Editing Ryukyuans (section)

{{Short description|Ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands}}
{{Redirect|Okinawans|other uses|Okinawan (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Ryukyuans
| native_name      = {{lang|ja|琉球民族}}
| image            = Danses d’Okinawa (musée Guimet, Paris) (11152072573).jpg
| caption          = Ryukyuan dancers in [[Ceremonial dress|ceremonial attire]]
| pop              = 
| region1          = {{flag|Okinawa Prefecture}}
| pop1             = 1.4 million
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pref.okinawa.jp/toukeika/estimates/estimates_suikei.html|script-title=ja:沖縄県の推計人口|publisher=[[Okinawa Prefecture]]|access-date=21 April 2020|language=ja|date= 1 March 2020}}</ref>
| region2          = {{flag|Kagoshima Prefecture}}
| pop2             = 118,773{{refn|group=nb|Only the population of the [[Satsunan Islands]] are included in this figure.}}
| ref2             = <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ac07/documents/26502_20120711114805-1.pdf|script-title=ja:奄美群島の現状・課題及び これまでの奄振事業の成果について|publisher=[[Kagoshima Prefecture]]|access-date=21 April 2020|language=ja|date=23 April 2012|archive-date=20 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520024107/https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ac07/documents/26502_20120711114805-1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region3          = {{flag|Osaka Prefecture}}
| pop3             = 70,000
| ref3             = <ref name="Rabson 2012">{{cite book |last=Rabson |first=Steve |title=The Okinawan Diaspora in Japan: Crossing the Borders Within |date=2012 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-8248-3534-7 |page=2 |url=https://jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqkq9 |access-date=5 December 2024}}</ref>
| region4          = {{flag|Kanagawa Prefecture}}
| pop4             = 45,000
| ref4             = <ref name="Rabson 2012"/>
| region5          = {{flag|Hyōgo Prefecture}}
| pop5             = 12,000
| ref5             = <ref name="Rabson 2012"/>
| region6          = Rest of [[mainland Japan]]
| pop6             = 173,000
| ref6             = <ref name="Rabson 2012"/>
| region7          = [[Ryukyuan diaspora|Outside of Japan]]
| pop7             = 415,361
| ref7             = <ref name="Matayoshi & Urasaki 2016">{{cite news |last1=Matayoshi |first1=Toshimitsu |last2=Urasaki |first2=Naoki |script-title=ja:海外の沖縄県系人、約41万5千人　県が5年ぶり推計 |trans-title=Okinawa Prefecture estimates for the first time in five years that there are approximately 415,000 people of Okinawan descent living overseas |url=https://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/66205 |access-date=5 December 2024 |work=Okinawa Prefecture Exchange Promotion Division |via=[[Okinawa Times]] |date=13 October 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013132531/https://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/66205 |archive-date=13 October 2016 |language=ja}}</ref>
| langs            = {{cslist|[[Ryukyuan languages]]|[[Okinawan Japanese]]|[[Amami Japanese]]|[[Koniya Sign Language]]}}
| rels             = {{cslist|[[Ryukyuan religion]]|[[Shinto]]|[[Buddhism in Japan|Buddhism]]|[[Christianity in Japan|Christianity]]}}
| related          = [[Yamato people|Yamato]], [[Jōmon people|Jōmon]]
}}

The {{Nihongo foot|'''Ryukyuans'''|琉球民族|Ryūkyū minzoku|extra={{langx|ryu|Rūchū minzuku / Dūchū minzuku}}|lead=yes|group=nb}} are a [[Japonic languages|Japonic]]-speaking [[East Asian people|East Asian]] [[ethnic group]] indigenous to the [[Ryukyu Islands]], which stretch from the island of [[Kyushu]] to the island of [[Taiwanese islands|Taiwan]].<ref name="Minahan">{{cite encyclopedia|last= Minahan|first= James B.|title= Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oZCOAwAAQBAJ|year= 2014|publisher= ABC-CLIO|pages= 231–233|isbn= 978-1-61069-018-8}}</ref> With [[Japan]], most Ryukyuans live in the [[Okinawa Prefecture]] or [[Kagoshima Prefecture]]. They speak the [[Ryukyuan languages]],<ref name="MasamiIto2009">{{cite news |author= Masami Ito |title= Between a rock and a hard place |url= http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2009/05/12/news/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/#.WJepb4WcFMt |date= 12 May 2009 |newspaper= [[The Japan Times]] |access-date= 5 February 2017}}</ref> one of the branches of the [[Japonic languages|Japonic language family]] along with the [[Japanese language]] and its [[Japanese dialects|dialects]].<ref name="Minahan"/>

Ryukyuans are not a recognized [[minority group]] in Japan, as Japanese authorities consider them a subgroup of the [[Japanese people]], akin to the [[Yamato people]]. Although officially unrecognized, Ryukyuans constitute the largest [[Ethnolinguistic group|ethnolinguistic]] minority group in Japan, with more than 1.4 million living in the Okinawa Prefecture alone. Ryukyuans inhabit the [[Amami Islands]] of Kagoshima Prefecture as well, and have contributed to a considerable [[Ryukyuan diaspora]].

Ryukyuans have a distinct culture with some [[matriarchal]] elements, an indigenous [[Ryukyuan religion|religion]] and a [[Okinawan cuisine|cuisine]] where [[rice]] was introduced fairly late (12th century). The population lived on the islands in isolation for many centuries. In the 14th century, three separate [[Sanzan period|Okinawan political polities]] merged into the [[Ryukyu Kingdom]] (1429–1872), which continued the [[Maritime transport|maritime trade]] and [[Tribute|tributary]] relations started in 1372 with [[Ming dynasty|Ming China]].<ref name="Minahan" /> In 1609, the [[Satsuma Domain]] (based in Kyushu) invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Kingdom maintained a fictive independence in [[Vassal state|vassal]] status, in a dual subordinate status to both China and Japan, because [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa]] Japan was [[Haijin|prohibited]] to trade (directly) with China.{{sfn|Loo|2014|pp=1–2}}

During the Japanese [[Meiji era]], the kingdom became the [[Ryukyu Domain]] (1872–1879) after its political [[Annexation|annnexation]] by the [[Empire of Japan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=資料年表 – 沖縄県立図書館 貴重資料デジタル書庫 |trans-title=Chronology of Materials – Okinawa Prefectural Library |url=https://www.library.pref.okinawa.jp/archive/contents/chronology.html |access-date=18 February 2025 |website=www.library.pref.okinawa.jp |language=ja}}</ref> In 1879, the Ryukyu Domain was abolished, and the territory was reorganized as [[Okinawa Prefecture]], with the last king ([[Shō Tai]]) forcibly exiled to Tokyo.<ref name="Minahan"/>{{sfn|Rabson|2008|p= 3}}{{sfn|Caprio|2014|p= 61}} China renounced its claims to the islands in 1895.{{sfn|Dubinsky|Davies|2013|p= 12}} During this period, the [[Meiji government]], which sought to [[Ryukyuan assimilation policies|assimilate the Ryukyuans]] as Japanese ([[Yamato people|Yamato]]), suppressed Ryukyuan ethnic identity, tradition, culture, and language.<ref name="Minahan"/>{{sfn|Christy|2004|pp=173–175}}{{sfn|Rabson|2008|p=4}}{{sfn|Dubinsky|Davies|2013|pp=15–16}}{{sfn|Caprio|2014|pp=49–50, 63, 66–67}}{{sfn|Inoue|2017|p= 3}} After [[World War II]], the Ryūkyū Islands were occupied by the [[United States]] between [[United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands|1945 and 1950]] and then [[United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands|from 1950 to 1972]]. Since the end of World War II, many Ryukyuans have expressed strong resentment against the extensive U.S. military facilities stationed in Okinawa and Tokyo's handling of related issues.<ref name="MasamiIto2009"/>{{sfn|Hendrickx|2007|pp=65–66}}

[[United Nations special rapporteur]] on [[discrimination]] and [[racism]] [[Doudou Diène]], in his 2006 report,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.humanrights.ch/upload/pdf/070320_ishr_zusammenfassung.pdf |title=The Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance |author=Doudou Diène |editor=Meghna Abraham |date=18 January 2006 |publisher=[[International Service for Human Rights]] E/CN.4/2006/16 |access-date= 11 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213002616/http://www.humanrights.ch/upload/pdf/070320_ishr_zusammenfassung.pdf |archive-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> noted a perceptible level of [[discrimination]] and [[xenophobia]] against the Ryukyuans, with the most serious discrimination they endure linked to their opposition of American military installations in the archipelago.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://apjjf.org/-Honda-Katsuichi--William-Wetherall--Pak-Kyongnam--Oda-Makoto--Tanaka-Hiroshi/1882/article.pdf|title= The Diene Report on Discrimination and Racism in Japan|author1= Tanaka Hiroshi|author2= Oda Makoto|author3= Pak Kyongnam|author4= William Wetherall|author5= Honda Katsuichi|date= March 2006|publisher= The Asia-Pacific Journal|access-date= 11 February 2017}}</ref>