Satsuma’sInvasion of Ryukyuand the Change of Geopolitical Structure in East Asia
Yuan Jia dong
Professor at the School of Geographical Science of Northeast Normal University
The late 16th and early 17th centuries saw a dramatic change of the geopolitical structure in East Asia. The strength of the Ming dynasty gradually declined due to its internal and external troubles and poor financial situation; whereas Japan rose gradually after Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully unified the country. The traditional East Asian international order, established on the basis of the tributary system centered on the Ming dynasty, was challenged by Japan. Against this background, the invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom by JapaneseFeudal Domainof Satsuma greatly impacted the existing regional geopolitical structure. With the establishment of a “dual subordination” status of the Ryukyu Kingdom, a new geopolitical structure was taking shape, in which the two big powers, China and Japan, contended with each other. The Ming dynasty’s lack of maritime consciousness and awareness of the geo-strategic importance of the Ryukyu Island, its deaf ear attitude towards Satsuma’s invasion, and especially, its tolerance towards the “dual subordination” diplomacy of the Ryukyu Kingdom encouraged Japan’s ambition of further expansion and its ultimate annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom by force. It can be said that the military conquest of the Ryukyu Kingdom by Satsuma signified the decline of the Ming dynasty and the rise of Japan.
Keywords: Japan, Satsuma domain, Ryukyu, East Asia, geopolitics
During the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the Ming dynasty gradually declined due to numerous internal and external troubles. In contrast, Japan was on the rising after Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified the country. As a result, the geopolitical situation in East Asia began to change and the traditional order established by the Ming dynasty was challenged by Japan. Aiming to play an important role in building the new order, Japan on the one hand constantly strengthened its government authority and on the other actively expanded its regional influence. To achieve this strategic goal, Hideyoshi launched two aggressive wars against Korea (Korean Wars during the reign of Emperor Wanli), then a vassal state of the Ming dynasty, respectively in 1592 and 1597. But they were defeated by Sino-Korean allied forces. After Hideyoshi's death and Tokugawa Ieyasu’s assumption of power, Japan turned its strategic target to the Ryukyu Kingdom with a poor maritime defense. In 1609, it launched the aggression against the Kingdom, another vassal state of the Ming dynasty. The Satsuma domain of Japan (hereafter referred to as Satsuma), with its great military superiority, forced the kingdom to pay tribute and concede its territory to Japan and submit to Japan. Because of the challenges from Japan, the traditional international order in East Asia began to break up.
In the study of the relations between the Ryukyu Kingdom and Japan, the focus of Chinese scholars is mainly on the process of Japan’s annexation of the kingdom after 1872, with insufficient attention paid to Satsuma’s invasion of it in 1609. In his book A Study of the History of Ryukyu, Mi Qingyu gives detailed descriptions of this event using a lot of historical materials. He Ciyi in his book “A History of Relations between Ryukyu and Japan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties” makes a relatively in-depth discussion on the change of diplomatic policies of the Tokugawa bakufu before and after the invasion. Xu Zhenjiang makes a briefly discussion on the influence of the event from the perspective of geopolitical change before and after 1609. Liu Xiaolu, based on the research results of both domestic and foreign scholars, makes a relatively systematic analysis of the causes of Satsuma’s invasion of Ryukyu. But generally speaking, our research on this issue is insufficient. In order to have a deeper understanding of the history and development of Ryukyu Islands, to safeguard China’s sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and maritime rights and interests in the East China Sea, and to properly handle Sino-Japan relations, it is important both theoretically and practically for us to have an in-depth study of the geopolitical background, historical process, main causes and influence of Satsuma’s invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom from the perspectives of history, international relations, geography, etc.
I. Pretexts and True Motives of Satsuma’s Invasion of Ryukyu
1. Reproach on the License of Navigation and Homage Ship
The Satsuma was a local government ruling the southern part of Khushu Island before “the Abolition of the Han System and Establishment of the Prefecture System”, its sphere of influence included the ritsuryōprovinces of Satsuma (western part of present-day Kagoshima Prefecture), Ōsumi (western part of present-day Kagoshima Prefecture and Osumi Islands), and Hyūga province and its districts (south-western part of present-day Miyaki Prefecture). After the establishment of bakuhan system during the Edo period(1603～1868), the regime became the Satsuma Domain, and was formally named as Kagoshima-han after Meiji Restoration. For convenience, in this article, we call this political entity as Satsuma domain during the period before and after the establishment of the Bakuhan system.
Satsuma, located in the southern part of Khushu Island of Japan, neighbored the Ryukyu Kingdom and they had a long history of relations. In 1372, the Chuzan King of the Ryukyu Kingdom became a vassal state of the Ming dynasty after receiving the investiture of Emperor Zhuang Yuanzhang. Taking the advantage of tributary trade with Ming, the kingdom actively made transit trade with Japan. To strengthen the management of the commercial ships trading between Satsuma and the Ryukyu Kingdom, in 1508, Satsuma began to issue the red-sealed certificate of navigation for the ships of Ryukyu Kingdom (shortened to navigation license). In 1566，after inherited the daimyo of Satsuma, Shimazu Yoshihisa restricted the management of the commercial ships of the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was regulated that ships without the license would be detained and the goods on board be forfeited, and the Ryukyu Kingdom was requested to follow the regulations. But this was not taken seriously by the kingdom, and some ships without license still conduct trading activities in Naha port as usual, which enraged Satsuma. In 1574, a document was sent to the Ryukyu Kingdom, in which the cases of violations of the ships of the Ryukyu Kingdom were listed and a warning was made that if the kingdom would not repent its past mistakes, the relations between the two sides would inevitably worsened.
In March, 1575, an official ship was sent by the Ryukyu Kingdom to Satsuma to congratulate Shimazu Yoshihisa’s succession of Daimyo. On the occasion, two high-ranking officials of Satsuma, Uehara Naochika andUwai Kakuken denounced the envoys from the Ryukyu Kingdom and requested them to explain the violation cases, the delay of their homage ship and the meagerness of their gift. The fact is that heavy internal affairs prohibited the kingdom from making timely on Shimazu Yoshihisa’s succession, because coincidentally when Shimazu Yoshihisa succeeded the daimyo of Satsuma, King Shō Gen passed away and King Shō Ei just ascended to the throne. Some scholars believe that, the true motive behind the denouncement of Satsuma is that, after becoming the daimyo of Satsuma for nine years and having consolidated his power foundation, Yoshihisa wanted to control the maritime trade of the Ryukyu Kingdom, with the purpose of gaining economic benefits by forcing the kingdom to accept the system of license of navigation. The delay of congratulations was just a pretext used for this purpose. This view is further proved by Satsuma’s continuous pressure on the Ryukyu Kingdom.
2. The pretexts of “borrowed money” and “tributary envoy”
In August 1588, when the daimyo of Satsuma ShimazuYoshihiropaid a visit to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Edo, the latter expressed his hope that the Ryukyu Kingdom be requested by Satsuma to formally submit to Japan. In February 1590, Shimazu Yoshihisa sent envoy to the Ryukyu Kingdom to repeat his demand that the kingdom pay tribute to Japan, otherwise it would be punished by expeditionary forces. King Sho Nei, who had ascended to the throne not long ago, was afraid of offending Japan. So he sent envoy and gifts to Satsuma to seek peace. The envoy was brought by Shimazu Yoshihisa to Edo to have an audience with Hideyoshi. In October 1591, Yoshihisa sent a letter to King Sho Nei, saying that Hideyoshi planed to attack Korea, and that a ten-month supply of provisions for 7,000 men must be delivered by the king. This request was refused by the king in a accordance with the advice of one of his Sanshikan in charge of foreign affairs, Jana Ueekata Rizan(Jana Tei Dō).
Hideyoshi sent another letter to King Sho Nei, warning: “I, though from a humble stock, am blessed by the gods to have unified Japan with my mighty forces. More than sixty domains are at my commands now, so that states from far and near vie with each other to send their congratulations and tribute. But you Ryukyu in tiny islets, counting on your far distance and geographical position, have not sent any tribute or gift so far. This letter is to inform you that, next spring I will make an expedition to Korea, for which you must send troops to join us, otherwise your kingdom will be the first to be annihilated.” Facing this menace, King Sho Nei eventually provided half of the provisions demanded, the left of which was advanced by Satsuma, who requested that the Ryukyu Kingdom pay it back later. Jana Ueekata Rizan acceded to the request. With this, the Ryukyu Kingdom owed the Satsuma a sum of “borrowed money”, which would afterward be used as an excuse of Satsuma’s invasion of Ryukyu.
At the end of 1602, a Ryukyuan tribute ship drifted to Michinoku region of Japan (northeastern Honshu Island) in a storm, and was rescued by the local people. Early 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered his retainer Honda Masazumi to hand over the Ryukyu crew to Satsuma. Following Tokugawa Ieyasu’s instructions, the crew was sent back by Satsuma to the Ryukyu Kingdom, which was required to send envoy and tribute as sign of gratitude. In February 1604, the Ryukyu Kingdom was urged by the daimyo of Satsuma ShimazuIehisa to send envoy and tribute to the Edo shogunate, which was ignored by King Sho Nei.
In July 1605, Ieyasu ordered the daimyo of Hirado Matsuura Shigenobu to contact the Ryukyu Kingdom, proposing the same request, which was again refused. Tokugawa Ieyasu regarded the king of Ryukyu as disrespectful. In August 1606, in his letter to Matsuura Shigenobu, Ieyasu expressed his dissatisfaction with the king and showed his intention of making punitive expedition to attack the kingdom. In May 1607, Ieyasu ordered Satsuma to repeat the urge; In September 1607, Iehisa sent an envoy to the Ryukyu Kingdom to make a final demarche on the issue. The repeated requests of the Edo Shogungate and Satsuma were absolutely rejected by Jana Ueekata Rizan. The issue of “tribute and envoy of gratitude” was used as another excuse for Satsuma’s invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
3. The true motive of Satsuma’s invasion of the Ryukyu Kingdom
The Shimazu clan had been governing the vast areas of the southern part of Kyushu since Shimadzu Tadahisa was appointed by the Kamakura shogun Minamoto Yoritomo as the protector of Satsuma, Osumi, and Hyuga in 1197. At the end of the Sengoku period ,(the Warring States period of Japan)（1493～1590），the increasingly powerful Satsuma began to expand to central and northern Kyushu, and successively conquered the provinces of Hyuga (most of present-day Miyazaki prefecture), Higonokuni (most of present-day Kumamotoprefecture), Hizen (most of present-day Nagasaki prefecture and Saga prefecture). Facing the overwhelming offensive forces of Satsuma, the provinces in northern Kyushu, such as Buzen (north-eastern part of present-day Fukuoka prefecture and northern part of Oita prefecture), Bungo (most of present-day Oita prefecture), Chikuzen (western part of present-day Fukuoka prefecture), Chikugo (southern part of present-day Fukuoka prefecture) turned to Toyotomi Hideyoshi for help. In October 1585, Hideyoshi requested Satsuma to stop its military operation, which was refused. In July 1586, Hideyoshi sent expeditionary army to Satsuma and conquered it in Kyushu in May 1587
The defeat precipitated Satsuma into financial crisis. In addition to the loss of much of the land it had grabbed previously, the military expense of more than 13,000 samurais constituted an unbearable financial burden for it. Plus, due to its location in the volcanic zone with soil type of mainly volcanic ash deposit, Satsuma was an underdeveloped agricultural area with a poor economic basis, and the people there lived in poverty. But ShimazuIehisa was reluctant to solve the financial problem by raising taxes for fear of causing dissatisfaction of the officials in his domain. However, inner turmoil resulted from excessive military forces concerned him a lot. So, transferring internal contradictions became one of the motives of Iehisa’s invasion of Ryukyu.
Apart from that, located in the southernmost end of the Japanese archipelago, and far from the power center of Japan both in space and time distance, Satsuma had always sought to establish an independent power, for which a strong economy capable of supporting big military forces was a necessity. Just as Japanese scholar Kamiya Nobuyuki points out, to transfer internal contradictions and fulfill its political ambition of building an independent power, which was beyond its economic basis, Satsuma made a desperate policy towards Ryukyu. This was the motive of Satsuma’s invasion of Ryukyu.