Ryukyu Domain
Ryūkyū Province (琉球国, Ryūkyū-no kuni) was a short-lived province in the area of Okinawa Prefecture. The history of the province only lasts from 1872 through 1879.
The Province occupied the same area as the former Ryūkyū Kingdom, comprising a chain of islands south of Kyushu which extends from Tanegashima to Hateruma, the most southerly of the Yaeyama Islands, which lies close to the 24th parallel of north latitude.[1]
History
The Ryūkyū Kingdom existed for centuries before the 1870s. When the last King, Sho Boku, stepped down in 1872, the Ryukyu Kingdom became Ryukyu Province.[2] The Ryūkyū kingdom was formally annexed to Japan as Ryūkyū han.[3] The former king and Ryūkyūan aristocrats were granted lands and stipends of support in this period.[4] The administration of the Ryūkyū Province (Ryūkyū han) was established under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.[3]
After the Taiwan Expedition of 1874, Japan's role as the protector of the Ryūkyūan people was acknowledged; but the sovereignty of the Ryūkyū islands remained indeterminate. The fiction of independence was maintained for diplomatic reasons.[5]
In 1875, administrative jurisdiction over the Ryūkyūs was transferred from the Foreign Ministry to the Home Ministry.[3]
After 1879, the Ryūkyū Islands became an integral part of Japan.[6] The administration of the archipelago was reorganized as Okinawa-ken.[7]
Notes
- ^ Satow, Ernest. (1882). "The Geography of Japan" in Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vols. 1-2, p. 89., p. 34, at Google Books
- ^ Matsuo, Kanenori Sakon. (2005). The Secret Royal Martial Arts of Ryukyu, p. 40., p. 40, at Google Books
- ^ a b c Lin, Man-houng. "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.
- ^ Matsuo, p. 81., p. 81, at Google Books
- ^ Goodenough, Ward H. 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.
- ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ryūkyū Islands" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 801, p. 801, at Google Books.
- ^ Nussbaum, "Okinawa-ken" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 746-747, p. 746, at Google Books.
References
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
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