Ryukyuans

From Free net encyclopedia

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 southern Japan, located between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Politically, they live in either the Okinawa Prefecture or the 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.

1 Ryukyuan ethnic identity
2 History
3 First Documentation and Origins of Ryukyuan People
4 Further reading
5 See also
6 External links

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Ryukyuan ethnic identity

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. Despite the lack of consensus amongst the Ryukyuans, they are in fact conscious of their ethnic identity as Uchinanchu (people of Uchinau, the Ryukyu name for Okinawa), as opposed to Yamatunchus (mainland Japanese people).

Image:Kamekoubaka.jpg

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History

The Ryukyuan islands were unified by the Ryukyuan Kingdom in the 12th century. The islands paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and then the Qing Dynasty. In the early 17th century, however, the kingdom was conquered by Satsuma-han of Kyushu. Satsuma kept the kingdom nominally alive because of 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 were occupied by the U.S. In 1972, the Ryukyus were returned to Japan, but social and political conflict persist concerning the perceived ongoing discrimination by mainland Japanese people and conflict over U.S. military presence.

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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 Japanese islands, the Philippines, the Malayo-Indonesian islands, Polynesia, Melanesia and Madagascar.

The very kinship between the Ryukyuan languages and the Japanese language suggests their common origin in immigrants from eastern China in later times than the Austronesians, most likely the 4th century BC founders of the Yayoi rice-cultivating culture or the 4th century AD founders of Kofun era horse-riding conquerors of Japan from the Korean kingdom of Baekje, or Kudara.

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