| Shishido Tamaki was an official in the [[Meiji government]] who served as Japanese ambassador to China during the final phases of the [[Ryukyu Shobun|Japanese annexation]] of the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] in [[1879]]-[[1881]], and as Vice-President of the Office of Palace Construction (''kôkyo gozôei jimu fukusôsai'') in [[1883]], as well as holding many other positions over the course of his career. | | Shishido Tamaki was an official in the [[Meiji government]] who served as Japanese ambassador to China during the final phases of the [[Ryukyu Shobun|Japanese annexation]] of the [[Ryukyu Islands|Ryûkyû Islands]] in [[1879]]-[[1881]], and as Vice-President of the Office of Palace Construction (''kôkyo gozôei jimu fukusôsai'') in [[1883]], as well as holding many other positions over the course of his career. |
| + | As a retainer of [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], he met frequently in the late 1850s with figures such as [[Arima Shinshichi]] and [[Ijichi Sadaka]] to plot against the shogunate.<ref>Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 3., 81.</ref> |
| He was named ambassador to China in April 1879, just weeks after Tokyo informed the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] it was to be dissolved and annexed. Over the course of the remainder of that year, and the next, Shishido played a role in communications and negotiations between Tokyo and Beijing. Though discussions did eventually reach an agreement in October [[1880]] to divide the Ryukyus between the two countries, with China taking the [[Miyako Islands]] and the [[Yaeyama Islands|Yaeyamas]], and Japan [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] itself and all the islands to the north, in December the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] Court refused to sign the treaty. The following month, Shishido informed Beijing that Tokyo considered the matter resolved, and all of Ryûkyû to now be Japanese territory.<ref>Chang, Richard. "General Grant's 1879 Visit to Japan." ''Monumenta Nipponica'' 24:4 (1969). pp373-392.; Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2000. pp376, 383-390, ''passim''.</ref> | | He was named ambassador to China in April 1879, just weeks after Tokyo informed the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] it was to be dissolved and annexed. Over the course of the remainder of that year, and the next, Shishido played a role in communications and negotiations between Tokyo and Beijing. Though discussions did eventually reach an agreement in October [[1880]] to divide the Ryukyus between the two countries, with China taking the [[Miyako Islands]] and the [[Yaeyama Islands|Yaeyamas]], and Japan [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] itself and all the islands to the north, in December the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] Court refused to sign the treaty. The following month, Shishido informed Beijing that Tokyo considered the matter resolved, and all of Ryûkyû to now be Japanese territory.<ref>Chang, Richard. "General Grant's 1879 Visit to Japan." ''Monumenta Nipponica'' 24:4 (1969). pp373-392.; Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Boston: Tuttle Publishing, 2000. pp376, 383-390, ''passim''.</ref> |