contributor
27,126
edits
Changes
→Early History
==Early History==
==Early History==
In the premodern period, Kikai was regarded by Japanese authorities as being the center of authority for its neighboring islands. People representing Kikai, Amami, and Tokunoshima are recorded as presenting [[tribute]] to authorities on the Japanese "mainland" as early as the 7th century.<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 51.</ref> When people from Amami launched raids on [[Osumi province|Ôsumi]], [[Dazaifu]], and elsewhere on the Kyushu mainland in the late 990s, it was to Kikai and not to Amami or Tokunoshima that Dazaifu dispatched orders to suppress the raiders, and it was Kikai which Japanese records credit with successfully doing so.<ref name=smits18>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 18-20.</ref>
In the premodern period, Kikai was regarded by Japanese authorities as being the center of authority for its neighboring islands. People representing Kikai, Amami, and Tokunoshima are recorded as presenting [[tribute]] to authorities on the Japanese "mainland" as early as the 7th century.<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 51.</ref> When people from Amami launched raids on [[Osumi province|Ôsumi]], [[Dazaifu]], and elsewhere on the Kyushu mainland in the late 990s, it was to Kikai and not to Amami or Tokunoshima that Dazaifu dispatched orders to suppress the raiders, and it was Kikai which Japanese records credit with successfully doing so.<ref name=smits18>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu, 1050-1650'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 18-20.</ref>
Kikai seems to have come in and out of the sphere of territory that the Dazaifu (and by extension the [[Heian period|Heian court]]) claimed authority over. Some archaeological evidence as well as documentary evidence indicates that in the 10th century, Kikaijima (喜界島, written with a character meaning "happiness"), was at least nominally within the Dazaifu's jurisdiction, and also that it had notable cultural differences from the neighboring islands of Amami and Tokunoshima. By the 1110s, however, Kikaijima (鬼界島, now written with a character meaning "demon") was no longer considered to be within the boundaries of the Japanese political or cultural sphere; castaways who found themselves in Kikai were handled by the Heian/Dazaifu authorities in a manner similar to those who drifted even farther afield, i.e. to "foreign lands."<ref name=smits18/> Kikai was also among the islands to which [[kuge|court nobles]], prominent samurai, or other elites were sometimes exiled by the shogunate or Imperial court. The monk [[Shunkan]], who was caught plotting a coup against [[Taira no Kiyomori]], was famously exiled to Kikai in [[1177]]. Individuals seeking to flee from Imperial authorities also made their way to Kikai.<ref name=smits18/>
Kikai seems to have come in and out of the sphere of territory that the Dazaifu (and by extension the [[Heian period|Heian court]]) claimed authority over. Some archaeological evidence as well as documentary evidence indicates that in the 10th century, Kikaijima (喜界島, written with a character meaning "happiness"), was at least nominally within the Dazaifu's jurisdiction, and also that it had notable cultural differences from the neighboring islands of Amami and Tokunoshima. By the 1110s, however, Kikaijima (鬼界島, now written with a character meaning "demon") was no longer considered to be within the boundaries of the Japanese political or cultural sphere; castaways who found themselves in Kikai were handled by the Heian/Dazaifu authorities in a manner similar to those who drifted even farther afield, i.e. to "foreign lands."<ref name=smits18/> Kikai was also among the islands to which [[kuge|court nobles]], prominent samurai, or other elites were sometimes exiled by the shogunate or Imperial court. The monk [[Shunkan]], who was caught plotting a coup against [[Taira no Kiyomori]], was famously exiled to Kikai in [[1177]]. Individuals seeking to flee from Imperial authorities also made their way to Kikai.<ref name=smits18/>
Remains of [[Gusuku period]] sites on Kikaigashima, along with other archaeological finds, serve as evidence for complex and diverse cultural activity on Kikaigashima in the pre-modern period, suggesting a mixture of peoples or influences from further north (Kyushu) and south (Okinawa). Excavations at 9th-14th century sites have uncovered an active center of some 150 raised buildings, numerous burial pits, and thirty iron-working hearths; while [[iron]] sands from Kikai were traded to the south as a vital raw material for iron goods produced or used on Okinawa, some 70% of the goods found at the Kikai sites came from outside of Kikai. This archaeological evidence suggests that in the 9th-10th centuries, when Dazaifu exercised jurisdiction over Kikai, turbo or turban shells (used to produce [[mother-of-pearl]] inlay) were the chief trade good in the area. As Kikai became distanced from Japanese control in the 11th-12th centuries, trade diversified and the island saw some increased prosperity; Kikai became an important transshipment point for not only seashells and [[tortoise shell]], but also for ''[[kamuiyaki]]'' pottery produced on [[Tokunoshima]], ''ishinabe'' talc stoneware from Kyushu, [[sulfur]], and other products. By the 13th-14th centuries, however, Kikai declined as a major center of trade or economic activity, and Okinawa Island began to take its place.<ref>Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', 21.</ref>
In the 15th-16th centuries, forces of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma province, and those of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], both sought to expand into the Amamis. For a time in the mid-15th century, the people of Kikaigashima raised significant resistance against such Ryukyuan forces, leading King [[Sho Toku|Shô Toku]] to decide in [[1466]] to lead the invasion force himself.<ref>Gregory Smits, "[http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gregory-Smits/3409 Examining the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism]." ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 37-3-10 (September 13, 2010).</ref> It was during this invasion that Ryûkyû is said to have first adopted the ''[[mitsu-domoe]]'' crest of [[Hachiman]] as the royal crest.
In the 15th-16th centuries, forces of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma province, and those of the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]], both sought to expand into the Amamis. For a time in the mid-15th century, the people of Kikaigashima raised significant resistance against such Ryukyuan forces, leading King [[Sho Toku|Shô Toku]] to decide in [[1466]] to lead the invasion force himself.<ref>Gregory Smits, "[http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gregory-Smits/3409 Examining the Myth of Ryukyuan Pacifism]." ''The Asia-Pacific Journal'' 37-3-10 (September 13, 2010).</ref> It was during this invasion that Ryûkyû is said to have first adopted the ''[[mitsu-domoe]]'' crest of [[Hachiman]] as the royal crest.