Ryukyu Domain
{{Short description|1872–1879 domain of the Japanese Empire}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| _noautocat =
| native_name = 琉球藩
| conventional_long_name = Ryūkyū Domain
| common_name = Ryūkyū Domain
| subdivision = Han
| nation =
| status_text = Domain of Japan
Tributary state of Qing China {{nobold|(until 1875)}}
| government_type = Monarchy
| capital = Shuri Castle
| coordinates =
| political_subdiv =
| today = Okinawa Prefecture
| p1 = Ryukyu Kingdom
| flag_p1 = Hidari mitsudomoe.svg
| s1 = Okinawa Prefecture
| flag_s1 =
| year_start = 1872
| year_end = 1879
| event_start =
| date_start =
| event_end =
| date_end =
| event1 =
| date_event1 =
| event2 =
| date_event2 =
| event3 =
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| event4 =
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| event5 =
| date_event5 =
| life_span =
| title_leader = Domain King (藩王)
| leader1 = Shō Tai
| year_leader1 = 1872–1879
| title_deputy = Sanshikan
| deputy1 = Urasoe Chōshō
| year_deputy1 = 1872–1879
| deputy2 = Tomikawa Seikei
| year_deputy2 = 1875–1879
| deputy3 = Yonabaru Ryōketsu
| year_deputy3 = 1877–1879
| era = Meiji period
| event_pre =
| date_pre =
| event_post =
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| image_flag = Hidari mitsudomoe.svg
| image_border = no
| flag_type = Mon of the Second Shō family
| flag =
| image_coat = Ryukyu-han seal.png
| symbol_type = Official seal
| symbol =
| image_map = Ryukyu map.jpg
| image_map_caption = Ryukyu Domain included the southern-half of the Ryukyu Islands.
| stat_year1 =
| stat_area1 =
| stat_pop1 =
| footnotes =
}}
{{History of Ryukyu}}
The {{nihongo|Ryukyu Domain|琉球藩|Ryūkyū han}} was a short-lived domain of the Empire of Japan, lasting from 1872 to 1879, and simultaneously a tributary state of the Qing Empire, until 1875, before being fully incorporated into Japan as the current Okinawa Prefecture and other islands at the Pacific edge of the East China Sea.{{Cite web |title=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Japan : Ryukyuans (Okinawans) |url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/mrgi/2018/en/37183#:~:text=After%20unification%20in%20the%2014th,and%20formally%20annexed%20the%20Ry%C5%ABky%C5%ABs. |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Refworld |language=en}}
When the domain was created in 1872, Japan's feudal han system had developed in unique ways. The domain was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.Mass, Jeffrey P. and William B. Hauser. (1987). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hv99D510nHcC&pg=PA150 The Bakufu in Japanese History, p. 150]. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka, not land area.Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987). [https://books.google.com/books?id=T2_5_W7UFXwC&pg=PA18 Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century, p. 18]. This was different from the feudalism of the West.
History
In 1609, the invasion of Ryukyu caused a change in the relationship of the island nation and Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ryukyu Islands" in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|Japan Encyclopedia, p. 801|page=801}}; Fassbender, Bardo et al. (2012). [https://books.google.com/books?id=PI9nw2tQu4IC&dq=province+of+ryukyu&pg=PA483 The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law, p. 483]; excerpt, "The status of Ryukyu is ambiguous when looked at from the perspective of modern European international law, although there appears to have been no serious issues concerning the status of Ryukyu at that time." After 1609, the Ryukyuan kings were forced to be vassals of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma and the islands were occasionally viewed as a province of Japan.Toby, Ronald P. (1991). [https://books.google.com/books?id=2hK7tczn2QoC&pg=PA46 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; excerpt, "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 Ryukyuan kingdom in their calculations. However, this does not mean that Ryukyu ceased to be a foreign country or that relations between Naha and Edo ceased thereby to be foreign relations." At the same time, the kingdom and its rulers remained carefully independent, and also paid tribute to China.Smits, Gregory. (1999). [https://books.google.com/books?id=37LxVhgIbJkC&pg=PA28 Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics, p. 28].
The dual nature of the kingdom and its rulers was eliminated with the creation of the Ryukyu Domain which existed from 1872 through 1879.Matsumura, Wendy. (2007). [https://books.google.com/books?id=nWXwkb_xRNsC&q=1879&pg=PA74 Becoming Okinawan: Japanese Capitalism and Changing Representations of Okinawa, p. 38]; excerpt, "March 27, 1879 marks the birth of Okinawa Prefecture and the death of the short-lived Ryukyu domain, which itself came into being on September 14, 1872, replacing the Ryukyu kingdom." In 1872, the Emperor of Japan, after reaching a compromise with his advisors, created Shō Tai, who held the title of Ryukyu Kingdom's King (琉球国王 Ryūkyū-koku-ō), Domain King (琉球藩王 Ryūkyū-han-ō).{{Cite web |title=Okinawa's History |url=http://rca.open.ed.jp/web_e/history/story/epoch4/syobun_up/up05.html |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=rca.open.ed.jp}} As a result, the Ryukyu Kingdom was no longer a kingdom in its own right but henceforth recognized as a han, an administrative division of Japan.Lin, Man-houng. [https://www.japanfocus.org/-Man_houng-Lin/2258 "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. 24 August 2006. It is worth noting that the Meiji Emperor's advisors advocated for the dissolution of the Ryukyuan monarchy entirely, just as had been done with the deposition of the daimyo
The king and Ryukyuan aristocrats were granted lands and stipends of support in this period.Matsuo, {{Google books|XeVUCjFVaYQC|p. 81.|page=81}} The administration of the Ryukyus was established under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry. After the Taiwan Expedition of 1874, Japan's role as the protector of the Ryukyuan people was acknowledged; but fiction of the Ryukyu Kingdom's independence was partially maintained until 1879.Goodenough, Ward H. [http://ann.sagepub.com/content/323/1/165.1.extract 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 1875, administrative jurisdiction over the Ryukyus was transferred from the Foreign Ministry to the Home Ministry.
In 1879, Shō Tai was forced to abdicate and move to Tokyo, Ryukyu Domain was abolished, and Okinawa Prefecture was established.Nussbaum, "Okinawa-ken" in {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 746-747|page=746}} Shō Tai was given the title of Marquis and added to the list of Japan's peerage.Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (2003). [http://www.unterstein.net/Toyoashihara-no-Chiaki-Nagaioaki-no-Mitsuho-no-Kuni/NobiliaireJapon.pdf Nobiliare du Japon, p. 56], republishing Papinot (1906), Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon; retrieved 2013-3-23.
Resistance against the decision
In 1876, Kōchi Chōjō gathered other Ryukyuans who, like himself, had fled for China, including Rin Seikō (林世功) and Sai Taitei (蔡大鼎)."Kōchi Chōjō." Okinawa konpakuto jiten (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia"). [http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-41324-storytopic-121.html Ryukyu Shimpo]. 1 March 2003. Accessed 17 September 2009. Together, they submitted numerous petitions to the Qing officials asking for help on behalf of the kingdom. Though there was little, if any, positive response for a long time, Chōjō and others refused to give up."Kōchi Chōjō." Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten (沖縄歴史人名事典, "Encyclopedia of People of Okinawan History"). Naha: Okinawa Bunka-sha, 1996. p 28.
See also
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- Kerr, George H. (1958). Okinawa: the History of an Island People. Rutland, Vermont: Charles Tuttle Co. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/722356 OCLC 722356]
- ___________. (1953). Ryukyu Kingdom and Province before 1945. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5455582 OCLC 5455582]
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC Japan encyclopedia.] Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01753-5}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58053128?referer=di&ht=edition OCLC 58053128]
{{Domains of Kyūshū}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryukyu Domain}}
Category:History of Okinawa Prefecture