. It also developed trade relations with Japan, Korea and many Southeast Asian countries, including Siam, Pattani, Malacca, Champa, Annam, and Java.

Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ryūkyū Kingdom emerged as the main trading intermediary in Eastern Asia. Japanese products—silver, swords, fans, lacquer-ware, 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 Ryūkyūan ships were recorded, with 61 of them bound for Siam, 10 for Malacca, 10 for Pattani and 8 for Java, among others.

Commercial activities in the kingdom diminished around 1570 with the rise of Chinese merchants and the intervention of Portuguese and Spanish ships, corresponding with the start of the Red Seal Ship system in Japan.

Japanese invasion (1609)

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The main building of Shuri Castle

Around 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi asked the Ryūkyū Kingdom to aid in his campaign to conquer Korea. If successful, Hideyoshi intended to then move against China. As the Ryūkyū 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 Ryūkyūs. The occupation of the Ryūkyūs occurred fairly quickly, with a minimum of armed resistance, and King Shō Nei was taken as a prisoner to the Satsuma domain and later to Edo—modern day Tokyo. When he was released two years later, the Ryūkyū Kingdom regained a degree of autonomy; however, the Satsuma domain did seize control over some territory of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, notably the Amami-Ōshima island group, which was incorporated into the Satsuma domain.

The Ryūkyū Kingdom found itself in a period of "dual subordination" to Japan and China, wherein Ryūkyūan tributary relations were maintained with both the Tokugawa shogunate and the Ming Chinese court. Since Ming China prohibited trade with Japan, Satsuma domain, with the blessing of the Tokugawa bakufu (shogunal government), used the trade relations of the kingdom to continue to maintain trade relations with China. Considering that Japan had previously severed ties with most of the European countries except the Dutch, such trade relations proved especially crucial to both the Tokugawa bakufu and Satsuma han which would use its power and influence, gained in this way, to help overthrow the shogunate in the 1860s.

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

When Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry sailed to Japan to force Japan to open up trade relations with the United States in the 1850s, he first stopped in the Ryūkyūs, as many Western sailors had before him, and forced the Ryūkyū Kingdom to sign Unequal Treaties opening the Ryūkyūs up to American trade. From there, he continued on to Edo.

Following the Meiji Restoration, the Meiji Japanese government abolished the Ryūkyū Kingdom, formally annexing the islands to Japan as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879. The Amami-Ōshima island group which had been integrated into Satsuma domain became a part of Kagoshima prefecture. King Shō Tai, the last king of the Ryūkyūs, was moved to Tokyo and was made a Marquis (see Kazoku), as were many other Japanese aristocrats, and died there in 1901. Qing China made some diplomatic protests to the Japanese government, but these proved to have little effect.

Major events

1372 The first Ming dynasty envoy visits Okinawa, which had been divided into three kingdoms, during the Sanzan period. Formal tributary relations with the Chinese Empire begin.
1419 Chūzan, led by Shō Hashi, occupies Nakijin gusuku, capital of Hokuzan.
1429 Chūzan occupies Shimajiri Osato gusuku, capital of Nanzan, unifying Okinawa Island. Shō Hashi establishes the Kingdom of Ryūkyū, ruling as king with his capital at Shuri (now part of modern-day Naha).
1470 Shō En (Kanemaru) establishes the Second Shō Dynasty.
1477 The third king, Shō Shin, ascends to the throne. Golden age of the kingdom.
1609 (April 5) daimyō (Lord) of Satsuma in southern Kyūshū conquers the kingdom. King of Ryūkyū becomes a Japanese vassal.
1624 Lord of Satsuma annexes the Amami Islands.
1846 Dr. Bernard Jean Bettleheim (d. 1870), a British Protestant missionary, arrives in Ryūkyū Kingdom. He establishes the first foreign hospital on the island at the Nami-no-ue Temple.
1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy visits the kingdom. Bettleheim leaves with Perry.
1866 The last official mission from the Qing Empire visits the kingdom.
1874 The last tributary envoy to China is dispatched from Naha.
1879 Japan replaces the Ryūkyū han with Okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. King Shō Tai (尚泰, Shō Tai?) is given the title of marquis (藩王, Han'ō?) and removed to Tokyo.

List of Ryūkyū Kings

Lords of Okinawa Name KanjiReign Line or Dynasty Notes Shunten 舜天 1187–1237Tenson Line Shunbajunki 舜馬順熈 1238–1248Tenson Line Gihon 義本 1249–1259Tenson Line Eiso 英祖 1260–1299Eiso Line Taisei 大成 1300–1308Eiso Line Eiji 英慈 1309–1313Eiso Line

Kings of Chūzan Tamagusuku玉城 1314–1336Eiso Line Seii西威 1337–1354Eiso Line Satto察度 1355–1397- Bunei武寧 1398–1406- Shō Shishō 尚思紹 1407–1421First Shō Dynasty Shō Hashi尚巴志 1422–1429First Shō Dynasty as King of Chūzan

Kings of Ryūkyū Name KanjiReign Line or Dynasty Notes Shō Hashi尚巴志 1429–1439First Shō Dynasty as King of Ryūkyū Shō Chū 尚忠 1440–1442First Shō Dynasty Shō Shitatsu 尚思達 1443–1449First Shō Dynasty Shō Kinpuku 尚金福 1450–1453First Shō Dynasty Shō Taikyū 尚泰久 1454–1460First Shō Dynasty Shō Toku 尚徳 1461–1469First Shō Dynasty Shō En 尚円 1470–1476Second Shō Dynasty AKA Kanamaru Uchima Shō Sen'i 尚宣威 1477Second Shō Dynasty Shō Shin 尚真 1477–1526Second Shō Dynasty Shō Sei尚清 1527–1555Second Shō Dynasty Shō Gen尚元 1556–1572Second Shō Dynasty Shō Ei 尚永 1573–1586Second Shō Dynasty Shō Nei尚寧 1587–1620Second Shō Dynasty ruled during Satsuma invasion; first king to be Satsuma vassal Shō Hō 尚豊 1621–1640Second Shō Dynasty Shō Ken 尚賢 1641–1647Second Shō Dynasty Shō Shitsu 尚質 1648–1668Second Shō Dynasty Shō Shōken尚象賢 1666–1673 Sessei(prime minister) first Ryūkyūan historian; lived 1617-1675Shō Tei 尚貞 1669–1709Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Jing; lived 1645–1709Shō Eki 尚益 1710–1712Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Ben; lived 1678–1712Shō Kei 尚敬 1713–1751Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Jing; lived 1700–1751Sai On 蔡温 1751–1752Kokushi (state instructor/regent) major Ryūkyūan scholar and historian; lived 1682–1761Shō Boku 尚穆 1752–1795Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Mu; lived 1739–1795Shō On 尚温 1796–1802Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Wen; lived 1784–1802Shō Sei 尚成 1803–1804Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Cheng; lived 1783–1804Shō Kō 尚灝 1804–1828Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Hao; lived 1787–1839Shō Iku 尚育 1829–1847Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Yu; lived 1813–1847Shō Tai 尚泰 1848–March 11, 1879Second Shō Dynasty AKA Shang Tai; lived 1843–1901; last Ryūkyū king

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ryukyu Kingdom

History of Okinawa
Brief History of the Uchinanchu (Okinawans)
National Archives of Japan: Ryukyu Chuzano ryoshisha tojogyoretsu, scroll illustrating procession of Ryukyu emissary to Edo, Hōei 7 (1710)

References

Matsuda, Mitsugu (2001) The Government of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, 1609-1872: a 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., 283 p., ISBN 4-946539-16-6
Smits, Gregory (1999) Visions of Ryukyu: identity and ideology in early-modern thought and politics, Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, 213 p., ISBN 0-82482-037-1