Sugar
- Japanese: 砂糖 (satou)
Sugar cane was first introduced into the Ryûkyû Islands in 1374. It soon became one of the Ryûkyû Kingdom's chief exports / tribute goods. Between sugar obtained from the kingdom, and sugar grown in the Amami Islands (taken from the kingdom and under the direct control of Satsuma han since 1609), Satsuma served as the chief source of sugar in Japan throughout the Edo period.
Production, Taxes & Monopolies
In the 1620s, a pair of young Ryukyuan aristocrats introduced to the kingdom advanced sugar processing techniques which they had studied in China; sugar plantations in the islands quickly began to take off. Previously, mainland Japan obtained brown, white, and rock sugar chiefly from Chinese and Dutch merchants in Nagasaki.
The Ryûkyû Kingdom's government claimed a royal monopoly on sales of sugar and turmeric within the kingdom in 1647, helping the kingdom afford its repayments on loans from Satsuma han. Fifty years later, the kingdom placed restrictions on the planting of these two crops; these restrictions wouldn't be lifted until 1888.
The kingdom began, in 1666, to pay one-third of its annual tribute payments to Satsuma in sugar. Sugar was not only grown in the Ryûkyûs, but was also obtained by Ryukyuan trading ships in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, though Satsuma dominated the sugar market in Japan, some sugar was also imported at Nagasaki, with Dutch merchants selling Javanese sugar and Chinese merchants selling Taiwanese sugar following the Qing Dynasty quelling of the last of the Ming loyalists on Taiwan in 1683. Sugar also began to be grown and refined in small quantities in Owari, Wakayama, and several domains in western Honshû and Shikoku after the shogun obtained information about sugar cane cultivation from Satsuma and planted a test crop at his personal villa. By 1800 or so, consumption of domestic sugar exceeded that of imported sugar.
Following the overthrow of the kingdom and annexation of its land by Japan, sugar taxes continued to be paid in kind (i.e., in sugar, rather than in cash) until 1903. Private sales of sugar were prohibited until this tax was paid, and when sugar was paid to the Okinawa prefectural government, it was at a set price below the market price. The prefecture would then sell the sugar at market in Osaka, at market prices, making a considerable profit.[1]
Around 1903, Okinawan journalist Ôta Chôfu began to establish a series of organizations in Osaka aimed at helping his fellow Okinawans enter the Japanese markets; among these was a Sugar Dealers' Association.[2]
Brown sugar (kurozatô) remains a famous Okinawan good, and it is often included in Okinawa-themed sweets.
References
- ↑ Smits, Gregory. Visions of Ryukyu. University of Hawaii Press, 1999. p148.
- ↑ Kerr, George. Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Revised Edition. Tuttle Publishing, 2000. p430.
