Editing Ryukyu Kingdom (section)

== History ==
{{See also|History of the Ryukyu Islands}}

=== Origins of the Kingdom ===

In the 14th century small domains scattered on [[Okinawa Island]] were unified into three principalities: {{nihongo|[[Hokuzan]]|北山||Northern Mountain}}, {{nihongo|[[Chūzan]]|中山||Central Mountain}}, and {{nihongo|[[Nanzan]]|南山||Southern Mountain}}. This was known as the {{nihongo|[[Sanzan period|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, Okinawa|Shuri]], Nanzan was adjacent to the major port of [[Naha]], and [[Kumemura|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.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

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 dynasty|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.<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Ka6jNJcX_ygC&pg=PA145 |title=The eunuchs in the Ming dynasty| first =Shih-shan Henry | last = Tsai|year=1996|publisher=SUNY Press|edition=illustrated|isbn=0-7914-2687-4|page=145|access-date= 4 February 2011}}</ref> They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Ga-5mPOr2-wC&pg=PR13 |title= The East Asian maritime world 1400–1800: its fabrics of power and dynamics of exchanges| first =Angela | last = Schottenhammer|editor-first = Angela | editor-last = Schottenhammer|volume=4 of East Asian economic and socio-cultural studies: East Asian maritime history|year=2007|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz |edition=illustrated|isbn=978-3-447-05474-4|page=xiii|access-date= 4 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ddcV_cGegX4C&pg=PA125 |title=Maritime sector, institutions, and sea power of premodern China| first =Gang | last = Deng|volume= 212 | series = Contributions in economics and economic history|year = 1999 | publisher=Greenwood |edition=illustrated|isbn=0-313-30712-1|page=125|access-date=4 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULyu8dNqS1sC&pg=PA39 |title=The Origins of Banana-fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan| first = Katrien | last = Hendrickx|year=2007|publisher=Leuven University Press|edition=illustrated|isbn=978-90-5867-614-6|page=39|access-date=11 January 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite thesis|last=Wade  |first=Geoff |date=1 July 2007 |title= Ryukyu in the Ming Reign Annals 1380s–1580s |ssrn= 1317152 |ssrn-access=free |publisher= Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore |series= Working Paper Series |issue= 93 |page= 75 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1317152 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

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 was granted the surname "Shō" ({{lang-zh|c=尚|p=Shàng|links=no}}) by the [[List of emperors of the Ming dynasty|Ming emperor]] in 1421, becoming known as [[Shō Hashi]] ({{lang-zh|c=尚巴志|p=Shàng Bāzhì|links=no}}).{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smits|first=Gregory|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1098213229|title=Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-8248-7708-8|location=Honolulu|page=137|oclc=1098213229}}</ref>

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.{{Sfn | Matsuda | 2001 | p = 16}} 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 state|tributary]]-[[suzerain]] relationship.{{Sfn | Murai | 2008 | pp = iv–v}}

===Golden age of maritime trade===
For nearly two hundred years the Ryukyu Kingdom would thrive as a key player in maritime trade with [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]] and East Asia.{{Sfn | Okamoto | 2008 | p = 35}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sitereports.nabunken.go.jp/15957|title=東南アジアと琉球|last=Okinawa Prefectural reserve cultural assets center|date=2012|website=Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan|access-date=2 September 2016}}</ref> Central to the kingdom's maritime activities was the continuation of the [[tribute|tributary]] relationship with [[Ming dynasty]] China, begun by Chūzan in 1372,{{Sfn | Matsuda | 2001 | p = 16}}{{efn|Nanzan and Hokuzan also entered into tributary relationships with Ming China, in 1380 and 1383 respectively.{{Sfn | Okamoto | 2008 | p = 36}}}} and enjoyed by the three Okinawan kingdoms which followed it. China provided ships for Ryukyu's maritime trade activities,{{Sfn | Okamoto | 2008 | p = 36}} allowed a limited number of Ryukyuans to study at the [[Guozijian (Beijing)|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, [[Lê dynasty|Đại Việt]] (Vietnam), Japan, [[Mataram Sultanate|Java]], [[Korea]], [[Rajahnate of Maynila|Luzon]], [[Malacca Sultanate|Malacca]], [[Pattani Kingdom|Pattani]], [[Palembang]], [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Siam]], and [[Aceh Sultanate|Sumatra]].<ref name= Sakamaki>{{cite journal |last=Sakamaki |first=Shunzō |title=Ryukyu and Southeast Asia |journal=[[Journal of Asian Studies]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |year=1964 |pages=382–384 |doi=10.2307/2050757 |jstor=2050757 |s2cid=162443515 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[File:Qing Seal for King of Ryukyu.svg|thumb|Seal from [[Qing dynasty|Qing China]] giving authority to the King of Ryukyu to rule]]
[[File:Naha Shuri Castle16s5s3200.jpg|thumb|The main building of [[Shuri Castle]]]]
Japanese products—silver, swords, fans, [[lacquer]]ware, [[byōbu|folding screens]]—and Chinese products—medicinal herbs, minted coins, glazed ceramics, brocades, textiles—were traded within the kingdom for Southeast Asian [[sappanwood]], [[Rhinoceros|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.<ref name=Sakamaki />

The Chinese policy of ''[[haijin]]'' ({{lang|zh|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.{{Sfn | Murai | 2008 | p = iv}} In the late 16th century, however, the kingdom's commercial prosperity fell into decline. The rise of the ''[[wokou]]'' threat among other factors led to the gradual loss of Chinese preferential treatment;{{Sfn | Okamoto | 2008 | p = 53}} the kingdom also suffered from increased maritime competition from Portuguese [[Merchant|traders]].{{Sfn | Matsuda | 2001 | p = 16}}

===Japanese invasion and subordination===
{{main|Invasion of Ryukyu}}
Around 1590, [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] asked the Ryukyu Kingdom to aid in his [[Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598)|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]]—[[daimyō|feudal lords]] of the [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]] [[Han (Japan)|domain]] (present-day [[Kagoshima Prefecture]])—to send an expeditionary force to conquer the Ryukyus. The subsequent [[Invasion of Ryukyu|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.{{Sfn | Matsuda | 2001 | p = 16}}

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.<ref name="hideyoshi">{{harvnb | Kang | 2010 | p = [{{google books |ydVymF_OrWEC| East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute|page =81 | plainurl = yes}}  81]}}</ref> However, the Satsuma domain seized control over some territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom, notably the [[Amami Islands|Amami-Ōshima]] island group, which was incorporated into the Satsuma domain and remains a part of Kagoshima Prefecture, not Okinawa Prefecture.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

The kingdom was described by [[Hayashi Shihei]] in ''[[Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu]]'', which was published in 1785.<ref>{{Citation | author-link = Julius Klaproth| last = Klaproth | first = Julius | year = 1832 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jCNMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA169 | title = San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes |trans-title=''San kokf tsou ran to sets'', or General overview of the three kingdoms | language = fr | pages = 169–180}}.</ref>

===Tributary relations===
[[File:Ryukyu Tribute Ship Folding Screen Kyoto University Museum.png|thumb|Ryukyu Tribute Ship [[folding screen]] (circa 1830)]]
[[File:Ryukyu_1832.JPG|thumb|An 1832 [[Ryukyuan missions to Edo|Ryukyuan mission to Edo]], Japan; 98 people with a music band and officials]]
[[File:Traditional clothes of Ryukyu.jpg|thumb|Traditional Ryukyuan clothes in late period, which were much closer to the Japanese [[kimono]]]]
In 1655, tribute relations between Ryukyu and [[Qing dynasty]] (the China's dynasty that followed Ming after 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.<ref name="hideyoshi"/>

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 [[Dutch East India Company|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.<ref name="Sakai"/>

The Ryukyuan king was a vassal of the Satsuma ''daimyō'', after Shimazu's Ryukyu invasion in 1609, the Satsuma Clan established a governmental office's branch known as ''Zaibankaiya'' (在番仮屋) or ''Ufukaiya'' (大仮屋) at Shuri in 1628, and became the base of Ryukyu domination for 250 years, until 1872.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Satsuma clan of Japan maintained a local office charged with governing Ryukyu. |date=29 June 2018 |url=https://www.naha-contentsdb.jp/en/spot/792 |publisher=Naha City Economic and Tourism Department Tourism Division |access-date=20 May 2021}}</ref> The Satsuma Domain's residents can be roughly compared to a European [[Resident minister|resident]] in a protectorate.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nakahara Zenshu: Character and Weapons of the Ryukyu Kingdom |url=https://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=3857 |website=Ryukyu Bugei 琉球武芸 |access-date=8 April 2015}}</ref> However, the kingdom was not considered as part of any ''[[Han (administrative division)|han]]'' (fief): up until the formal annexation of the islands and abolition of the kingdom in 1879, the Ryukyus were not truly considered ''[[de jure]]'' part of Edo Japan. 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.<ref name="Sakai">{{cite journal |last1=K. Sakai |first1=Robert |title=The Satsuma-Ryukyu Trade and the Tokugawa Seclusion Policy |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |date=1964 |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=391–403 |doi=10.2307/2050758 |jstor=2050758 |s2cid=162751444 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/satsumaryukyu-trade-and-the-tokugawa-seclusion-policy/EC21243D228DAA2B626385136ED45967 |access-date=23 March 2011|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

According to statements by [[Qing dynasty|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.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3zBLjHeAGB0C&pg=PA165 |title= The Papers | first =Ulysses Simpson | last = Grant | editor-first = John Y | editor-last = Simon | volume= 29: 1 October 1878 – 30 September 1880 |year= 2008 | publisher = SIU Press, Ulysses S. Grant Association|edition=illustrated|isbn=978-0-8093-2775-1|page=165|access-date= 11 January 2011}}</ref> Japan ordered tributary relations to end in 1875 after the tribute mission of 1874 was perceived as a show of submission to China.{{Sfn | Kerr | 1953 | p = 366–367}}

===Annexation by the Japanese Empire===
{{main|Ryūkyū Disposition}}
In 1872, [[Emperor Meiji]] unilaterally declared that the kingdom was then [[Ryukyu Domain]].<ref>Matsuo, Kanenori Sakon (2005). {{Google books|XeVUCjFVaYQC|''The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu''|page=40}}.</ref>{{Sfn | Kerr | 1953 | p = 175}}<ref name = "lin2006">Lin, Man-houng. [http://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''. 27 October 2006, translated and abridged from ''Academia Sinica Weekly'', No. 1084. 24 August 2006.</ref> At the same time, the appearance of independence was maintained for diplomatic reasons with Qing China<ref>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.</ref> until the [[Meiji government]] abolished the Ryukyu Kingdom when the islands were incorporated as [[Okinawa Prefecture]] on 27 March 1879.{{Sfn | Kerr | 1953 | p = 381}} The Amami-Ōshima island group which had been integrated into Satsuma Domain became a part of [[Kagoshima Prefecture]].{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

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| footer            = Ryukyu people depicted in the Chinese paintings ''[[Portraits of Periodical Offering]]''
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The last king of Ryukyu was forced to relocate to Tokyo, and was given a compensating ''[[kazoku]]'' rank as [[Shō Tai|Marquis Shō Tai]].<ref name="papinot">{{Citation | last = Papinot | first = Jacques Edmond Joseph | year = 2003 | language = fr | chapter-url = http://www.unterstein.net/Toyoashihara-no-Chiaki-Nagaioaki-no-Mitsuho-no-Kuni/NobiliaireJapon.pdf | title = Nobiliare du Japon |trans-title=Nobility of Japan | chapter = Sho | page = 56 | chapter-format = [[Portable document format|PDF]]@60}}.</ref><ref>{{Citation | last = Papinot | first = Jacques Edmond Joseph | year = 1906 | language = fr | title = Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon |trans-title=Dictionary of History & Geography of Japan}}.</ref>{{Page needed |date=June 2014}} Many royalist supporters fled to China.<ref>[http://wenku.baidu.com/view/b10e5b6c1eb91a37f1115c49.html 论战后琉球独立运动及琉球归属问题 – 百度文库]</ref> The king's death in 1901 diminished the historic connections with the former kingdom.{{Sfn | Kerr | 1953 | p = 236}} With the abolition of the aristocracy after World War II, the Sho family continues to live in Tokyo.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.tofugu.com/2013/09/26/the-forgotten-dynasty-of-the-ryukyu-islands/|title = Forgotten Dynasty|date = 26 September 2013}}</ref>