Ryukyu Islands

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Ryukyu Islands
Okinawan language:
Ruuchuu (琉球ルーチュー)
Japanese language:
Nansei-shotō (南西諸島, Southwest Islands)
Ryūkyū-shotō (琉球諸島, Ryukyu Islands)[1]
Location of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan
Location of Ryukyu Islands
LocationOn the boundary between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea
Total islands100+
Major islands
Area4,642.11 km2 (1,792.33 sq mi)
Highest elevation1,936 m (6352 ft)
Highest pointMt. Miyanoura-dake
Population1,550,161 (2005)
Pop. density333.93/km2 (864.87/sq mi)
Ethnic groups

The Ryukyu Islands[note 1] (琉球諸島, Ryūkyū-shotō), 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 Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island.

The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) in the north to tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) in the south. Precipitation is very high and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons. Except the outlying Daitō Islands, the island chain has two major geologic boundaries, the Tokara Strait (between the Tokara and Amami Islands) and the Kerama Gap (between the Okinawa and Miyako Islands). The islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs.



Island subgrouping[edit]

The last sunset in Japan is seen from Yonaguni.

The Ryukyu islands are commonly divided into two or three primary groups:




Names and extents[edit]


Nansei Islands[edit]



During the American occupation of Amami, the Japanese government objected to the islands being included under the name "Ryukyu" in English because they worried that this might mean that the return of the Amami Islands to Japanese control would be delayed until the return of Okinawa. However, the American occupational government on Amami continued to be called the "Provisional Government for the Northern Ryukyu Islands" in English, though it was translated as Rinji Hokubu Nansei-shotō Seichō (臨時北部南西諸島政庁, Provisional Government for the Northern Nansei Islands) in Japanese.[7]


The name of Ryūkyū (琉球) is strongly associated with the Ryukyu Kingdom,[8] a kingdom that originated from the Okinawa Islands and subjugated the Sakishima and Amami Islands. The name is generally considered outdated[by whom?] in Japanese although some entities of Okinawa still bear the name, such as the local national university.

In Japanese, the "Ryukyu Islands" (琉球諸島, Ryūkyū-shotō) cover only the Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama Islands,[9] while in English it includes the Amami and Daitō Islands. The northern half of the island chain is referred to as the Satsunan ("South of Satsuma") Islands in Japanese, as opposed to Northern Ryukyu Islands in English.


Historical usage[edit]


From about 1829 until the mid-20th century, the islands' English name was spelled Luchu,[16] Loochoo, Loo-choo,[16] or Lewchew. These spellings were based on the Chinese pronunciation of the characters "琉球", which in Mandarin is Liúqiú,[17] as well as the Okinawan language's form Ruuchuu (ルーチュー).[18]


Uchinaa (沖縄), Okinawa in Okinawan, is originally a native name for the largest island in the island chain. The island was referred to as Okinawa (阿児奈波) in the 8th century biography of Jianzhen (唐大和上東征傳). It is also specified as Okinawa (おきなわ) in hiragana in the collection of Umuru U Sōshi (おもろさうし), known as Ryukyu's official poetry book. It was not until the 18th century that Okinawa was specified in its own script as 沖縄.

The Japanese map series known as the Ryukyu Kuniezu lists the island as Wokinaha Shima (悪鬼納嶋) in 1644 and Okinawa Shima (沖縄嶋) after 1702. The name Okinawa Shima was chosen by the Meiji government for the new prefecture when they annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879.

Outside of Okinawa Prefecture, the word "Okinawa" is used to refer to Okinawa Prefecture and does not include Kagoshima Prefecture. (People from the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture object to being included in "Okinawa".) Inside Okinawa Prefecture, "Okinawa" is used to refer to Okinawa Island, and does not include the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. People in the Yaeyama Islands use the expression "go to Okinawa" when they visit Okinawa Island.[10]

Some scholars group the Amami and Okinawa Islands together because in some respects (e.g. from a linguistic point of view) Amami is closer to Okinawa than to Miyako and Yaeyama, but there is no established single-word term for the group since the native population had not felt the need for such a concept.[10] Japanese scholars use "Amami–Okinawa"[19] while American and European scholars use "Northern Ryukyuan".[20]

Southern Islands[edit]



The Eastern Islands of Liukiu[edit]

The first mention of the islands in Chinese literature occur in the Annals of the Qin Dynasty. Qin Shi Huang heard of "happy immortals" living on the Eastern Islands, so he sent expeditions there to find the source of immortality, to no avail.[21][page needed] Based on Ryukyuan folklore on Kudaka Island, some scholars believe that these expeditions succeeded in reaching Japan and launched a social and agricultural revolution there.[22] The Eastern Islands are again mentioned as the land of immortals in the Annals of the Han Dynasty.


Ancient Japan's Southern Islands[edit]

The island chain appeared in Japanese written history as Southern Islands (南島, Nantō). The first record of the Southern Islands is an article of 618 in the Nihonshoki (720) which states that people of Yaku (掖玖,夜勾) followed the Chinese emperor's virtue. In 629, the imperial court dispatched an expedition to Yaku. Yaku in historical sources was not limited to modern-day Yakushima but seems to have covered a broader area of the island chain. In 657, several persons from Tokara (都貨邏, possibly Dvaravati) arrived at Kyushu, reporting that they had first drifted to Amami Island (海見島, Amamijima), which is the first attested use of Amami.[24]

Articles of the late 7th century give a closer look at the southern islands. In 677, the imperial court gave a banquet to people from Tane Island (多禰島, Tanejima). In 679, the imperial court sent a mission to Tane Island. The mission carried some people from the southern islands who were described as the peoples of Tane, Yaku, and Amami (阿麻彌) in the article of 682. According to the Shoku Nihongi (797), the imperial court dispatched armed officers in 698 to explore the southern islands. As a result, people of Tane, Yaku, Amami and Dokan visited the capital (then Fujiwara-kyō) to pay tribute in the next year. Historians identify Dokan as Tokunoshima of the Amami Islands. An article of 714 reports that an investigative team returned to the capital, together with people of Amami, Shigaki (信覺), and Kumi (球美) among others. Shigaki should be Ishigaki Island of the Yaeyama Islands. Some identify Kumi as Iriomote Island of the Yaeyama Islands because Komi is an older name for Iriomote. Others consider that Kumi corresponded to Kume Island of the Okinawa Islands. Around this time "Southern Islands" replaced Yaku as a collective name for the southern islands.[24]



Sea routes used by Japanese missions to Tang China


Kikaigashima and Iōgashima[edit]



Some articles of 1187 of the Azuma Kagami state that Ata Tadakage of Satsuma Province fled to Kikai Island (貴海島, Kikaishima) sometime around 1160. The Azuma Kagami also states that in 1188 Minamoto no Yoritomo, who soon became the shōgun, dispatched troops to pacify Kikai Island (貴賀井島, Kikaishima). It was noted that the imperial court objected the military expedition claiming that it was beyond Japan's administration.[26] The Tale of the Heike (13th century) depicted Kikai Island (鬼界島, Kikaishima), where Shunkan, Taira no Yasuyori, and Fujiwara no Naritsune were exiled following the Shishigatani Incident of 1177. The island depicted, characterized by sulfur, is identified as Iōjima of the Ōsumi Islands, which is part of Kikai Caldera. Since China's invention of gunpowder made sulfur Japan's major export, Sulfur Island or Iōgashima became another representative of the southern islands. It is noted by scholars that the character representing the first syllable of Kikai changed from ki (, noble) to ki (, ogre) from the end of the 12th century to the early 13th century.[27]


Shimazu Estate and Kamakura shogunate's expansion[edit]




Tanegashima under the Tanegashima clan[edit]




Amami and Tokara Islands[edit]


Okinawa Islands[edit]

Okinawa Islands during the Sanzan Period
Flag of the Ryūkyū Kingdom until 1875

Polities of the Okinawa Islands were unified as the Ryūkyū Kingdom in 1429. The kingdom conquered the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. At its peak, it also subjected the Amami Islands to its rule. In 1609, Shimazu Tadatsune, Lord of Satsuma, invaded the Ryūkyū Kingdom with a fleet of 13 junks and 2,500 samurai, thereby establishing suzerainty over the islands. They faced little opposition from the Ryukyuans, who lacked any significant military capabilities, and who were ordered by King Shō Nei to surrender rather than to suffer the loss of precious lives.[32] After that, the kings of the Ryukyus paid tribute to the Japanese shōgun as well as to the Chinese emperor. During this period, Ryukyu kings were selected by a Japanese clan, unbeknownst to the Chinese, who believed the Ryukyus to be a loyal tributary.[33] In 1655, the tributary relations between Ryukyu and Qing were formally approved by the shogunate.[34] In 1874, the Ryukyus terminated tribute relations with China.[35]

In 1872, the Japanese government established the Ryukyu han under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry. In 1875, jurisdiction over the Ryukyus changed from the Foreign Ministry to the Home Ministry.[35] In 1879, the Meiji government announced the annexation of the Ryukyus, establishing it as Okinawa Prefecture and forcing the Ryukyu king to move to Tokyo.[35] When China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki after its 1895 defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, China officially abandoned its claims to the Ryukyus.[35]

American military control over Okinawa began in 1945 with the establishment of the United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands, which in 1950 became the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands. Also in 1950, the Interim Ryukyus Advisory Council (臨時琉球諮詢委員会, Rinji Ryūkyū Shijun Iinkai) was formed, which evolved into the Ryukyu Provisional Central Government (琉球臨時中央政府, Ryūkyū Rinji Chūō Seifu) in 1951. In 1952, the U.S. was formally granted control over Ryukyu Islands south of 29°N latitude, and other Pacific islands, under the San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan. The Ryukyu Provisional Central Government then became the Government of the Ryukyu Islands which existed from 1952 to 1972. Administrative rights reverted to Japan in 1972, under the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement.

Today, numerous issues arise from Okinawan history. Some Ryukyuans and some Japanese feel that people from the Ryukyus are different from the majority Yamato people. Some natives of the Ryukyus claim that the central government is discriminating against the islanders by allowing so many American soldiers to be stationed on bases in Okinawa with a minimal presence on the mainland. Additionally, there is some discussion of secession from Japan.[36] As the territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands intensified in the early 21st century, Communist Party of China-backed scholars published essays calling for a reexamination of Japan's sovereignty over the Ryukyus.[37] In 2013 The New York Times described the comments by said scholars as well as military figures as appearing to constitute "a semiofficial campaign in China to question Japanese rule of the islands", noting that "almost all the voices in China pressing the Okinawa issue are affiliated in some way with the government".[38]



The islands were described by Hayashi Shihei in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu, which was published in 1785.[39]

An article in the 1878 edition of the Globe Encyclopaedia of Universal Information describes the islands:[40]



Ryukyuan native people[edit]

During the Meiji Period, Ryukyuan ethnic identity, tradition, culture and language were suppressed by the Meiji government, which sought to assimilate the Ryukyuan people as Japanese (Yamato).[41][42][43][44][45][46] Many ethnic Japanese migrated to the Ryukyu Islands and mixed with the Ryukyuan people.




Harimizu utaki (Harimizu Shrine), a Ryukyuan shrine in Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture


The indigenous Ryukyuan religion is generally characterized by ancestor worship (more accurately termed "ancestor respect") and the respecting of relationships between the living, the dead, and the gods and spirits of the natural world. Some of its beliefs are indicative of its ancient animistic roots, such as those concerning local spirits and many other beings classified between gods and humans.

Ryukyuan religious practice has been influenced by Chinese religions (Taoism, Confucianism, and folk beliefs), Buddhism and Japanese Shinto.[47]




Jōmon Sugi in Yakushima

Crossing the Tokara Islands, Watase's Line marks a major biogeographic boundary. The islands north of the line belong to the Palearctic realm while the islands south of it are at the northern limit of the Indomalayan realm. Yakushima in Ōsumi is the southern limit of the Palearctic realm. It features millennium-old cedar trees. The island is part of Kirishima-Yaku National Park and was designated as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.

Amami, Okinawa, Miyako, and Yaeyama[edit]

The Yonaguni Monument, a rock formation along the south coast of Yonaguni Island



Mammals endemic to the islands include Amami Rabbit, Ryukyu flying fox, Ryukyu long-tailed giant rat, Ryukyu shrew and perhaps Iriomote cat.


Approximately one half of the amphibian species of the islands are endemic. Endemic amphibians include the sword-tail newt, Hyla hallowellii, Holst's frog, Otton frog, Ishikawa's frog, the Ryukyu tip-nosed frog, and Namiye's frog. Other rare amphibians include Anderson's crocodile newt and the Kampira Falls frog.[48]

Various venomous species of viper known locally as habu also inhabit the Ryukyus, including Protobothrops elegans, Protobothrops flavoviridis, Protobothrops tokarensis, and Ovophis okinavensis. Other snakes native to the Ryukyus are Achalinus werneri, Achalinus formosanus, Elaphe carinata, Elaphe taeniura, Cyclophiops semicarinatus, Cyclophiops herminae, Dinodon semicarinatum, Lycodon rufozonatus, Calamaria pfefferri, Amphiesma pryeri, Calliophis japonicus, Laticauda semifasciata, and Hydrophis ornatus.



See also[edit]


  1. ^ Pronunciation: Japanese pronunciation: [ɾʲɯːkʲɯː], English: /riˈkjuː/[2]



  1. ^ Tsuneyoshi, Ukita (1993). Nihon-dai-chizuchō (Grand Atlas Japan). Heibonsha. ISBN 978-4-582-43402-6.
  2. ^ "Ryukyu". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  5. ^ "『奄美群島』を決定地名に採用". Geospatial Information Agency of Japan. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  8. ^ "(りゅうきゅう〔リウキウ〕【琉球】)". Daijisen dictionary / Yahoo Japan. Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  9. ^ "Ryūkyū Shotō (りゅうきゅう‐しょとう【琉球諸島】)". Daijisen dictionary / Yahoo Japan. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2007-05-04.
  16. ^ a b Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Luchu Archipelago" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 99.
  17. ^ The Geographical Journal. Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain). 1895.
  19. ^ "Radar AMeDAS Live: Amami-Okinawa Region (レーダーアメダス実況 奄美・沖縄地方)". Weather Service Inc. (ウェザー・サービス株式会社). Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2007-05-06.
  22. ^ "Okinawa Hai – Kudaka Island". Okinawa Hai.
  23. ^ "隋書/卷81 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆". Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  24. ^ a b c d Yasutani Suzuki 鈴木靖民, Nantō-jin no raichō wo meguru kisoteki kōsatsu 南島人の來朝をめぐる基礎的考察, Higashi Ajia to Nihon 東アジアと日本, pp. 347–98, 1987.
  25. ^ a b c Izumi Haraguchi 原口泉, Shūichi Nagayama 永山修一, Masamori Hinokuma 日隈正守, Chitoshi Matsuo 松尾千歳, Takeichi Minamura 皆村武一: Kagoshima-ken no rekishi 鹿兒島縣の歴史, 1999.
  33. ^ Economy, Elizabeth C. (July–August 2017). "History With Chinese Characteristics: How China's Imagined Past Shapes Its Present". Foreign Affairs. Vol. 96 no. 4. New York: Council on Foreign Relations.
  35. ^ a b c d Lin, Man-houng Lin. "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.
  39. ^ Klaproth, Julius. (1832). San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes, pp. 169–180.
  41. ^ Minahan, James B. (2014), Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, pp. 231–233, ISBN 978-1-61069-018-8
  42. ^ Christy 2004, p. 173–175.
  43. ^ Rabson 2008, p. 4.
  44. ^ Dubinsky & Davies 2013, p. 15–16.
  45. ^ Caprio 2014, p. 49–50, 63, 66–67.
  46. ^ Inoue 2017, p. 3.
  47. ^ Edward E. Bollinger. (c. 1965). The Unity of Government and Religion in the Ryukyu Islands to 1,500 A.D.


External links[edit]