In the Meiji Reform period, the Japanese government overthrew the Sho dynasty and completely occupied the kingdom. Okinawa Island has become one of the prefecture of the empire of Japan and Amami Island which belonged to the Satsuma domain has became a part of Kagoshima prefecture in present day.
King Sho Tai, the last king of Ryukyu kingdom was invited to stay in Tokyo and was given the title of Kochaku, a comparison of Duke by the empeoror.
The Ryukyuan fought for their freedom many times but were eradicated by the Meiji government, aside from the Ryukyuan, the Chinese government sent try to liberate them by sending the protest letters but not succeed.
กษัตริย์โช ไท กษัตริย์องค์สุดท้ายของอาณาจักรริวกิว King Sho Tai, the last king of Ryukyu kingdom (Picture : wikipedia)
Though the Ryukyu kingdom has fallen, its legacy has been left for the new generations to study and has become a part of Japanese culture.
1. Shuri castle
The enormous castle on the highest slope of Okinawa Island, the castle has been painted in red referring to being mighty and illustrious, influenced by Chinese culture, the roof was the same design of the Japanese castle.
In World War 2, the castle was used as the Japanese army Headquarter on Okinawa Island which was the last defend of the empire of Japan. The castle was bombarded by USS Missouri and the other ships in Operation Iceberg and was completely destroyed.
The castle was rebuilt in 1989 by referring to the history, photographs and the memory of the locals. Later in 2019, the big fire occurred and destroyed 4 buildings.
2. The martial art named "Karate"
Karate is well-known as one of the Japanese martial arts, but this fighting style was invented by the Ryukyuan people. They adapted the Chinese martial art and innovated. Karate has the beautiful movement but aggressive, just one attack could suddenly knockdown the opponent. Nowadays, Karate is the popular fighting style, the people practice for defending themselves or sport.
3. The Ryukyuan language
It's not included as one of the Japanese dialects or accents because they are not mutual intelligible except the loan Japanese words. Nowadays, the Okinawa population still speaking it, especially the old generation but the new generation tend to speak Japanese which is the educational language.
ทหารญี่ปุ่นกำลังออกกำลังกายที่ลานหน้าท้องพระโรง The Japanese soldiers were exercising in front of the throne hall. (Picture : www.medium.com)
คาราเต้ ศิลปะการต่อสู้ประจำชาติของญี่ปุ่น Karate, the Japanese martial art. (Picture : http://j2n-ma.blogspot.com/)