Ryukyu Disposition

The 1870s process by which Japan dismantled the Ryukyu Kingdom and established Okinawa Prefecture, ending the kingdom’s separate political status.

Ryukyu Kingdom: A kingdom based in the Ryukyu Islands that maintained relations with both China and Japan before its annexation by Japan. The polity Japan progressively subordinated and replaced during the disposition.
Satsuma Domain: A Japanese domain that invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1609 and thereafter exercised substantial influence over it. Its longstanding control gave Japan a basis for claiming authority over the islands.
Shō Tai: The last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, who became head of the Ryukyu Domain before being moved to Tokyo in 1879. His removal from Shuri marked the end of the royal government.
Okinawan identity: A cultural and political identity associated with Okinawa, shaped by Ryukyuan heritage and incorporation into Japan. The end of the kingdom altered the political setting in which this identity developed.
Ryukyu Domain: A Japanese domain created in 1872 from the Ryukyu Kingdom, while the former royal house retained nominal authority. Its creation marked the first formal step in Japan’s conversion of the kingdom into an administrative dependency.
Ryukyu tributary relations with China: The diplomatic system through which the Ryukyu Kingdom sent missions to China and received recognition and trade privileges. These ties made the kingdom’s incorporation a matter of concern for the Qing court.
Matsuda Michiyuki: A Japanese official who led the 1879 mission that dissolved the Ryukyu Domain and installed Okinawa Prefecture. His mission enforced the final abolition of the kingdom’s political institutions.
Ryukyuan languages: A group of Japonic languages indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, distinct from the Japanese standard language. Centralization and Japanese-language schooling intensified pressures on local languages after annexation.
Shuri Castle: A castle in Okinawa that served as the royal court and political center of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Japanese forces took control of the former royal seat as the kingdom’s institutions were dismantled.
Sakoku: The Tokugawa shogunate’s system of restrictions on foreign relations and overseas travel, maintained from the seventeenth century. Ryukyu’s dealings with China continued through a regional order shaped by Japan’s restrictions on foreign contact.

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