Ryukyuan History
Brief History of the Ryukyus
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2 The crucial year 1945 3 The Princess Lilies 4 After 1945 5 Okinawan Tension with Japan 6 External references |
Okinawan history up to 1945
When Commodore Perry visited Okinawa in 1854, he noted:
- It would be difficult for you to imagine the beauties of this island with respect to the charming scenery and the marvelous perfection of cultivation.
Early Chinese visitors noted the hospitality of Okinawa's islanders, and its brutal poverty. Pressed between two powerful neighbors — China and Japan — it suited them well to be hospitable. After the European explorers of the 19th century, they entertained the Dutch, the Portuguese, the English, and others, who always noted the hospitality of the natives.
The Okinawan language seems to be a scion of Japanese, having split off long ago. The comparative method, a linguistic method for scientifically comparing languages and reconstructing a hypothetical "ancestor language" from which the present-day languages evolved, has proven beyond a doubt that the languages of the Ryukyu Archipelago, including Okinawan, are genetically related to the Japanese language. The Ryukyuan languages may all be grouped together to form one of the main branches of the Japonic language family; the other main branch is comprised of the various Japanese dialects.
The dominant economy was farming of sugar cane, and later on, the sweet potato, without which far more Okinawans would have died in the 1945 battle. Other farmed items include guava, banana, papaya, and tobacco.
In the fifteenth and sixtenth century, Okinawans traded from Java to Japan, to China and Korea. This led to an increased level of prosperity for the kingdom.
At about the end of the sixteenth century, Japanese feudal leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the Ryukyuan Kingdom to give men and arms for a Chinese invasion. Ryukyuans generally opposed military adventures; there is a widespread (although suspect) story that during the massive (although unsuccessful) Mongol invasions of Japan in the 13th century, that the Okinawans refused to help the Mongols, being later ravaged by them. Nor did they wish to ruin their Korean trade. The Japanese planned their attack via the Korean penninsula. The Ryukyuan Kingdom did not wish to offend China, for they had strong trade and cultural ties. The attack on China went without the help of the Ryukyuan Kingdom, and Hideyoshi meanwhile died. There was a ferocious battle of succession. The Shimazu family of Kyushu Island won — the Satsuma clan, the Ryukyuans' nearest Japanese neighbors.
The Shimazu clan wanted Okinawa's trade, and wanted favor with the regime in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), and the Ryukyuans had not paid respects to the new regime in Kyushu. Permission to invade the kingdom was granted by the rulers in Edo.
The Okinawan invasion was in 1609. Three thousand men and more than one hundred war junks sailed from Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. The Ryukyuans were nearly weaponless. Many priceless cultural treasures were taken to Kagoshima.
The Satsuma rulers never permitted Ryukyuans to own arms, leading to Okinawa's most famous contribution to world culture — karate (below).
The Satsumas enacted crippling taxes, taking over the trade of the Kingdom after the sealing of Japan from the rest of the world in 1636 so as to gain an economic advantage. Often, Ryukyuans weren't allowed to eat the very fish they caught.
After Perry's "black ships" came by, the Meiji Restoration proceeded after the Meiji Emperor attained the throne in 1867. Tokyo told China that Ryukyuans were Japanese — a dubious claim at best. A pawn in a great game of chess, the weaker Chinese gave in, though the Ryukyuans themselves would have preferred Chinese rule to Japanese.
The Kingdom was formally annexed to Japan in 1879, the monarchy in Shuri Castle abolished. While they were ostensibly Japanese, Ryukyuans experienced (and still do to this day) extreme racism and neglect by the government in Tokyo. The Ryukyus continued to fall deeper and deeper into poverty.
As a side note, the mongoose was introduced from India in 1910 to control the poisonous habu snake.
Tokyo mandated Japanese language in the slowly-expanding school system, wanting to render the islanders Japanese citizens. By 1939 there was compulsory military training. Some educated Ryukyuans wanted to end the Ryukyuan culture and become Japanese.
Into the 1940s, Ryukyuans were fed a constant stream of propaganda. By 1944, they were betrayed by the Japanese. There were wartime shortages, women were raped, and civilian products commandeered for military use.
Long subject to typhoons, powerful neighbors, and disease, they now faced a new and truly deadly enemy — the Americans.
The year 1945 was defined by the Battle of Okinawa (which see), and the consequent annexation of Okinawa by the Americans.
The Battle of Okinawa, fought in 1945, was one of the last major battles of World War II, claiming the lives of an estimated 120,000 people.
The Ryukyus were the only places where there was a land battle in Japan during WWII. In addition to the Japanese military personnel who died in the Battle for Okinawa, more than one third of the civilian population, 300,000 people, died. The Ryukyuan victims were not only killed by bombs and shells, but also by the Japanese military.
The Americans were under strict orders not to harm civilians. There were, however, atrocities such as the Cave of the Virgins, where many Okinawan school girls were killed.
Another point of Okinawan resentment is due to that the WWII Japanese military forced school girls to join a group known as the Princess Lilies and go to the battle front as nurses. The Princess Lilies was an organization made up of girl students, 15 to 16 years old, who participated in the battle as nurses. There were seven girl's high schools in Okinawa at the time of WW II. The Princess Lilies were organized at two of them, and a total of 297 students and teachers joined the group and eventually served the Army as nurses. Two hundred and eleven died. Most of the girls were put into caves, which served as temporary clinics, and took care of injured soldiers. There was no medicine, food or water. Many of the young girls died while trying to get water for the wounded soldiers. The Japanese military also told these girls that if they were taken prisoner the enemy would rape and then kill them, and then gave the girls hand grenades to commit suicide with before being taken prisoner. One of the Princess Lilies explains this by saying, "We had a strict imperial education, so being taken prisoner was the same a being a traitor. We were taught to prefer suicide to becoming a captive." --(Moriguchi, 1992) Many students died saying "Tenno Banzai." which means "Long live the Emperor."
The board of education, made up entirely of mainland Japanese, required the girls' participation. Teachers opposed to the board of education, insisting the students be evacuated to somewhere safe, were accused of being traitors.
The Americans were under strict orders not to harm civilians, but there were atrocities such as the Cave of the Virgins, where many Okinawan school girls commited suicide. The schoolgirls jumped off of the cliffs for fear of being raped by the Americans.
The islands were occupied by the United States as a result of World War II.
Okinawa remains the poorest prefecture of Japan as of this writing (August 2003).
Many Okinawans refuse to raise the Japanese flag at official events, because of the flag's perceived link to Japan's emperor, the Japanese Imperial Military, and the World War II Battle of Okinawa. The Japanese flag reminds many Okinawans of the worst aspects of Japanese imperialism.
On October of 1987, Mr. Shoichi Chibana burned the Japanese flag while it was being raised for the Kaiho National Athletic meet in Yomitan, Okinawa. This incident not only shocked Japanese, but also Ryukyuans. He was sent to prison.
During the Battle of Okinawa, Japanese soldiers killed Okinawan civilians. One reason was due to non combatants disturbing the Japanese military in their hiding places. During the battle, people hid in the many caves on Okinawa. At first, there were only civilians, but the soldiers also took refuge in the caves after the fighting became intense. During the many fierce battles, the babies in the caves started crying. Their mothers tried to stop the crying, but the soldiers, being afraid of being found by the enemy, murdered the babies at once. This brutality was not unusual to the Okinawans. They were also killed over small amounts of food. "At midnight, soldiers would wake up Okinawans and take them to the beach. Then they chose Okinawans at random and threw hand grenades at them." (Moriguchi, 1992)
The suspicion of being a spy was another reason why Ryukyuans were killed. Classified World War II Japanese military documents describe punishment for Ryukyuans who didn't speak Japanese. They were declared spies, and killed for speaking their own language. Additionally, Japanese soldiers shot Ryukyuans who wanted to surrender to Allied Forces appealing to them to quit fighting. The Japanese military commanders were afraid of their subordinates losing their fighting spirit while watching civilians surrender, so they killed civilians to prevent their troops from losing morale.
During March 1945, there was an intense battle in Yaeyama Archipelago. The Japanese military forced people to evacuate from their towns to the mountains even though malaria was prevalent there. Ryukyuans, without food and medicine, lost 54% of the island's population to starvation and disease. After WWII, the government stated that the Japanese military didn't know that malaria was prevalent in the mountains of Yaeyama. There is, however, some evidence that this was known before the evacuation of Ryukyuans to the mountains. The bereaved families of the malaria victims filed a lawsuit against the government for its responsibility.
The crucial year 1945
The Princess Lilies
After 1945
On November 21, 1969 US President Richard Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato agreed in Washington, DC on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under terms of the agreement, the US retained its rights to bases on the island, but those bases were to be nuclear-free. The United States military still controls about 19% of the island, and this presence is subject to much controversy: while the Americans give jobs to the locals and pay much rent on land, some Americans have committed serious crimes on the island.Okinawan Tension with Japan
External references