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Jahana gained the support of Governor [[Narahara Shigeru]], but faced heavy opposition from villagers who feared their ''somayama'' rights were threatened; some villages in [[Yanbaru]] went so far as to pool funds to send a delegation to [[Naha]] to petition the prefectural government themselves. The situation grew so contentious that the "Somayama problem" (''somayama mondai'') has become a noted item in the chronology of Okinawan history.

Jahana gained the support of Governor [[Narahara Shigeru]], but faced heavy opposition from villagers who feared their ''somayama'' rights were threatened; some villages in [[Yanbaru]] went so far as to pool funds to send a delegation to [[Naha]] to petition the prefectural government themselves. The situation grew so contentious that the "Somayama problem" (''somayama mondai'') has become a noted item in the chronology of Okinawan history.

The standard narrative of what happened next characterizes Narahara as villainous, with little interest in helping the Okinawan aristocrats, or the peasants, and seeking instead to clear as much land as possible to sell to entrepreneurs from mainland Japan, and to the former [[Sho Dynasty|royal family]]; in such accounts, Jahana is represented as a tragic figure, and a noble supporter of the peasants, who was expelled from government by Narahara for opposing his plans. However, historian [[Gregory Smits]], citing other scholars such as Arakawa Akira, notes that as much as 2/3 of the land sales to mainlander entrepreneurs took place under Jahana's watch, and in fact declined after he was fired. He suggests that Jahana, as a young technocrat expert trained at the most elite Tokyo institutions, would have been dismissive of villagers' opposition to his well-considered plans, disparaging of their attitudes, and spiteful for their daring to question his expertise, and that all of this is indicated in his writings. Jahana's lionization by the former narrative, transforming him into one of the great heroes of Okinawan history, makes the contention over this issue all the more personal and impassioned for many Okinawan people today, and indeed the conflict between Jahana and Narahara is, for example, featured as one of only a dozen or so scenes in Okinawan history in contemporary artist Ishikawa Mao's 2014 piece ''Dai-Ryûkyû shashin emaki''.

The standard narrative of what happened next characterizes Narahara as villainous, with little interest in helping the Okinawan aristocrats, or the peasants, and seeking instead to clear as much land as possible to sell to entrepreneurs from mainland Japan, and to the former [[Sho Dynasty|royal family]]; in such accounts, Jahana is represented as a tragic figure, and a noble supporter of the peasants, who was expelled from government by Narahara for opposing his plans. However, historian [[Gregory Smits]], citing other scholars such as Arakawa Akira, notes that as much as 2/3 of the land sales to mainlander entrepreneurs took place under Jahana's watch, and in fact declined after he was fired. He suggests that Jahana, as a young technocrat expert trained at the most elite Tokyo institutions, would have been dismissive of villagers' opposition to his well-considered plans, disparaging of their attitudes, and spiteful for their daring to question his expertise, and that all of this is indicated in his writings.

 

It was only later that Jahana truly became supportive of the peasants' positions, and more explicitly and staunchly opposed to Narahara's plans. He was dismissed from his involvement in the project in [[1894]], but was brought back on in [[1897]], by which time Narahara and his administration were seeking to dispose of all ''somayama'' lands. Narahara wanted all remaining ''somayama'' lands to become owned by the government, which would then assure the continuation of villagers' access. It was at this time that Jahana more definitively stood up in opposition to the governor. Arguing that government ownership lends itself too easily to abuse and corruption, and to the possibility of government policy regarding these lands changing on a whim, Jahana stood with villagers who pushed for the land to be divvied up amongst them, to be held as private property by the villagers, thus ensuring their access to the benefits of this land. This brought great pushback against Jahana, from the government, and he ultimately resigned from government service entirely in December 1898.

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