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*''Japanese'': 琉球処分 ''(Ryûkyû shobun)''
Over the course of the 1870s, through a great many individual steps, the [[Meiji government]] gradually abolished the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] and seized control of its territory. Spurred by the [[Taiwan Incident of 1871]], this began with the [[1872]] reorganization of the Kingdom as "[[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]]," and culminated with a series of actions in [[1876]]-[[1879]] known as the ''Ryûkyû shobun'', a plan suggested by [[Minister of the Interior]] [[Okubo Toshimichi|Ôkubo Toshimichi]] and executed under the supervision of [[Matsuda Michiyuki]], who was named ''Shobun-kan'' ("''Shobun'' Officer") by [[Emperor Meiji]] on 10 June 1876.
==Name==
The term ''Ryûkyû shobun'' (琉球処分) is most commonly given in English as "the Disposition of Ryûkyû." However, this has nothing to do with "disposition" in the sense of one's mood or temperament, or inclinations or tendencies. Rather, the word ''shobun'' is much more closely related in meaning to the English word "disposal."
==Background==
The 1870s were a very busy and complex time for Ryukyuan-Japanese relations.<ref>For more thorough chronological details, see the [[:Category:Meiji Period Timeline|Timeline]] pages for each individual year.</ref> The [[Meiji Restoration]] in [[1868]] brought the end of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and the establishment of a [[Meiji government|new Imperial government]] organized with strong influence from Western models. The [[abolition of the han]] brought a need for a re-assessment or redefinition of Ryûkyû's relationship to Japan, and the Taiwan Incident of 1871, in which a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] were killed by Taiwanese aborigines, led to disputes with China over claims to Taiwan and Ryûkyû, and spurred the Japanese government's desire to settle the Ryûkyû situation decisively.
In 1872, the Ryûkyû Kingdom was declared to be "Ryûkyû han," and its king, [[Sho Tai|Shô Tai]], to now no longer be ''koku-ô'' (国王, king of a country), but ''han-ô'' (藩王, lord of a domain), despite the fact that all the Japanese ''[[han]]'' (domains) had already been [[abolition of the han|abolished]] the previous year. Ryûkyû was placed under the purview of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], and then, in [[1874]], under the purview of the newly established Ministry of the Interior.
Japan launched a [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|punitive military expedition to Taiwan]] in 1874, and by the end of that year settled a treaty with China in which the latter officially acknowledged the [[Ryukyuan people]] as Japanese subjects. Ryukyuan envoys regularly met with Japanese officials, and were assured that (for now) Ryûkyû continued to have authority over its own internal affairs, and over its relations with China. However, after Ryûkyû sent a [[tribute]] mission to Beijing in [[1875]], and in light of a myriad of other developments, Ôkubo Toshimichi began to push for the full annexation of Ryûkyû's territory, a plan and a process which today is known as the ''Ryûkyû shobun''.
==International Law & Diplomatic Relations==
The entire series of meetings, negotiations, debates and plans regarding the Ryûkyû situation in the 1870s played out against a background of the clash between traditional East Asian conceptions of international relations, and "modern"/Western forms of international law and diplomatic relations. Japan's relationship with Ryûkyû<ref>As well as its relations with every other state or nation in the region, and their relations with one another, e.g. China's relationship with Ryûkyû.</ref> had for centuries been understood and articulated in terms of the conceptions, and terminology, of the [[Sinocentric world order|traditional East Asian world order]]. Yet, now, in order for its actions in Ryûkyû and its overall disposition in international relations to play out in a manner which Western powers would acknowledge, respect, and consider appropriate in terms of international law, all of this had to be re-articulated.
Throughout the early 1870s, in negotiations with China regarding the disputes over both Taiwan and Ryûkyû, terminology was employed in which Japanese sovereignty in the modern/Western sense was asserted over territories and peoples which had been considered "subjects," "vassals," or "belonging"<ref>''Zokkoku'' 属国 and ''zokumin'' 属民, most literally meaning "country which belongs" and "people which belongs," respectively, were used to refer to Ryûkyû and to the [[Ainu]] as "subject state" or "vassal people."</ref> to Japan under the traditional East Asian system.
As a result of having taken this stance, and in order to maintain that assertion, Ôkubo Toshimichi rejected suggestions from French diplomatic & legal advisor [[Gustave Emile Boissonade]] that Ryûkyû be administered more indirectly, like a colony.
==Overthrow and Annexation==
In March [[1875]], Ôkubo Toshimichi first articulated a plan to fully abolish the Ryûkyû Kingdom (then, already known as Ryûkyû han) and to fully absorb its territory into Japan's "home" territory. The government that same month rejected suggestions to implement some form of colonial administration, in favor of Ôkubo's plan.
[[Matsuda Michiyuki]] stepped down as governor of [[Shiga prefecture]] on March 25, taking a position with the Ministry of the Interior. On June 10, he was named ''Shobun-kan'' ("Disposition Officer") by [[Emperor Meiji]] and placed in charge of the abolition/overthrow and annexation, that is, the ''Shobun''.
==References==
*Uemura Hideaki. "The Colonial Annexation of Okinawa and the Logic of International Law: The Formation of an 'Indigenous People' in East Asia." ''Japanese Studies'' 23:2 (2003). pp107-124.
[[Category:Events and Incidents]]
[[Category:Ryukyu]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
Over the course of the 1870s, through a great many individual steps, the [[Meiji government]] gradually abolished the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] and seized control of its territory. Spurred by the [[Taiwan Incident of 1871]], this began with the [[1872]] reorganization of the Kingdom as "[[Ryukyu han|Ryûkyû han]]," and culminated with a series of actions in [[1876]]-[[1879]] known as the ''Ryûkyû shobun'', a plan suggested by [[Minister of the Interior]] [[Okubo Toshimichi|Ôkubo Toshimichi]] and executed under the supervision of [[Matsuda Michiyuki]], who was named ''Shobun-kan'' ("''Shobun'' Officer") by [[Emperor Meiji]] on 10 June 1876.
==Name==
The term ''Ryûkyû shobun'' (琉球処分) is most commonly given in English as "the Disposition of Ryûkyû." However, this has nothing to do with "disposition" in the sense of one's mood or temperament, or inclinations or tendencies. Rather, the word ''shobun'' is much more closely related in meaning to the English word "disposal."
==Background==
The 1870s were a very busy and complex time for Ryukyuan-Japanese relations.<ref>For more thorough chronological details, see the [[:Category:Meiji Period Timeline|Timeline]] pages for each individual year.</ref> The [[Meiji Restoration]] in [[1868]] brought the end of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] and the establishment of a [[Meiji government|new Imperial government]] organized with strong influence from Western models. The [[abolition of the han]] brought a need for a re-assessment or redefinition of Ryûkyû's relationship to Japan, and the Taiwan Incident of 1871, in which a number of [[Miyako Islands|Miyako Islanders]] were killed by Taiwanese aborigines, led to disputes with China over claims to Taiwan and Ryûkyû, and spurred the Japanese government's desire to settle the Ryûkyû situation decisively.
In 1872, the Ryûkyû Kingdom was declared to be "Ryûkyû han," and its king, [[Sho Tai|Shô Tai]], to now no longer be ''koku-ô'' (国王, king of a country), but ''han-ô'' (藩王, lord of a domain), despite the fact that all the Japanese ''[[han]]'' (domains) had already been [[abolition of the han|abolished]] the previous year. Ryûkyû was placed under the purview of the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs]], and then, in [[1874]], under the purview of the newly established Ministry of the Interior.
Japan launched a [[Taiwan Expedition of 1874|punitive military expedition to Taiwan]] in 1874, and by the end of that year settled a treaty with China in which the latter officially acknowledged the [[Ryukyuan people]] as Japanese subjects. Ryukyuan envoys regularly met with Japanese officials, and were assured that (for now) Ryûkyû continued to have authority over its own internal affairs, and over its relations with China. However, after Ryûkyû sent a [[tribute]] mission to Beijing in [[1875]], and in light of a myriad of other developments, Ôkubo Toshimichi began to push for the full annexation of Ryûkyû's territory, a plan and a process which today is known as the ''Ryûkyû shobun''.
==International Law & Diplomatic Relations==
The entire series of meetings, negotiations, debates and plans regarding the Ryûkyû situation in the 1870s played out against a background of the clash between traditional East Asian conceptions of international relations, and "modern"/Western forms of international law and diplomatic relations. Japan's relationship with Ryûkyû<ref>As well as its relations with every other state or nation in the region, and their relations with one another, e.g. China's relationship with Ryûkyû.</ref> had for centuries been understood and articulated in terms of the conceptions, and terminology, of the [[Sinocentric world order|traditional East Asian world order]]. Yet, now, in order for its actions in Ryûkyû and its overall disposition in international relations to play out in a manner which Western powers would acknowledge, respect, and consider appropriate in terms of international law, all of this had to be re-articulated.
Throughout the early 1870s, in negotiations with China regarding the disputes over both Taiwan and Ryûkyû, terminology was employed in which Japanese sovereignty in the modern/Western sense was asserted over territories and peoples which had been considered "subjects," "vassals," or "belonging"<ref>''Zokkoku'' 属国 and ''zokumin'' 属民, most literally meaning "country which belongs" and "people which belongs," respectively, were used to refer to Ryûkyû and to the [[Ainu]] as "subject state" or "vassal people."</ref> to Japan under the traditional East Asian system.
As a result of having taken this stance, and in order to maintain that assertion, Ôkubo Toshimichi rejected suggestions from French diplomatic & legal advisor [[Gustave Emile Boissonade]] that Ryûkyû be administered more indirectly, like a colony.
==Overthrow and Annexation==
In March [[1875]], Ôkubo Toshimichi first articulated a plan to fully abolish the Ryûkyû Kingdom (then, already known as Ryûkyû han) and to fully absorb its territory into Japan's "home" territory. The government that same month rejected suggestions to implement some form of colonial administration, in favor of Ôkubo's plan.
[[Matsuda Michiyuki]] stepped down as governor of [[Shiga prefecture]] on March 25, taking a position with the Ministry of the Interior. On June 10, he was named ''Shobun-kan'' ("Disposition Officer") by [[Emperor Meiji]] and placed in charge of the abolition/overthrow and annexation, that is, the ''Shobun''.
==References==
*Uemura Hideaki. "The Colonial Annexation of Okinawa and the Logic of International Law: The Formation of an 'Indigenous People' in East Asia." ''Japanese Studies'' 23:2 (2003). pp107-124.
[[Category:Events and Incidents]]
[[Category:Ryukyu]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
