Changes

Hideyoshi died in 1598, and was replaced as secular, martial, ruler of Japan a few years later by [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. Shô Nei ignored demands that he formally recognize the new [[Tokugawa shogunate]], and that his kingdom serve as intermediary to help the Tokugawa (re)establish formal relations with the Ming. In 1600, the shogunate returned a number of Ryukyuan castaways from [[Date clan]] territory in [[Tohoku region|Tôhoku]], and in 1605 the shogunate again returned a number of castaways, and much of their cargo, albeit while confiscating a portion of the cargo. Still, the Ryukyuan court issued no formal expression or mission of gratitude.<ref>Takara Kurayoshi 高良倉吉 and Tomiyama Kazuyuki 豊見山和行, ''Ryûkyû / Okinawa to kaijô no michi'' 琉球・沖縄と海上の道, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (2005), 82.</ref>

Hideyoshi died in 1598, and was replaced as secular, martial, ruler of Japan a few years later by [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]]. Shô Nei ignored demands that he formally recognize the new [[Tokugawa shogunate]], and that his kingdom serve as intermediary to help the Tokugawa (re)establish formal relations with the Ming. In 1600, the shogunate returned a number of Ryukyuan castaways from [[Date clan]] territory in [[Tohoku region|Tôhoku]], and in 1605 the shogunate again returned a number of castaways, and much of their cargo, albeit while confiscating a portion of the cargo. Still, the Ryukyuan court issued no formal expression or mission of gratitude.<ref>Takara Kurayoshi 高良倉吉 and Tomiyama Kazuyuki 豊見山和行, ''Ryûkyû / Okinawa to kaijô no michi'' 琉球・沖縄と海上の道, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (2005), 82.</ref>

Citing these incidents, and a broader narrative of Ryukyuan failure to pay proper respects,<ref>The term employed by Takara Kurayoshi and Tomiyama Kazuyuki is ''heimon'' 聘問, meaning to visit someone & bring gifts in order to pay respects. Takara and Tomiyama, 82.</ref> the Shimazu house then requested permission from Tokugawa Ieyasu to launch a punitive mission. Permission was granted in 1606, and the [[invasion of Ryukyu]] was undertaken in [[1609]]. After a few battles on smaller outlying islands, the samurai forces seized Shuri Castle and took Shô Nei, along with a number of his chief officials, captive. All were brought to Japan, where they met with Ieyasu and his son, the reigning [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Hidetada]], and were forced to submit to a number of demands and conditions. The kingdom became a vassal state under the Shimazu, and was forced to submit tribute on a regular basis. The king was restored to his castle and his kingdom in [[1611]], and was returned to power, though only within strict limits set by the Shimazu. In addition, while the kingdom retained the Ryukyus from Okinawa south (to the [[Sakishima Islands]] and [[Yonaguni]]), the [[Amami Islands]] and all other islands in the chain north of Okinawa Island proper were seized by the Shimazu and fully incorporated into their territory. A vassal state, Ryukyu was not considered an integral part of Japan until it was formally annexed as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879; while the provinces of Japan were regarded as ''takoku'' (他国, "other lands"), Ryukyu was considered ''ikoku'' (異国, "foreign lands"), along with China, Korea, Holland, and the rest of the world. However, ''[[Nanto zatsuwa|Nantô zatsuwa]]'', a Japanese text published in the 1850s, reveals that Ryukyuan people continued to travel between Okinawa and Amami, and to engage directly in trade in pottery, marine goods, and other products, despite the ostensible "national" boundaries (i.e. with travel to Amami, as part of Satsuma's territory, now being "foreign" travel and therefore theoretically subject to more strict control).<ref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, August 2013.</ref>

Citing these incidents, and a broader narrative of Ryukyuan failure to pay proper respects,<ref>The term employed by Takara Kurayoshi and Tomiyama Kazuyuki is ''heimon'' 聘問, meaning to visit someone & bring gifts in order to pay respects. Takara and Tomiyama, 82.</ref> the Shimazu house then requested permission from Tokugawa Ieyasu to launch a punitive mission. Permission was granted in 1606, and the [[invasion of Ryukyu]] was undertaken in [[1609]]. After a few battles on smaller outlying islands, the samurai forces seized Shuri Castle and took Shô Nei, along with a number of his chief officials, captive. All were brought to Japan, where they met with Ieyasu and his son, the reigning [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Hidetada]], and were forced to submit to a number of demands and conditions. The kingdom became a vassal state under the Shimazu, and was forced to pay taxes to Satsuma on a regular basis, as well as sending regular missions to Kagoshima, among several other obligations. A land survey conducted in 1610-1611 determined the ''[[kokudaka]]'' of the kingdom to be 89,086 ''[[koku]]'', a number which was revised upwards to just over 94,230 ''koku'' in [[1727]]. Based on this assessment, the kingdom was obliged to pay a certain amount of tax each year to Satsuma; originally paid in kind (i.e. in various products/commodities), this tax obligation was shifted to [[silver]], and then to rice by [[1620]]. The amount varied until [[1660]], at which time it became roughly stable; around [[1870]] the kingdom was paying just over 7,600 ''koku'' in annual tax, plus an additional 1,000 ''koku'' in supplemental tax. The kingdom was also obligated to provide Satsuma each year with a ''Kirishitan shûmon aratamechô'', a register of [[Christianity|Christians]] living in the kingdom (presumably, none).<ref>Tomiyama Kazuyuki, “Ryukyu Kingdom Diplomacy with Japan and the Ming and Qing Dynasties,” Ishihara Masahide et al (eds.), ''Self-determinable Development of Small Islands'', Singapore: Springer Publishing (2016), 63.</ref>

 

The king was restored to his castle and his kingdom in [[1611]], and was returned to power, though only within strict limits set by the Shimazu. In addition, while the kingdom retained the Ryukyus from Okinawa south (to the [[Sakishima Islands]] and [[Yonaguni]]), the [[Amami Islands]] and all other islands in the chain north of Okinawa Island proper were seized by the Shimazu and fully incorporated into their territory. A vassal state, Ryukyu was not considered an integral part of Japan until it was formally annexed as Okinawa Prefecture in 1879; while the provinces of Japan were regarded as ''takoku'' (他国, "other lands"), Ryukyu was considered ''ikoku'' (異国, "foreign lands"), along with China, Korea, Holland, and the rest of the world. However, ''[[Nanto zatsuwa|Nantô zatsuwa]]'', a Japanese text published in the 1850s, reveals that Ryukyuan people continued to travel between Okinawa and Amami, and to engage directly in trade in pottery, marine goods, and other products, despite the ostensible "national" boundaries (i.e. with travel to Amami, as part of Satsuma's territory, now being "foreign" travel and therefore theoretically subject to more strict control).<ref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum, August 2013.</ref>

For the remainder of Japan's [[Edo period]], the kingdom served two masters, ostensibly independent, though a vassal to Satsuma and a tributary to China. As formal relations between Japan and China were severed, extensive efforts were made to hide Japan's control or influence over Ryukyu from the Chinese Court. If Beijing believed Ryukyu to be a part of Japan, it would have likely severed ties with Ryukyu as well, denying the kingdom and the shogunate not only a source of income and foreign goods through trade, but also a source of intelligence on events in the outside world, particularly China. Foreign trade, along with tributary missions and student exchange to China continued throughout this period, though overseen by Japanese authorities, and controlled so as to best benefit Satsuma and the shogunate, not the kingdom itself. Ryukyuans were forbidden from speaking Japanese, dressing in Japanese fashion, or otherwise revealing the Japanese influence upon them; the very few who were allowed to go abroad were to speak Chinese and to espouse a combination of native Ryukyuan and Chinese culture. This was not only policy for official envoys and official communications, but was circulated throughout the kingdom, instructing commoners and villagers (peasants) similarly, that if they were to be shipwrecked or castaway in China, for example, they should not speak of relations with Japan, or reveal their own familiarity with Japanese language or culture.<ref>[[Watanabe Miki]], "Ryûkyû kara mita Shinchô" 琉球から見た清朝, in Okada Hidehiro (ed.), ''Shinchô to ha nani ka'' 清朝とは何か, Fujiwara Shoten (2009), 257.</ref>

For the remainder of Japan's [[Edo period]], the kingdom served two masters, ostensibly independent, though a vassal to Satsuma and a tributary to China. As formal relations between Japan and China were severed, extensive efforts were made to hide Japan's control or influence over Ryukyu from the Chinese Court. If Beijing believed Ryukyu to be a part of Japan, it would have likely severed ties with Ryukyu as well, denying the kingdom and the shogunate not only a source of income and foreign goods through trade, but also a source of intelligence on events in the outside world, particularly China. Foreign trade, along with tributary missions and student exchange to China continued throughout this period, though overseen by Japanese authorities, and controlled so as to best benefit Satsuma and the shogunate, not the kingdom itself. Ryukyuans were forbidden from speaking Japanese, dressing in Japanese fashion, or otherwise revealing the Japanese influence upon them; the very few who were allowed to go abroad were to speak Chinese and to espouse a combination of native Ryukyuan and Chinese culture. This was not only policy for official envoys and official communications, but was circulated throughout the kingdom, instructing commoners and villagers (peasants) similarly, that if they were to be shipwrecked or castaway in China, for example, they should not speak of relations with Japan, or reveal their own familiarity with Japanese language or culture.<ref>[[Watanabe Miki]], "Ryûkyû kara mita Shinchô" 琉球から見た清朝, in Okada Hidehiro (ed.), ''Shinchô to ha nani ka'' 清朝とは何か, Fujiwara Shoten (2009), 257.</ref>