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==History==
==History==
===Meiji Period===
===Meiji Period===
[[Image:Meiji-naminoue.jpg|right|thumb|350px|Statue of Emperor Meiji at [[Naminoue Shrine]], identified as ''kokka'', or, "The State."]]
The prefecture was established in [[1879]], as the last stage in the ''[[Ryukyu shobun|Ryûkyû shobun]]'', or "disposal" of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. The Kingdom had been replaced by ''[[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]]'' in [[1872]], with the king being made a ''han'ô'', basically equivalent to the position of ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' which had just been [[abolition of the han|abolished]] in mainland Japan. Now, the king was made a Marquis in the new European-style ''[[kazoku]]'' peerage system, and was obliged to relocate to [[Tokyo]]. The royal family maintained Ryukyuan royal customs for a time, but after the end of the mourning period following the death of [[Sho Tai|Shô Tai]], the last king, in [[1901]], they abandoned the trappings of royalty and more fully adopted those of modern Japanese aristocracy.<ref>Kerr, 452-453.</ref> Governors, chiefly from [[Kagoshima prefecture]] ([[Satsuma han|Satsuma]]) but all of them from mainland Japan, were appointed to head the governance of Okinawa all the way up through 1945. It was only after the end of the US Occupation in Ryûkyû, and the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty in 1972 that Okinawans were able to democratically elect their own Okinawan leadership.
The prefecture was established in [[1879]], as the last stage in the ''[[Ryukyu shobun|Ryûkyû shobun]]'', or "disposal" of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]]. The Kingdom had been replaced by ''[[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]]'' in [[1872]], with the king being made a ''han'ô'', basically equivalent to the position of ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]'' which had just been [[abolition of the han|abolished]] in mainland Japan. Now, the king was made a Marquis in the new European-style ''[[kazoku]]'' peerage system, and was obliged to relocate to [[Tokyo]]. The royal family maintained Ryukyuan royal customs for a time, but after the end of the mourning period following the death of [[Sho Tai|Shô Tai]], the last king, in [[1901]], they abandoned the trappings of royalty and more fully adopted those of modern Japanese aristocracy.<ref>Kerr, 452-453.</ref> Governors, chiefly from [[Kagoshima prefecture]] ([[Satsuma han|Satsuma]]) but all of them from mainland Japan, were appointed to head the governance of Okinawa all the way up through 1945. It was only after the end of the US Occupation in Ryûkyû, and the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty in 1972 that Okinawans were able to democratically elect their own Okinawan leadership.
Meanwhile, traditional systems of education were also left in place for a while, alongside national public education. However, before the end of the 19th century, assimilation efforts were stepped up. By the turn of the 20th century, nationwide efforts to provide uniform education and create a uniform culture and language were implemented in Okinawa as they were throughout the nation, inspiring the formation in [[1896]] by former royal [[prince Sho En|prince Shô En]] and a number of noble supporters of the [[Kodokai|Kôdôkai]] ("Society for Public Unity"), which worked to strongly oppose assimilation, and to petition for the restoration of rule by Okinawans.<ref>[[George Kerr]], ''Okinawa: the History of an Island People'' (revised ed.), Boston: Tuttle Publishing (2000), 425.; Smits, ''Visions of Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (1999), 148-149.</ref>
Meanwhile, traditional systems of education were also left in place for a while, alongside national public education. However, before the end of the 19th century, assimilation efforts were stepped up. By the turn of the 20th century, nationwide efforts to provide uniform education and create a uniform culture and language were implemented in Okinawa as they were throughout the nation, inspiring the formation in [[1896]] by former royal [[prince Sho En|prince Shô En]] and a number of noble supporters of the [[Kodokai|Kôdôkai]] ("Society for Public Unity"), which worked to strongly oppose assimilation, and to petition for the restoration of rule by Okinawans.<ref>[[George Kerr]], ''Okinawa: the History of an Island People'' (revised ed.), Boston: Tuttle Publishing (2000), 425.; Smits, ''Visions of Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (1999), 148-149.</ref>
Mainland businesses began to expand into Okinawa, even seizing monopolistic levels of dominance in many locales and commercial sectors, pushing Okinawan local/native merchants and entrepreneurs into far weaker positions, or out of business entirely.<ref>Kerr, 398.</ref>
Mainland businesses began to expand into Okinawa, even seizing monopolistic levels of dominance in many locales and commercial sectors, pushing Okinawan local/native merchants and entrepreneurs into far weaker positions, or out of business entirely.<ref>Kerr, 398.</ref> Facing considerable economic difficulties, not to mention in at least some cases cultural and/or political opposition to Japanese assimilation, many Okinawans began to emigrate to Hawaii, Latin America, and elsewhere. Okinawa was one of the top prefectures from which people emigrated in the late Meiji period, and Hawaii continues today to be the home of the largest Okinawan diasporic community in the world. The first Okinawan immigrants arrived in Hawaii in [[1900]], and immigration peaked in [[1906]], with nearly 4,500 people arriving in that year.
Around the time of the [[Sino-Japanese War]], Okinawan politics came to be dominated by conflict or tensions between a pro-Japanese ''[[Kaika-to|Kaika-tô]]'' ("Enlightenment Party") and a pro-Chinese ''[[Ganko-to|Gankô-tô]]'' ("Stubborn Party").<ref>"Ōta Chōfu." ''Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten'' (沖縄歴史人名事典, "Encyclopedia of People in Okinawan History"). Naha: Okinawa Bunka-sha, 2002. p15.</ref>
Around the time of the [[Sino-Japanese War]], Okinawan politics came to be dominated by conflict or tensions between a pro-Japanese ''[[Kaika-to|Kaika-tô]]'' ("Enlightenment Party") and a pro-Chinese ''[[Ganko-to|Gankô-tô]]'' ("Stubborn Party").<ref>"Ōta Chōfu." ''Okinawa rekishi jinmei jiten'' (沖縄歴史人名事典, "Encyclopedia of People in Okinawan History"). Naha: Okinawa Bunka-sha, 2002. p15.</ref>
Not only Japanese modern popular culture, but foreign culture as well, began to gain widespread currency in Okinawa. The first American film ever shown there was one about the Spanish-American War, screened in [[1902]].
===1912 to 1945===
===1912 to 1945===
[[File:Okinawa-battlemap.jpg|right|thumb|380px|Map of the Battle of Okinawa at Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu]]
[[File:Okinawa-battlemap.jpg|right|thumb|380px|Map of the Battle of Okinawa at Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu]]
Throughout the prewar period, Japanese government policy attitudes towards Okinawans, arguably not dissimilar to attitudes towards Koreans and Taiwanese, placed them in a paradoxical or in-between position. Assimilation policies transformed them into being little different from other Japanese, and they were expected to fulfill all the obligations to the State of any Japanese subject, but were not extended quite the same rights, freedoms, and protections. At the [[Fifth Domestic Exposition]], held in [[Osaka]] in [[1903]], organizers attempted to put Okinawans on display in a "human zoo"-style exhibit, alongside [[Ainu]] and [[Taiwanese aborigines]], as colonized peoples; the Okinawans vehemently protested, arguing they had assimilated, educated and acculturated, and were no different from Japanese, and so should not be grouped together with these hairy barbarians. The Okinawans were spared from being displayed at that event, in the end, but their treatment as second-class citizens, with less political voice, and fewer rights and protections, but expectations of full obligation to sacrifice themselves for the state, continued in various ways. The standard systems of political participation in national government enjoyed by subjects on the mainland, including electing representatives to the [[National Diet]], were not extended to Okinawa until [[1912]].
A number of major sites associated with the Ryûkyû Kingdom were named [[National Treasures]] in the 1920s-30s, including [[Shuri castle]], the Buddhist temples [[Engaku-ji (Okinawa)]] and [[Sogen-ji|Sôgen-ji]], and [[Oki Shrine]], thus appropriating them into narratives of Japanese national greatness. Meanwhile, a number of sites including Shuri castle (in 1925) and [[Naminoue Shrine]] (in [[1890]]) were also transformed into [[Shinto shrines]], incorporating them into networks and systems of sites of the nation. Shuri castle, made the site of a [[Kumamoto Garrison|military garrison]] from [[1879]] until [[1896]], and then public space beginning in [[1909]], was made into a Shinto shrine in 1925. At some point in the 1930s, it became home to a major underground military headquarters, thus unfortunately inviting its destruction in 1945, and along with it the destruction of numerous irreplaceable artifacts and documents of Ryukyuan cultural and historical significance.
[[Military conscription]] began in Okinawa in [[1898]], a few decades after it was implemented in mainland Japan; by 1945, Okinawans were trusted enough as Japanese subjects to serve loyally in the military right alongside Japanese soldiers, but Okinawan civilians were still treated quite differently from Japanese by the military. These problems of second-class status manifested perhaps most boldly in the Battle of Okinawa, as Okinawans, taught by Japanese propaganda to fear rape and torture by the Allied forces, fled south along with the Japanese military, expecting that their own country's forces would protect them. Instead, they were pressured to sacrifice themselves for the glory of the Empire, with a great many dying in caves, or throwing themselves off cliffs, rather than being protected by their own government's military. Speaking more broadly, many people today characterize the battle as a "sacrificing" of Okinawa as a whole, to benefit & protect Japan; Okinawa was considered Japanese enough to be subject to assimilation policies, expectations that the Okinawans would behave as loyal Japanese, and so forth, but was not considered integral enough to the Japanese state that it should be protected, defended, as well.
The Battle of Okinawa brought the destruction of much of the island, decimating homes and thousands of lives, along with most of the significant cultural, religious, and historical sites. Countless priceless artifacts and documents were lost.
The Battle of Okinawa saw the destruction of much of the central and southern parts of the island, the decimation of homes, villages, towns, and nearly 100,000 civilian lives, roughly a quarter of the total Okinawan population. Countless priceless artifacts and documents were lost along with most of the island's significant cultural, religious, and historical sites.
===Occupation===
===Occupation===
While Okinawans were now once again free to choose their leaders and governmental representatives, and regained all the rights and protections associated with being Japanese citizens, US military bases continued to occupy up to 20% of the island's land area, creating difficulties and representing a continued "occupation" of Okinawan land. In addition to incidents of aircraft crashes, US soldiers attacking, even raping, Okinawan girls, and even just getting into traffic accidents or just drunkenly being a public nuisance, and being immune from Japanese legal prosecution, many Okinawans also feel that the presence of the US bases make Okinawa a military target, just as the Japanese military bases made Okinawa a target, and a battlefield, in 1945. While Washington and Tokyo maintain that Okinawa is of great strategic value because of its geographic location and so forth, many Okinawans believe that if there were no military bases on Okinawa - or at least, fewer - Okinawa might be spared death and destruction in the next great military conflict to come, whatever that may be.
While Okinawans were now once again free to choose their leaders and governmental representatives, and regained all the rights and protections associated with being Japanese citizens, US military bases continued to occupy up to 20% of the island's land area, creating difficulties and representing a continued "occupation" of Okinawan land. In addition to incidents of aircraft crashes, US soldiers attacking, even raping, Okinawan girls, and even just getting into traffic accidents or just drunkenly being a public nuisance, and being immune from Japanese legal prosecution, many Okinawans also feel that the presence of the US bases make Okinawa a military target, just as the Japanese military bases made Okinawa a target, and a battlefield, in 1945. While Washington and Tokyo maintain that Okinawa is of great strategic value because of its geographic location and so forth, many Okinawans believe that if there were no military bases on Okinawa - or at least, fewer - Okinawa might be spared death and destruction in the next great military conflict to come, whatever that may be.
===Reversion to Present===
===1972 to Present===
Shortly after reversion, Okinawa hosted the 1975 Ocean Expo, a major expo in the tradition of the [[world's fairs]], celebrating maritime history and culture, and in particular that of the Pacific.
Shortly after reversion, Okinawa hosted the 1975 Ocean Expo, a major expo in the tradition of the [[world's fairs]], celebrating maritime history and culture, and in particular that of the Pacific.
==Governors of Okinawa Prefecture==
==Governors of Okinawa Prefecture==
*[[Kinashi Seiichiro|Kinashi Seiichirô]] (1879/3/3-5/18, acting interim governor)
*[[Kinashi Seiichiro|Kinashi Seiichirô]] (1879/3/3-5/18, acting interim governor)
#[[Nabeshima Naoyoshi]] (1879/5/18-
#[[Nabeshima Naoyoshi]] (1879/5/18-[[1881]])
#[[Uesugi Mochinori]] (-[[1883]])
#[[Uesugi Mochinori]] (1881-[[1883]])
#[[Iwamura Michitoshi]] (1883-)
#[[Iwamura Michitoshi]] (1883-)
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