Ryukyu to Okinawa

The Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryukyu Islands run some 1,100 km from Kyushu to near Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea.^[2] In 1429 Shō Hashi unified the island of Okinawa and founded the Ryukyu Kingdom, ruled from Shuri Castle.^[1]

From the 14th to the 19th century both China and Japan imposed their authority on the islands in turn.^[2] In 1609 the Satsuma domain, in what is now Kagoshima Prefecture, effectively conquered the kingdom, though it kept a nominal independence.^[1]

A Japanese prefecture

In 1879 the Japanese government absorbed the kingdom into Japan as Okinawa Prefecture, ending Shuri’s 450 years as a royal capital.^[1] Britannica describes it as the moment the Ryukyus became an integral part of Japan.^[2]

In April 1945 US forces landed on Okinawa. The three-month battle cost about 12,000 American and about 100,000 Japanese dead.^[4] Shuri Castle, a National Treasure since 1925, was destroyed.^[1]

Twenty-seven years under the United States

After Japan’s defeat the United States took control of the islands, replacing military government with a civil administration in Naha in 1951. Under the 1952 peace treaty the United States recognised Japan’s “residual sovereignty”, and handed back the Amami islands in 1953.^[2]

A second treaty, signed in 1971, returned the rest.^[2] On 15 May 1972 Okinawa reverted to Japan after 27 years of US occupation.^[3] The bases stayed: around 70% of US military facilities in Japan are in Okinawa Prefecture, which makes up a little more than 0.6% of Japan’s land.^[3]

Shuri Castle was rebuilt in 1992 and became part of a World Heritage Site in 2000. Its main hall burned down again on 31 October 2019.^[1]