Ryukyuans
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Ryukyuan people (Japanese: 琉球民族, of which Okinawans, Miyako people, and Yaeyama people are subgroups), are the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands of Japan between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Politically, they live in either Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. Their languages make up the Ryukyuan language family, one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other one being Japanese and its dialects.
Ryukyuan ethnic identity & pride
The culture of Ryukyuans, though closely related to Japanese culture, is nonetheless distinctive in that it historically received much more influence from China and has separate political and religious traditions. And people's marine environmental protection awareness is much strong.
History
The Ryukyuan islands were unified by the Ryukyuan Kingdom in the 12th century. The islands paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty of China, and later to the Qing Dynasty of the Manchu Empire. In the early 17th century, however, the Ryukyuan Kingdom was conquered by the Satsuma-han of Kyushu. The Satsuma domain kept the kingdom nominally alive because of the benefit from trade with China, although the Amami Archipelago came under the full control of Satsuma. During the Meiji period, the kingdom was formally abolished and Okinawa prefecture was established. After World War II, the Ryukyus, like the rest of Japan, were occupied by the U.S., but the U.S. maintained control of Okinawa even after the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, which went into effect on April 28, 1952. Twenty years later, in 1972, the Ryukyus were returned to Japan. However, social and political conflict persist concerning the perceived ongoing discrimination by mainland Japanese people. Furthermore, due in part to the intense fighting in the islands during WWII, many Ryukyuans are strongly anti-military (even though they may at the same time be pro-American). Okinawa comprises just 0.6% of Japan's total land mass, yet U.S. military bases use about 10% of all the land in the Ryukyus, including 18.8% of the land on Okinawa Island itself. Many feel that they bear more than their fair share of the U.S.-Japan security alliance, and the presence of the military remains an issue in local politics.First Documentation and Origins of Ryukyuan People
Chinese historical writings first mentioned the Ryukyus during the 6th-7th centuries (the Sui Dynasty). The Ryukyu Islands were inhabited early in historical times, perhaps by sea-faring Austronesian peoples whose horticulture and navigation technologies spread from what is now Southeastern coast of China to Taiwan, the Philippines, the Malayo-Indonesian islands, Polynesia, Melanesia and Madagascar. While there is evidence of early habitation, the very earliest settlers died out, and the current population of the Ryukyus is of the same basic geneaological stock as the mainland Japanese, though with more Jomon elements further in the south.The very kinship between the Ryukyuan languages and the Japanese language suggests their common origin in the Asian mainland immigrants to the archipelago. See the articles on the Yayoi and Kofun cultures for more.
Further reading
- Essays on Okinawa Problems by Masahide Ota. Yui Shuppan Co.: Gushikawa City, Okinawa, Japan, 2000. ISBN# 4-946539-10-7 C0036. An excellent collection of essays by a peace activist and former governor of Okinawa. Among the issues it discusses are those affecting the development of Ryukyuan identity.
See also
External links
- [Okinawa Peace Network of Los Angeles], featuring information about Ryukyuan culture worldwide
- [Inside Story: JAPAN, THE NEW BATTLE FOR OKINAWA (Asia Week)]
- [The Politics of Uchinau]
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