Ryukyu Domain

1872–1879 domain of the Japanese Empire

Ryūkyū Domain

琉球藩

Domain of Japan
Tributary state of Qing China (until 1875)
1872–1879

Mon of the Second Shō family

Official seal

Ryukyu Domain included the southern-half of the Ryukyu Islands.
Capital| Shuri Castle
Government|
• Type| Monarchy
Domain King (藩王)|

• 1872–1879

| Shō Tai
Sanshikan|

• 1872–1879

| Urasoe Chōshō

• 1875–1879

| Tomikawa Seikei

• 1877–1879

| Yonabaru Ryōketsu
Historical era| Meiji period

• Established

| 1872

• Disestablished

| 1879

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Ryukyu Kingdom

|

| Okinawa Prefecture |

|

Today part of| Okinawa Prefecture
History of Ryukyu

Periods

| Palaeolithic| pre-10,000 BC

|

Early Kaizuka Period| 8,000-300 BC
Late Kaizuka Period| 300 BC-1100 AD
Gusuku period| 1187-1314
| Tenson dynasty| 16616 BC?- 1186 AD?

|

Shunten dynasty| 1187?- 1259?
Eiso dynasty| 1260?- 1349
Sanzan| 1314-1429
| Hokuzan| 1314?-1416

|

Chūzan| 1314?-1429
Nanzan| 1314?-1429
Ryukyu Kingdom| 1429-1879
| First Shō dynasty| 1429-1469

|

Second Shō dynasty| 1469-1879
| Satsuma Invasion| 1609

|

Ryukyu Domain| 1872-1879
Japanese Annexation| 1879
Meiji| 1879-1912
Taishō| 1912-1926
Pre-World War II| 1926-1945
| Militarism|

|

Battle of Okinawa| 1945
U. S. administration| 1945-1972
| Military Government| 1945-1950

|

Civil Administration| 1950-1972
Government| 1952-1972
Tokara Reversion| 1952
Amami Reversion| 1953
Koza riot| 1970
Okinawa Reversion Agreement| 1971
Okinawa Reversion| 1972
Okinawa Prefecture| 1972-present
| Kagoshima Prefecture| 1953-present

|

Topics

* Missions to Imperial China
* Missions from Imperial China
* Missions to Joseon
* Missions from Joseon
* Missions to Edo
* Independence movement

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The 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.[1]

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.[2] In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka, not land area.[3] This was different from the feudalism of the West.

## History

[edit]

In 1609, the invasion of Ryukyu caused a change in the relationship of the island nation and Japan.[4] 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.[5] At the same time, the kingdom and its rulers remained carefully independent, and also paid tribute to China.[6]

The dual nature of the kingdom and its rulers was eliminated with the creation of the Ryukyu Domain which existed from 1872 through 1879.[7] 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).[8] 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.[9] 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's, however the Emperor felt a great sympathy for Shō Tai and, in a rare and reign defining moment, exerted his newly restored Imperial Authority to ensure the continuation of the monarchy. Ultimately, however, the Emperor was cognisant of the methodical and progressive dispossession by his government of Ryukyuan sovereignty in favour of Imperial rule.[10][11][12]

The king and Ryukyuan aristocrats were granted lands and stipends of support in this period.[13] The administration of the Ryukyus was established under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.[9] 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.[14] In 1875, administrative jurisdiction over the Ryukyus was transferred from the Foreign Ministry to the Home Ministry.[9]

In 1879, Shō Tai was forced to abdicate and move to Tokyo, Ryukyu Domain was abolished, and Okinawa Prefecture was established.[15] Shō Tai was given the title of Marquis and added to the list of Japan's peerage.[16]

## Resistance against the decision

[edit]

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).[17] 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.[18]

## See also

[edit]

* History of the Ryukyu Islands
* Ryūkyū Disposition

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Japan : Ryukyuans (Okinawans)". Refworld. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
2. ^ Mass, Jeffrey P. and William B. Hauser. (1987). The Bakufu in Japanese History, p. 150.
3. ^ Elison, George and Bardwell L. Smith (1987). Warlords, Artists, & Commoners: Japan in the Sixteenth Century, p. 18.
4. ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ryukyu Islands" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 801, p. 801, at Google Books; Fassbender, Bardo et al. (2012). 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."
5. ^ Toby, Ronald P. (1991). 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."
6. ^ Smits, Gregory. (1999). Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics, p. 28.
7. ^ Matsumura, Wendy. (2007). 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."
8. ^ "Okinawa's History". rca.open.ed.jp. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
9. ^ 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.
10. ^ "Okinawa's History". rca.open.ed.jp. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
11. ^ "MOFA: Okinawa: History (The Birth of Okinawa Prefecture/World War II/Post World War II Okinawa to the Present) (Kyushu-Okinawa Summit 2000)". www.mofa.go.jp. Archived from the original on 23 December 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
12. ^ Japan, Travel. "The Ryukyu Kingdom: A Brief History". Travel Japan. Retrieved 9 April 2025.
13. ^ Matsuo, p. 81., p. 81, at Google Books
14. ^ 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.
15. ^ Nussbaum, "Okinawa-ken" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 746-747, p. 746, at Google Books
16. ^ Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (2003). Nobiliare du Japon, p. 56, republishing Papinot (1906), Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon; retrieved 2013-3-23.
17. ^ "Kōchi Chōjō." Okinawa konpakuto jiten (沖縄コンパクト事典, "Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia"). Ryukyu Shimpo. 1 March 2003. Accessed 17 September 2009.
18. ^ "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.

## References

[edit]

* Kerr, George H. (1958). Okinawa: the History of an Island People. Rutland, Vermont: Charles Tuttle Co. OCLC 722356
* ___________. (1953). Ryukyu Kingdom and Province before 1945. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council. OCLC 5455582
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128

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Ryūkyū Islands|

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