Abstract
On July 14, 1875, Chief Secretary of Japan’s Home Ministry Michiyuki Matsuda visited Shuri in great pomp to read out the Ryukyu disposal order issued by Chancellor Sanetomi Sanjō. The order sent a shock wave throughout the Ryukyu Kingdom. The most painful aspect of the order for the Ryukyuans was the enforced severing of their tributary relationship with the Celestial Empire (the Qing Dynasty). They sighed that they simply could not forget the favors and friendship received from China for the previous 500 years.
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Notes
- 1.
Mō Seichō sent tributes to China in 1874, in accordance with the rule of sending tributes every other year. The following year, Japan forced Ryukyu to cut its tributary relationship with the Qing Dynasty, rendering Ryukyu unable to collect its tribute envoys and stranding Mō Seichō and others in Fuzhou. Later on, he joined in Shō Tokukō’s petition campaign to rescue Ryukyu.
- 2.
According to a petition of Shō Tokukō, he heard the news about Ryukyu’s subjugation from Koremasa Kogusuku in a leap third moon, which fell after April 21.
- 3.
As the husband of King Shō Tai’s elder sister (King Shō Iku’s fourth daughter), Shō Tokukō identified himself as a relative of the Ryukyuan king in his petition.
- 4.
See “The First Petition of the Ryukyuan Shikwan Shō Tokukō (14th day of the 3rd moon of the 5th year of the Guangxu Reign,” “Letters to the Zongli Yamen,” vol. 9, Collected Works of Li Hongzhang, Chin. ed., Hainan Press, Haikou, 1997, pp. 3131–3132.
- 5.
Ibid., “The Second Petition of the Ryukyuan Shikwan Shō Tokukō (fifth day of the 6th moon of the 5th year of the Guangxu Reign.”.
- 6.
Yang (1990, p. 82). Also Collected Works of Rin Seikō and Rin Seichu, Jpn. ed., Koshiishi Office, Kyoto, 1998, p. 47.
- 7.
See Mamoru (1991, p. 484). Also Collected Works of Rin Seikō and Rin Seichu, Jpn. ed., Koshiishi Office, Kyoto, 1998, p. 47.
- 8.
See Kikō (1993, p. 54).
- 9.
See Mō1963, p. 18).
- 10.
Ibid., “Memorial of the Zongli Yamen on Ryukyuan Censor Mō Seichō’s Request for Aid in Beijing,” p. 18.
- 11.
Ibid., “Memorial of the Zongli Yamen on Ryukyuan Censor Mō Seichō’s Refusal to Leave Beijing,” p. 19.
- 12.
See note 8 above.
- 13.
Ibid., p. 62.
- 14.
A reference to Shimajiri, Nakagami, and Kunigami districts in Okinawa Island.
- 15.
See note 8 above, pp. 71–72.
- 16.
Ibid., p. 74.
- 17.
Ibid., p. 90.
- 18.
Ibid., p. 88.
- 19.
See note 6 above, p. 82. A quotation from Peng Guodong, History of Chinese and Ryukyuan Poetry.
- 20.
See note 19, p. 83.
- 21.
See note 8, pp. 75–76 and the title page picture. Also, note 6, p. 84.
- 22.
Awane Asamatsu, Education History of Ryukyu, Jpn. ed., Ryukyu Education Society, Naha, 1965, p. 63.
- 23.
See note 6, p. 85.
- 24.
See note 8, p. 78.
- 25.
See note 6, pp. 83–84.
- 26.
See Ikemiya et al. (1993, p. 226).
- 27.
See note 6, p. 84.
- 28.
Cf. note 26 above, pp. 224–225. Also note 22 above, pp. 62–63, 76.
- 29.
Yang (1990, pp. 87–90). Also Collected Works of Rin Seikō and Rin Seichu, Jpn. ed., Koshiishi Office, Kyoto, 1998, pp. 65–244.
- 30.
See note 6, p. 90.
- 31.
Ibid., p. 80.
- 32.
Ibid., p. 88. Also note 8 above, p. 78, and note 22 above, p. 64.
- 33.
See note 8, p. 98.
- 34.
Ibid., p. 95.
- 35.
Toshikatsu (1967, pp. 244–246).
- 36.
Sai (1973, pp. 141–142).
- 37.
- 38.
Appendix “Memorial of the Ministry of Rites on Ryukyu’s Request for the Celestial Empire’s Military Aid in Recovering the Ryukyu Kingdom from Japan,” Historical Materials on China-Korea-Japan Relations during the Reign of Qing Emperor Guangxu, Chin. ed., Wen-hai Press, Taipei, 1963, p. 96.
- 39.
Ibid. Also note 8 above, pp. 99–100.
- 40.
See note 8, pp. 103–104.
- 41.
Ibid., p. 109.
- 42.
Ibid., p. 113.
- 43.
Ibid., p. 122.
- 44.
Ibid., p. 128.
- 45.
Several pieces on meetings with Japanese envoy Ito, “Letters to the Zongli Yamen,” Collected Works of Li Hongzhang, vols. 16 and 17.
- 46.
See note 8, p. 133.
- 47.
Ibid., p. 137.
- 48.
Ibid., p. 140.
- 49.
See Selected Historical Materials on China-Korea-Japan Relations during the Reign of Qing Emperor Guangxu, Chin. ed., Taiwan Provincial Literature Committee, Taipei, 1997, pp. 78–79.
- 50.
Ibid.
- 51.
Ibid.,”Memorial of Reader-in-Waiting Zhang Peilun at the Imperial Academy on Making a Secret Plan for Eastern Expedition to Protect the Vassal,” p. 80.
- 52.
See note 49, “Memorial of Viceroy of Zhili Li Hongzhang and Others on Discussing Deng Chengxiu’s Proposal for the Ryukyu Case,” pp. 83–86.
- 53.
Ibid., “Memorial of Viceroy of Zhili Li Hongzhang on Developing the Navy before an Eastern Expedition,” p. 89.
- 54.
Akane (2005, p. 342).
- 55.
See note 45, “Proposal to Delay the Finalization of the Ryukyu Case,” “Letters to the Zongli Yamen,” vol. 12, p. 3185.
- 56.
Ibid.
- 57.
Shiitada Atsushi, reports from Teruo et al. (2010, p. 141). Shō Tokukō died aged 48.
- 58.
Ibid.
- 59.
See note 4, “The First Petition of the Ryukyuan Shikwan Shō Tokukō.”.
- 60.
See note 57, p. 146.
- 61.
Ibid., pp. 146, 150.
- 62.
Ibid., p. 148.
- 63.
Uezato (1993, p. 219).
- 64.
Ryukyu during the Age of Exploration, Jpn. ed., Okinawa Times Press, Okinawa, 1988, p. 45.
- 65.
See note 63 above, p. 220.
- 66.
See the Naha History Compilation Department (1974, p. 143).
- 67.
See note 57, p. 158.
- 68.
See note 6, p. 67.
- 69.
Ryukyu’s last king Shō Tai died aged 59 in Tokyo, on August 19, 1901. His body was buried at the Shō Dynasty’s Tamaudun in his kingdom in present-day Okinawa Prefecture.
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Wong, T. (2022). Shō Tokukō Begs for China’s Help, Rin Seikō Tries to Secure Chinese Military Intervention. In: Approaching Sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. China Academic Library. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6546-2_10
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