Ryukyuan history
|
|
| Contents |
Before 1945
- Large parts of this history come from George Feifer's history of the Battle of Okinawa (references).
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.
The source of modern-day Okinawans is disputed. Evidence suggests the island was never part of formal Japanese territory until annexation in 1872, although the Kingdom of the Ryūkyūs had been subjugated by the Shimazu clan, lords of southern Kyūshū, as early as 1609, and the Okinawans also paid tribute to the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty of China. The earliest inhabitants were likely descended from crossovers via a prehistoric land bridge from modern-day China, with a later mixture of Malaysians, Micronesians, and Japanese. Others, however, basing their claims mostly on evidence from studies of physical anthropology, and more recently also genetics, take the view that the modern Okinawans are the most pure descendants of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Japanese islands (Japanese: Jōmon-jin 縄文人 "People of the Jōmon Era"). Scientists of this persuasion explain that the Hondo ("Mainland") Japanese are rather a complex mix of the prehistoric Japanese aborigines with immigrants who originated in the ancestral populations of various continental Asian peoples, especially those who came from what are now Korea, Siberia and China.
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 Japonic language, having mutually split with the Japanese language 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 Ryūkyū Archipelago, including Okinawan, are genetically related to the Japanese language. The Ryūkyūan 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 Ryūkyū Kingdom to give men and arms for a Chinese invasion. Ryūkyūans 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 peninsula. The Ryūkyū 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 Ryūkyū Kingdom, and Hideyoshi meanwhile died. There was a ferocious battle of succession. The Shimazu family of Kyūshū Island won — the Satsuma clan, the Ryūkyūans' nearest Japanese neighbors.
The Shimazu clan wanted Okinawa's trade, and wanted favor with the regime in Edo (modern-day Tōkyō), and the Ryūkyūans had not paid respects to the new regime in Kyūshū. 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 Kyūshū. The Ryūkyūans were nearly weaponless. Many priceless cultural treasures were taken to Kagoshima.
The Satsuma rulers never permitted Ryūkyūans 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, Ryūkyūans 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. The Kingdom was formally annexed to Japan in 1879, the monarchy in Shuri Castle abolished.
The Japanese government promoted Japanese-language education in the school system to render the islanders Japanese citizens. By 1939 there was compulsory military training.
As a side note, the mongoose was introduced from India in 1910 to control the poisonous habu snake.
The Crucial Year: 1945
The year 1945 was defined by the Battle of Okinawa. This was one of the last major battles of World War II, claiming the lives of an estimated 120,000 people. The Ryūkyūs 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 Okinawan victims were not only killed by bombs and shells, but also by the Japanese military.
The Princess Lilies
Another point of Okinawan tragedy was the Japanese military forcing school girls to join a group known as the Princess Lilies (Hime-yuri) and go to the battle front as nurses. The Princess Lilies was an organization made up of female 15 to 16 year old students who participated in the battle as nurses. There were seven girls' high schools in Okinawa at the time of WWII. 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 nor 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 committed suicide. The schoolgirls jumped off of the cliffs for fear of being raped by the Americans. Similarly whole families committed suicide or were killed by near relatives.
The islands were occupied by the United States at the end of the war.
After 1945
- This history is at the present writing still fragmentary; any knowledgeable persons would be welcomed to contribute more.
On November 21, 1969 U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato agreed in Washington, DC on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Representatives of Japan and the United States signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement on June 17, 1971.[1] (http://www.niraikanai.wwma.net/pages/archive/rev71.html) Under terms of the agreement, the US retained its rights to bases on the island as part of the 1952 Treaty to protect Japan, but those bases were to be nuclear-free. The United States military still controls about 19% of the island, which makes the 30,000 American servicemen a dominant feature in island life. While the Americans provide jobs to the locals in bars and entertainment and pay rent on the land, widespread personal relationships between US servicemen and Okinawan women remains controversial in conservative Okinawan society. Okinawa remains the poorest prefecture of Japan as of this writing (August 2003).
Tension with Japan
Some 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 Ryūkyūans.
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 Okinawans were killed. Classified World War II Japanese military documents describe punishment for Okinawans who didn't speak Japanese. They were declared spies, and killed for speaking their own language. Additionally, Japanese soldiers shot Okinawans 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. Ryūkyūans, 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 Okinawans to the mountains. The bereaved families of the malaria victims filed a lawsuit against the government for its responsibility.
Tension with the US
In 1995 two Marines and a sailor kidnapped and raped a 12 year old girl and left her for dead, and under the Status of Forces Agreement with the U.S., local police and prosecutors were unable to get access to the troops until they were able to prepare an indictment. Many locals viewed this as unfair treatment that created an undue burden on their ability to investigate the case and bring the perpetrators to justice. All three were later convicted in a Japanese court. Later revisions to the agreement were made, but many observers viewed them as cosmetic. This is not an isolated case with many crimes being reported including the alleged rape attempt by Major Michael Brown who was convicted of molestation on the 8th July 2004. Crimes committed by U.S. soldiers are an issue at many overseas U.S. bases, but Okinawan officials have complained that the high concentration of U.S. bases inflicts a special burden on them compared to mainland Japan.
Other complaints are that the military bases disrupt the lives of the Okinawan people, the bases occupy more than a fifth of the main island. The biggest and most active airforce base in east Asia is based on the island, the islanders complain that this produces large amounts of noise and is dangerous in other ways. In 1959 a jet fighter crashed into a school on the island killing 17 children and injuring 121. In 2004 a US military helicopter crashed into a college on the island, injuring the three crew members on board. The US military prevented the local police from participating in the investigation of the crash.
Whilst the bases do provide revenue it is claimed that they are holding the island's development back. Base related revenue makes up 5 percent of the total economy. If the US vacated the land it is claimed that the island would be able to generate more money from tourism by the increased land that they would be able to develop.
External references
- Feifer, George (1992), Tennozan