Ryukyu Kingdom

Ryukyu Kingdom
琉球國
Tributary state of Ming Dynasty (1429–1644) Tributary state of Qing Dynasty (1644–1874) Vassal state of Satsuma Domain (1609–1872) Vassal state of the Empire of Japan (1872–1879)
1429–1879
Flag Royal Crest
Capital		Shuri
Languages		Ryukyuan (native languages), Classical Chinese, Classical Japanese
Religion		native Ryukyuan religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism
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
Regent (Kokushi) (国司)
•	1751–1752	Sai On
Legislature		Shuri Ō-fu (首里王府), Sanshikan (三司官)
History
•	Unification	1429
•	Satsuma invasion	April 5, 1609
•	Reorganized into Ryukyu Domain	1875
•	Annexed by Japan	March 11, 1879
Area
Preceded by Succeeded by Hokuzan Chūzan Nanzan Empire of Japan Satsuma Domain Ryukyu Domain
Today part of		Japan

The Ryukyu Kingdom (Japanese: 琉球王国 Ryūkyū Ōkoku; Okinawan: 琉球國 Ruuchuu-kuku; 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. 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.

History

Origins of the Kingdom

Flag of the Ryukyu Kingdom

Royal seal of the Ryukyu Kingdom

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 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 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. They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations. 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.

These three principalities, or 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. While the kingdom's political system was adopted, and the authority of Shuri recognized, in the Amami-Ōshima Islands, however, the kingdom's authority over the Sakishima Islands to the south remained for centuries at the level of a tributary-suzerain relationship.

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 Central to the kingdom's maritime activities was the continuation of the tributary relationship with Ming Dynasty China, begun by Chūzan in 1372, and enjoyed by the three Okinawan kingdoms which preceded it. China provided ships for Ryukyu's maritime trade activities, 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.

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.

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. In the late 16th century, however, the kingdom's commercial prosperity fell into decline. The decline of the wokou ("Japanese pirate") threat among other factors led to the gradual loss of Chinese preferential treatment; the kingdom also suffered from increased maritime competition from Portuguese traders.

Japanese invasion and subordination

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. 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, today.

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

Tributary relations

A Ryukyuan embassy in Edo.

Traditional 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 on 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.

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 of the 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 not considered 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 Beijing not realize that Ryukyu was controlled by Japan. Thus, ironically, 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 daimyo, 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, daimyo 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 entire separate kingdom.

Incorporation

In 1872, the Japanese tributary kingdom was reconfigured as the Ryukyu Domain. At the same time, the fiction of independence was maintained for diplomatic reasons until the Meiji Japanese government abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom when the islands were incorporated as Okinawa Prefecture on March 11, 1879. Nowadays, the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport still uses the Chinese characters Ryukyu (Okinawa) as the destination, although the English is Okinawa (OKA).

The Amami-Ōshima island group which had been integrated into Satsuma domain became a part of Kagoshima prefecture.

The last king of the Ryukyus was forced to relocate to Tokyo, and was given a compensating kazoku rank as Marquis Shō Tai. His death in 1901 diminished the historic connections with the former kingdom.

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.
• 1416 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 Ryukyu, 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 Ryukyu becomes a Japanese vassal.
• 1624 Lord of Satsuma annexes the Amami Islands.
• 1846 Dr. Bernard Jean Bettelheim (d. 1870), a British Protestant missionary serving with the Loochoo Naval Mission arrives in Ryukyu Kingdom. He establishes the first foreign hospital on the island at the Naminoue Gokoku-ji Temple.
• 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry of the US Navy visits the kingdom. Bettelheim leaves with Perry.
• 1866 The last official mission from the Qing Empire visits the kingdom.
• 1872 The Japanese government unilaterally abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom, and declared the islands to be the Ryukyu Han (Ryukyu fief), with Shō Tai (尚泰) as the head of the fief (藩王, Han'ō).
• 1874 The last tributary envoy to China is dispatched from Naha.
• 1879 Japan replaces the Ryukyu han with Okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. The former monarch is granted the Japanese title of marquis (侯爵, kōshaku) and relocated to Tokyo.
• 1890 The Ryukyu royal crest, Mitsudomoe was later used by the early Hashimoto (橋本) Clan as a direct sign from the lineage of the emperor's family. The Hashimoto Clan was relocated in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto in 1910 where they now reside onto this day. The current clan master is Kakeru Hashimoto (橋本翔), to be succeeded by Kyo Hashimoto (橋本京)

List of Ryukyuan kings

Kings of Ryukyu Islands

Name	Kanji	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	Kanji	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 Kanamaru 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 Ryukyu King

See also

• Foreign relations of Imperial China
• Genealogy of the Shō Dynasties
• Gusuku
• History of Amami Islands
• History of the Ryukyu Islands
• History of Sakishima Islands
• Hua-Yi distinction
• Invasion of Ryukyu
• List of monarchs of Ryukyu Islands
• Mudan Incident of 1871
• Ryukyu independence movement
• Ryukyu Islands
• Ryukyuan missions to Edo
• Ryukyuan missions to Imperial China
• Ryukyuan missions to Joseon
  • Joseon missions to Ryukyu Kingdom
  • Imperial Chinese missions to Ryukyu Kingdom
• Ryukyuan people
• Tamaudun (intact royal tombs)
• Okinawan martial arts

Bibliography

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External links

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