Introduction
The Ryukyuans are also known as the Lwechewan people. The Ryukyuans are the autochthones who are located in the Ryukyu Islands between the Taiwan and Kyushu Islands. The main subgroups of the Ryukyuans are the Okinawans, Amamians, Miyakoans, Yonagunians and Yaeyamans. The Ryukyuans mainly speak Japanese and dialects Japanese, a number of languages within the Japonic language families and some languages in the Ryukyuan language family. Because of the need to maintain the determined course of discussion, the discourse sticks to the Ryukyuans of Japan.
Because of the need to limit this ethnography to the Ryukyuans of Japan, the study factors the indigenous group of inhabitants of the Ryukyu archipelago. The ethnographic study and composition is aided by five community leaders and is also further informed by an active mingling with the community. The information obtained is therefore both firsthand and secondhand. The five community leaders are people who are deeply integrated into the community’s way of life and identity, so that the magnitude of their statements is made credible by this degree of familiarity, socialization and acculturation. It is also important to note that the community leaders are not holding the same position by virtue of age alone. On the contrary, the community leaders are also learned enough to represent the community in matters legal, human rights and international justice.
The area that the Ryukyuans of Japan mainly occupy is the Ryukyu archipelago. The Ryukyu archipelago covers the southwestern part of the main Japanese island and the Okinawa Island. The Ryukyu who are situated in Taipei, Manila, Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai are left out, so as to limit the ethnographic study to Japan or the Ryukyuans of Japan.
The Ryukyuans are known to have had a high affinity towards the vestiges of modern technology. Specifically, as early as 1450s, the Kingdom of Ryukyu had already possessed firearms. Their cache of firearms which they used for territorial defense, they called hyaa. The hyaa consisted of hand-weapons, gunpowder and cannons, among other items. The form of the cannon the Ryukyuans used was known to them as Ishibiya. Several Ishibiya were mounted at Mie to defend the port of Naha against the invading Satsuma ships, in 1609. These firearms had been obtained through the interaction with the Chinese. The Ryukyuans nevertheless did not make an immense use of their cannons and arquebuses but mostly limited their use to royal processions. However, the Ryukyuans extensively used the firearms to defend themselves against the 1609 invasion of Satsuma Han Samurai. The arrival of the European matchlocks on the other hand led to the facing out of the hyaa since they were superior.
Economy of the Ryukyuans
A larger part of the Ryukyuans used to engage in farming. However, the size of the farming population fell, though quarter of the Okinawa Island is still cultivated. Sweet potatoes, rice, soybeans and sugarcane are some of the main crops that are cultivated in the island of Okinawa. Other crops that are popular in the region were barley, millet and Irish beans. Sugarcane was introduced in the island in 1623. The fruits that have been being grown in the area include green beans, wax melons, muskmelons, tomatoes, bananas, cucumbers, pumpkins and eggplants. The animals that were kept for food and cash include goats, pigs, rabbits, oxen and horses. The locals also practice fishing as a principal economic occupation. Some of the species that are caught in these fishing expeditions include bonito, sea bream, sea turtle, globefish and whitefish. The Ryukyuans’ dinner table will not miss miso soup, sweet potatoes, noodles and vegetables.
The aforementioned crops are not only famous in the island, but also serve as the mainstay of food processing activities in the area. Other activities that take place in the island include oil refineries, export-import trade and tourism. As touching the export-import trade, some of the commodities that are produced and sold in the island include fish cakes, tobacco, charcoal, seaweed, dried bonito, firewood and sea salt. Other economically relevant in the island include limestone quarrying, cattle-raising, making tea, distillation, tanning and raising silk cocoons.
The Ryukyuans also deal in a colorful batik fabric that is known as bingata. The bingata kimonos were a preserve of the Naha’s aristocrats, with the earliest piece dating back to the 1470s. The bingata, Tsubaya lacquer ware and pottery are some of the chief exports from the Ryukyuan islands.
Political system of the Ryukyuans
The political administration of the Ryukyuans consisted of several administrative units. Some of these include the fiefs of the Aji which were basically, a hereditary administrative district (known as majiri). The majiri existed and served under the aegis of a centralized government known as Shuri. The Shuri was in turn appointed district officers. The district in turn was made up of many villages known as Mura. The Mura was the main land-distributing unit under the Ryukyuans’ communal land tenure system.
Even to date, most of these autochthonous districts remain under the guidance of the Meiji government. Presently, the villages are known as son and ku, respectively. Ever island make up a village, except for larger islands which may constitute several villages. The main functions of the district government at the present include collection of taxes and record keeping of documents such as land and household registers. The mayor presiding over the district is elected after the fulfillment of every four-year term in office. The departments that fall within the jurisdiction of the soncho (district mayor) include school affairs, finance, general affairs, industry, agriculture, public welfare, land affairs, social affairs, industry and economy.
Ryukyuans Language and Organization
As previously stated, the Ryukyuans speak different languages such as Uchinagichi, Miyako, Yonaguni, Yaeyama and other Ryukyuan dialects. All these dialects that the Ryukyuans speak fall under the Japonic language family. The Japanese language also falls under the Japonic language family. Many Ryukyuans have since migrated to several other parts of the Japan such as Tokyo and Okinawa. Most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa prefecture. The Okinawa prefecture comprises the islands in the Ryukyu archipelago. The Ryukyuans living in the Amami Islands were politically severed from other Ryukyus before being incorporated into the Kagoshima prefecture, in 1953.
Ryukyuans Food and Traditional Cuisine
According to research conducted by scholars such as Howell state that the Ryukyuans of Japan have a strong sense of awareness on marine environmental protection. This is explained partly by the traditional cuisine that the Ryukyuans of Japan observed. The Ryukyuans of Japan are known to have had close-knit family ties and close relationships. The families would fish together but within the confines of the stipulations that had been made by the elders. This close-knit family ties and the stipulations made by the elders informed the dietary factors that in turn made the Ryukyuans of Japan people with the world’s longest longevity. Partly, the Ryukyuans have a longer longevity because of a traditional cuisine which is rich in minerals, vitamins and a favorable balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Areas occupied by the Ryukyuans of Japan are also known for their magnanimity in pork, rice, black sugar and rich miso. There is also the bitter melon known as Goya. Goya is not only mixed with rice dish, but is also famous among tourists who visit Japan and the oriental world (Howell, 538).
Ryukyuans Religious Organization
Tomiyama observes that Ryukyuans of Japan have their own indigenous religion. The autochthonous Ryukyuan religion bestows a lot of importance on the role that women discharge in matters concerning spirituality. It is for this reason that there are many Ryukyuan women who have served in positions as high as guardians of hearth and homes and shamans. Most houses belonging to Ryukyuans have shisa statutes in front of them. This cultural and religious observation is informed by the community’s belief that the female spirit is relatable to the inside while the male spirit is relatable to the outside. The male spirit is therefore tasked with going into the shishi statues when the man is inside the house and inhabits him when he makes an exit. This measure wards off negative interaction and succors the inside spirit from being conquered by the outside spirit (Tomiyama, 165 – 179).
According to Matsumori, despite the highly spiritual nature of the religion and the integral coexistence between Ryukyuans religion and culture, not so many Ryukyuans of Japan are adhering to the religious and spiritual dictates of this religion. This is because the younger generation of Ryukyuans has been infused with elements of modernity and has been considerably detached from the older generation. Matsumori contends that it is for this reason that the older generation is trying to bridge the generational gap between itself and the younger generation through cultural avenues. Some of the cultural avenues that are being expended to this extent include dances and the use of language as a medium of cultural preservation and conveyance (Matsumori, 19).
Another factor that has greatly contributed to the atrophying of the strength and influence of the Ryukyuan religion is the infiltration of other religions and faiths into the area. Specifically, given that the Ryukyuans of Japan live in area or country that is under the control of Japan, Buddhism, Confucianism and Shintoism have become competitors over Ryukyuans’ religious space.
According to the five elders, there are systematic and structural measures which the Japanese government has made to stunt the spread of the culture of the Ryukyuans of Japan. Specifically, this group contends that there have been both systematic oppressive and coercive measures that have been meted out against the Ryukyuan languages. These measures are still in place today and heretofore still inform the government’s reluctance to acknowledge the fact that the Ryukyuans of Japan speak languages that are distinct from the Japanese. Again, the Japanese government has continued to facilitate the assimilation of Ryukyuans into mainstream Japanese culture and language. This systematic and calculated government-sponsored execution of linguicide against Ryukyuan languages is also being oiled by the emergence of the Ryukyuans’ younger generations in Okinawa and outlying islands. This is because this younger generation is culturally and linguistically alienated from the culture and language of the Ryukyuans of Japan.
Ryukyuans Social Organization
It is notable that the Ryukyuans of Japan have a culture that encompasses their total way of life. Therefore the Ryukyuan culture surpassed matters of religion, cuisine and language, to include the arts. Among the arts that the Ryukyuans of Japan observe up to the present include Karate, a form of self-defense. Karate is a form of martial arts that the Ryukyuans of Japan created, before it became adopted into gong fu and domesticated by China. The art of using Karate as a form of defense by the Ryukyuans of Japan varied from one Ryukyuan city to another. Because of this, some Ryukyuans refer to Karate as Shuri-te, Naha-te or Tomari-te, having named them after some of their cities.
Works Cited
Howell, David L. “Sources of Ryukyuan History and Culture in European Collections.” The Journal of Asian Studies, 57.2 (1998): 538. Print
Matsumori, Akiko. Ryukyuan: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 16.1-2 (2013): 19. Print
Patrick, Heinrich. Hōgen ronsō: the great Ryukyuan languages debate of 1940. Journal of the German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo, 25.2 (2012): 167 – 187. Print
Tomiyama, Ichirō. The Critical Limits of the National Community: The Ryukyuan Subject. Social Science Japan Journal, 1.2 (2014): 165 – 179. Print
