Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Ryukyu Islands [note 1] (琉球列島, Ryūkyū-rettō), also known as the Nansei Islands (南西諸島, Nansei-shotō, lit."Southwest Islands") or the Ryukyu Arc (琉球弧, Ryūkyū-ko), are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi, Tokara and Amami) and Okinawa Prefecture (Daitō Islands ...
The Ryukyu Kingdom [a] was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a tributary state of imperial Ming China by the Ryukyuan monarchy , who unified Okinawa Island to end the Sanzan period , and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands and Sakishima Islands .
A significant change in status for the kingdom happened in 1609 [5] with the invasion of Ryukyu by Satsuma Domain of Japan. Satsuma destroyed both Nakijin Castle and Urasoe Castle, as well as capturing Shuri Castle, during the war. Satsuma won the war, vassalized the Ryukyu Kingdom, and annexed the Amami Islands.
The first history of Ryukyu was written in Chūzan Seikan ("Mirrors of Chūzan"), which was compiled by Shō Shōken (1617–75), also known as Haneji Chōshū. The Ryukyuan creation myth is told, which includes the establishment of Tenson as the first king of the islands and the creation of the Noro , female priestesses of the Ryukyuan religion .
Its predecessor was the Ryukyu Kingdom, an independent nation until 1879. [3] Japan has de facto control over the disputed Senkaku Islands, claiming them as part of Ishigaki City in Okinawa Prefecture. [4] However, they are not geographically within the Ryukyu Archipelago, being located further westward in the East China Sea.
In 1609, the Satsuma Domain conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom. From then on, Ryūkyū was a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain, while the king was ordered to keep its tributary relation with China. The kingdom became a domain of Japan in 1872. In 1879, Japan replaced Ryukyu Domain with Okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the
Okinawa Island (Japanese: 沖縄島, Hepburn: Okinawa-jima, Okinawan: 沖縄 / うちなー, romanized: Uchinā, [4] Kunigami: ふちなー, romanized: Fuchináa), officially Okinawa Main Island (沖縄本島, Okinawa-hontō), [5] is the largest of the Okinawa Islands and the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands of Japan in the Kyushu region.
Satsuma's invasion of Ryukyu was the climax of a long tradition of relations between the kingdom and the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. The two regions had been engaged in trade for at least several centuries and possibly for far longer than that; in addition, Ryukyu at times had paid tribute to the Ashikaga shogunate (1336–1573) of Japan as it did to China since 1372.