The Ryukyu Kingdom under the Bakuhan System

Toyotomi Hideyoshi moved to unify Japan and gave the Shimazu clan in Satsuma the right (not acknowledged by Ryukyu) to control Ryukyu. Satsuma successfully invaded Ryukyu in 1609, forcing King Shō Nei to accompany them to Edo to honor the Tokugawa Shogun, who agreed to allow the Ryukyu royal government to continue functioning as is, asking them to mediate in Japan-China relations. China balked and reduced Ryukyu trade missions drastically. In early 1600s, Tokugawa fear of Christianity led to isolationist sakoku policy; Ryukyu included. From 1630s, Ryukyu was subject to Japan’s rice tax assessment, as part of Satsuma. From 1630s, Ryukyu begins to send periodic envoys to Edo (Edo-nobori, or Edo-dachi). Satsuma tightened control over Ryukyu’s trade activities. This chapter examines the complicated trade strategies that developed between Japan, Satsuma, Ryukyu, and China. With the Qing Dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century, Ryukyu tribute envoys also become intelligence “agents” for Satsuma.

Afterword

The author summarizes Ryukyu’s historical position in East Asia, noting how its own changes reflected the broader changes East Asian was going through. He argues that, though part of Japan today, Okinawa is still different, and he calls that difference the “its heritage from the Ryukyu Kingdom and its ‘Asian experience.’” Chinese elements in Okinawan culture, for example, are not just the result of centuries of trade and diplomatic contact, but also come from the Kingdom’s conscious effort to “sinify” in the seventeenth century. As for Okinawan’s status today, the author notes that Okinawa’s sovereignty is still seen as an open question by China.

Reform and Sinification of the Kingdom

In mid-1600s, Ryukyu reformed government to better align with Tokugawa Japan. This chapter details how class distinctions were codified and genealogies (kafu) became important, and also provides a description of the reorganized royal government. Ryukyu learned to play both sides—remaining a tributary state of China, and a vassal of Satsuma. Ryukyu began to “sinify” as a means to counterbalance Satsuma’s rule; yet Satsuma also benefited, since its “vassal,” Ryukyu, thereby maintained China’s trust. This chapter details aspects of Chinese culture, including architecture, feng shui, and family names, which Ryukyu embraced. The Kumemura district, home of many Chinese and Chinese scholars, gained importance. Selected Ryukyu students were again permitted to study in China officially, and unofficial “working students” also joined tribute ships’ crews to study in China during long layovers there. Satsuma’s “policy of concealment” discouraged openly “Japanese” behavior among Ryukyuans, to persuade China that Ryukyu was independent from Japan.

Founding of the Ming Dynasty and the Rise of the Ryukyu Kingdom

With the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu announced a ban on sea travel to try and control wakō pirates. He established a tribute system whereby countries that accepted the Chinese emperor as sovereign could send tribute trade missions to and from China. Because the pirates frequented the Ryukyu Islands, Hongwu had a preference policy toward Ryukyu to obtain their help in controlling wakō pirates. Of the three domains dominating Okinawa Island, Chūzan emerged as China’s main trading partner, and this began the process of unifying the Ryukyu Kingdom. A number of Chinese merchants, traditionally known as “the Thirty-six Families” relocated to Ryukyu to facilitate tribute trade, though the author disputes the conventional view of this as a “gift” from China. By the end of the chapter, Ryukyu is poised to be a key player – a cornerstone – in the East Asian trade sphere.

Introduction

A discussion of the Ryukyu Archipelago and its shifting historical boundaries is followed by an overview of the Ryukyu kingdom’s emergence as an important player in East Asian trade, concluding with a discussion of how recent historiography of the region has been changed by the emergence of previously lost ancient documents.

Ryukyu in the East Asian Trade Sphere

In the 1400s, the East Asia trade sphere stretched to Southeast Asia, with Ryukyu, a key player, relaying luxury goods from there to Japan. Japanese merchants and Buddhist monks began to move into Ryukyu in the mid-fifteenth century. The early 1400s saw the Ryukyu Kingdom unified under the first Shō Dynasty. Ryukyu was recognized as second to Korea among China’s tributary states. Overseas Chinese in Naha became important in the trade system. In the late 1400s, China restricted Ryukyu’s tribute trade to one mission every two years. Japan started to deal directly with China, undercutting Ryukyu. Japan empowered the Satsuma domain to monitor Ryukyu trade activities. In 1470, the second Shō dynasty took power. The Portuguese began to dominate Southeast Asia trade; the wakō pirates grew more successful. By the late 1500s, Satsuma was aggressively controlling Ryukyuan shipping activities, which alarmed China. Ryukyu began to decline.

The End of the Kingdom

In what became controversially known as the “Ryukyu Shobun,” the new Meiji government gradually took over Ryukyu, starting by using a massacre of Ryukyuan sailors in Taiwan as a pretext to claim Ryukyuans as “people who belong to the nation of Japan,” who needed Tokyo’s protection. In 1874, the Meiji government compelled Ryukyu to cut its ties to China. In 1879, Tokyo annexed Ryukyu and designated it Okinawa Prefecture. That same year, the Ryukyu King was forced to move to Tokyo, and died there in 1901. China did not have sufficient military power to resist the move, but the chapter also describes activities between China and restorationists in Ryukyu, some of whom went to China, rather than remain as Japanese subjects. However, the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), in which China was defeated, effectively brought the restoration movement to an end.

The Imperial Investiture System and the Ryukyu Kingdom

When a new king took the throne, China sent an envoy to formally “invest” him with legitimacy as part of the Chinese trade and cultural sphere. This chapter describes the formal process involved with this investiture. The Chinese envoy ships also carried cargo, and intense trading followed the investiture ceremony, before the Chinese returned home. The chapter ends with a recapitulation of the diplomatic balancing act Ryukyu played, remaining a tributary nation of China, while being, in effect, a vassal of Satsuma and Japan.

The Ryukyu Kingdom’s Tribute Trade

This chapter details Ryukyu’s tribute trade with China, starting from the rituals involved with departure, then describing trading activities in Fuzhou, then the trip to Beijing to pay formal respects to the Emperor. At any given time, there were three teams of envoys in play: one on its way from Fuzhou to Beijing, one set to return on the ship that brought them, and one to remain in Fuzhou for three years. A “mission retrieval ship” also was allowed every year to pick up any envoys headed home, and this ship also carried cargo. The chapter features step-by-step descriptions of trade transactions, as well as rituals related to the journey.

The Gusuku Period

This chapter looks at the Gusuku period (roughly the fifteenth century), when Ryukyu was divided into two cultural spheres – northern and southern. This period saw the rise of local fiefs, and increased trade between them and others in East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, etc.). The chapter describes how Song China developed an East Asian Trade sphere that encompassed all the surrounding countries, including the various fiefdoms in the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyus specialized in sulphur and mother-of-pearl, both in high demand in the region. As Japan ceased trading directly with China, Ryukyu became an important go-between.