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Along with the other Amami Islands, Amami Ôshima boasts a distinctive culture reflective of both Ryukyuan and Kyushu influences and elements.

Along with the other Amami Islands, Amami Ôshima boasts a distinctive culture reflective of both Ryukyuan and Kyushu influences and elements.

Sites of note on the island include Kasari (a peninsula at the northern end of the island, site of the first Shimazu landing in 1609, and today home to Amami Airport), Naze (now known as Amami City), and Uken. The islands of [[Kakeroma]], [[Ukejima]], and [[Yorojima]] lie just south of the main island of Ôshima.

Sites of note on the island include Kasari (a peninsula at the northern end of the island, site of the first Shimazu landing in 1609, and today home to Amami Airport), Naze (one of the main ports on the island; now known as Amami City), Tatsugô, and Uken. The islands of [[Kakeroma]], [[Ukejima]], and [[Yorojima]] lie just south of the main island of Ôshima.

==History==

==History==

===Early History===

===Early History===

People from Amami and the neighboring islands of Kikai and [[Tokunoshima]] are recorded as having presented [[tribute]] to entities on [[Kyushu]] several times in the 7th century. In the 990s, Japanese records indicate that "southern barbarians" (''[[nanban]]'') from Amami attacked multiple sites on Kyushu, making off with people and goods; the [[Dazaifu]] (the chief government office of the [[Heian period|Heian]] court on Kyushu) claimed authority or jurisdiction over Kikai at that time and ordered Kikai to suppress these raids, which seem to have ended by the year [[1000]].<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650'', University of Hawaii (2019), 18-20.</ref>

People from Amami and the neighboring islands of Kikai and [[Tokunoshima]] are recorded as having presented [[tribute]] to entities on [[Kyushu]] several times in the 7th-8th centuries. In the 990s, Japanese records indicate that "southern barbarians" (''[[nanban]]'') from Amami attacked multiple sites on Kyushu, making off with people and goods; the [[Dazaifu]] (the chief government office of the [[Heian period|Heian]] court on Kyushu) claimed authority or jurisdiction over Kikai at that time and ordered Kikai to suppress these raids, which seem to have ended by the year [[1000]].<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650'', University of Hawaii (2019), 18-20.</ref>

Some records suggest that as early as [[1266]], Amami was sending tribute to leaders on Okinawa Island.

Some records suggest that as early as [[1266]], Amami was sending tribute to leaders on Okinawa Island.

The Ryûkyû Kingdom tried multiple times over the course of the 15th-16th centuries to bring Amami Ôshima under its authority, occasionally clashing with Shimazu forces attempting to do the same. One such clash occurred as early as [[1493]]. Records show a Shuri official being dispatched to Amami and taking up office there in [[1506]],<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 24.</reF> but given that Ryûkyû launched another military expedition to Amami in [[1537]], and another in [[1571]], it is clear that the island was not fully submissive to Okinawan control until at least 1571. Okinawan forces also clashed with, and drove back, Shimazu forces seeking to take Amami in that year. For the brief few decades when [[Shuri]] exercised authority over Amami, it did so lightly, assigning officials and extracting taxes but allowing the island a considerable degree of autonomy, like other relatively distant parts of its territory.<ref>Smits, "Examining the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism," ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 37-3-10 (September 13, 2010).; Smits, "Rethinking Ryukyu," International Journal of Okinawan Studies 6:1 (2015), 7.</ref> Perhaps in part simply because of its size, Amami Ôshima was one of the sites of the greatest resistance to Ryukyuan expansion in that period; when Shimazu forces [[invasion of Ryukyu|invaded Ryûkyû]] in 1609, as well, the island put up considerable resistance, falling to Shimazu control only after about nine days of fighting.

The Ryûkyû Kingdom tried multiple times over the course of the 15th-16th centuries to bring Amami Ôshima under its authority, occasionally clashing with Shimazu forces attempting to do the same. One such clash occurred as early as [[1493]]. Records show a Shuri official named [[Tameharu]] being dispatched to Amami and taking up office there as ''[[Shuri oyako|Shuri ôyako]]'' (首里大屋子, O: ''Sui ufuyaku'') in [[1506]],<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 24, 170. Tameharu's descendants continued to hold positions of authority on Amami in successive generations. See [[Tamemitsu]], [[Tameaki]], [[Tameyoshi]]. Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 180.</ref> and later kingdom officials resident on Amami traced the origins of their family posts to dates in the 1520s.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 179.</ref> However, given that Ryûkyû launched additional military expeditions to Amami in [[1537]] and [[1571]], it is clear that the island was not fully submissive to Okinawan control until at least 1571. Okinawan forces also clashed with, and drove back, Shimazu forces seeking to take Amami in that year. For the brief few decades when [[Shuri]] exercised authority over Amami, it did so lightly, assigning officials and extracting taxes but allowing the island a considerable degree of autonomy, like other relatively distant parts of its territory.<ref>Smits, "Examining the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism," ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 37-3-10 (September 13, 2010).; Smits, "Rethinking Ryukyu," International Journal of Okinawan Studies 6:1 (2015), 7.</ref> Officials overseeing Amami for the kingdom were largely from either local Amami households, or Okinawan households which had become settled on Amami; seven households on the island were of particular prominence. Officials generally sent their sons to Shuri for an education and for them to serve in the royal palace; they then later returned to take up official positions on Amami. The ''Shuri ôyako'' oversaw the administration of the entire island; officials known as ''ôya'' or ''[[oyako|ôyako]]'' below him administered individual districts, and were assisted by local officials known as ''[[yohito]]''. Additional officials known as ''okite'' and ''mezashi'' were further down in the hierarchy.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 180.</ref>

 

Perhaps in part simply because of its size, Amami Ôshima was one of the sites of the greatest resistance to Ryukyuan expansion in that period; when Shimazu forces [[invasion of Ryukyu|invaded Ryûkyû]] in 1609, as well, the island put up considerable resistance, falling to Shimazu control only after about nine days of fighting. While some sources discuss individual local leaders, such as [[Tamekoro]] in Kasari and [[Ushuku-oya|Umitarugane]] in Yakiuchi, surrendering quickly and being granted posts and [[stipends]] by the Shimazu as a result, other sources describe thousands of peasants hastily erecting wooden barricades and doing what they could to resist the invasion, only to be defeated by shipboard cannon and gun-wielding invaders.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 227.</ref>

===Early Modern History===

===Early Modern History===

Following the 1609 Shimazu invasion, the Shimazu appointed a ''[[daikan]]'' to oversee the administration of Amami. In the 1610s-1620s, the Amami ''daikan'' was granted authority over the neighboring islands of Kikai and Tokunoshima as well.<ref>Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Megumi, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," ''Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô'' 31 (2006), 244.</ref> Despite these circumstances, however, people continued to travel freely to some extent between Amami and islands to the south, and Kagoshima (at least in certain contexts) continued to regard Amami as part of the territory of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, even while denying Ryûkyû any actual administrative or political authority there.<ref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, August 2013.; Akamine Mamoru, ''The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia'', University of Hawaii Press (2016), 69-70.</ref>

Following the 1609 Shimazu invasion, the Shimazu appointed a ''[[daikan]]'' to oversee the administration of Amami.<ref>THe ''daikansho'' (''daikan's'' office) was based in what is today downtown Kasari-chô, near [[Akakina gusuku]]. Gallery labels, Amami Tatsugô Shima Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/49490994301/sizes/h/]</ref> In the 1610s-1620s, the Amami ''daikan'' was granted authority over the neighboring islands of Kikai and Tokunoshima as well.<ref>Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Megumi, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," ''Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô'' 31 (2006), 244.</ref> Kagoshima extended the shogunate's policies of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]] over the Amamis, banning the construction of large oceangoing vessels and overseas travel (including to [[Okinawa Island]] and elsewhere in the Ryûkyû Kingdom).<ref>Gallery labels, Amami Tatsugô Shima Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/49490994301/sizes/h/]</ref> Despite these circumstances, however, people continued to travel freely to some extent between Amami and islands to the south, and Kagoshima (at least in certain contexts) continued to regard Amami as part of the territory of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, even while denying Ryûkyû any actual administrative or political authority there.<ref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, August 2013.; Akamine Mamoru, ''The Ryukyu Kingdom: Cornerstone of East Asia'', University of Hawaii Press (2016), 69-70.</ref>

In a system which [[Robert Hellyer]] has described as "a structure of colonial extraction,"<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 95.</ref> Satsuma obliged the people of Amami and the surrounding islands to focus their efforts on [[sugar]] production, to the detriment of all else. While the islanders were not indentured or enslaved, did not have their traditional lands taken away from them, and were to a certain extent allowed to maintain their traditional political and social structures, other crops were discouraged, [[currency]] was banned from the island, and islanders were forced to sell (trade) sugar to Shimazu authorities for far below a fair market rate. This system of policies forced islanders to work to ensure they could grow enough sugar to both pay their tribute taxes and to purchase (i.e. barter for) the foodstuffs and other things they needed to get by, leading to impoverishment and occasionally serious famines. This extractive and oppressive system of intensive sugar production reached its heights of severity in the 1820s-1830s, when Kagoshima domain ''[[karo|karô]]'' (elder) [[Zusho Shozaemon|Zusho Shôzaemon]] used Amami sugar as a key element in his efforts to rescue the domain's financial situation.<ref>Hellyer, 127-128.</ref>

In a system which [[Robert Hellyer]] has described as "a structure of colonial extraction,"<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 95.</ref> Satsuma obliged the people of Amami and the surrounding islands to focus their efforts on [[sugar]] production, to the detriment of all else. While the islanders were not indentured or enslaved, did not have their traditional lands taken away from them, and were to a certain extent allowed to maintain their traditional political and social structures, other crops were discouraged, [[currency]] was banned from the island, and islanders were forced to sell (trade) sugar to Shimazu authorities for far below a fair market rate. This system of policies forced islanders to work to ensure they could grow enough sugar to both pay their tribute taxes and to purchase (i.e. barter for) the foodstuffs and other things they needed to get by, leading to impoverishment and occasionally serious famines. This extractive and oppressive system of intensive sugar production reached its heights of severity in the 1820s-1830s, when Kagoshima domain ''[[karo|karô]]'' (elder) [[Zusho Shozaemon|Zusho Shôzaemon]] used Amami sugar as a key element in his efforts to rescue the domain's financial situation.<ref>Hellyer, 127-128.</ref>