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The group=nb are a Japonic-speaking East Asian ethnic group indigenous to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch from the island of Kyushu to the island of Taiwan. With Japan, most Ryukyuans live in the Okinawa Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. They speak the Ryukyuan languages, one of the branches of the Japonic language family along with the Japanese language and its dialects.
Ryukyuans are not a recognized minority group in Japan, as Japanese authorities consider them a subgroup of the Japanese people, akin to the Yamato people. Although officially unrecognized, Ryukyuans constitute the largest ethnolinguistic minority group in Japan, with more than 1.4 million living in the Okinawa Prefecture alone. Ryukyuans inhabit the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture as well, and have contributed to a considerable Ryukyuan diaspora.
Ryukyuans have a distinct culture with some matriarchal elements, an indigenous religion and a Okinawan cuisine where rice was introduced fairly late (12th century). The population lived on the islands in isolation for many centuries. In the 14th century, three separate Sanzan period merged into the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1872), which continued the maritime trade and Tribute relations started in 1372 with Ming dynasty. In 1609, the Satsuma Domain (based in Kyushu) invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Kingdom maintained a fictive independence in Vassal state status, in a dual subordinate status to both China and Japan, because Tokugawa Japan was Haijin to trade (directly) with China.
During the Japanese Meiji era, the kingdom became the Ryukyu Domain (1872–1879) after its political Annexation by the Empire of Japan. In 1879, the Ryukyu Domain was abolished, and the territory was reorganized as Okinawa Prefecture, with the last king (Shō Tai) forcibly exiled to Tokyo. China renounced its claims to the islands in 1895. During this period, the Meiji government, which sought to assimilate the Ryukyuans as Japanese (Yamato people), suppressed Ryukyuan ethnic identity, tradition, culture, and language. After World War II, the Ryūkyū Islands were occupied by the United States between 1945 and 1950 and then from 1950 to 1972. Since the end of World War II, many Ryukyuans have expressed strong resentment against the extensive U.S. military facilities stationed in Okinawa and Tokyo's handling of related issues.
United Nations special rapporteur on discrimination and racism Doudou Diène, in his 2006 report, noted a perceptible level of discrimination and xenophobia against the Ryukyuans, with the most serious discrimination they endure linked to their opposition of American military installations in the archipelago.
Their usual ethnic name derives from the Chinese name for the islands, (also spelled as Loo Choo, Lew Chew, Luchu, and more), which in the Japanese language is pronounced . In the Okinawan language, it is pronounced . In their indigenous language they often call themselves and their identity as Uchinānchu. Another endonym is Shimanchu (). These terms are rarely used outside of the ethnic community, and are politicized markers of a distinct culture.
"Ryukyu" is an other name from the Chinese side, and "Okinawa" is a Japanese cognate of Okinawa's indigenous name "Uchinā", originating from the residents of the main island referring to the main island against the surrounding islands, Miyako and Yaeyama. Mainland Japanese adapted Okinawa as the way to call these people.
According to archaeological evidence, there is cultural and genetic differentiation between Northern Ryukyuan islands (Amami Islands and Okinawa Islands) and Southern Ryukyuan islands (Miyako Islands and Yaeyama Islands). The differentiation was especially pronounced between Okinawa and Miyako. It arose due to Holocene-era divergence between the populations and subsequent genetic drift rather than admixture with neighboring populations. There is also evidence of Amami islanders being more related to mainland Japanese than Okinawan islanders. But overall, mainland Japanese are genetically the closest to Ryukyuans, followed by Koreans and Chinese. Taiwanese aborigines are genetically distant from Ryukyuans despite being neighbors, with no evidence of gene flow from the former. According to an autosomal DNA analysis of Okinawan samples, they are closely related to contemporary East Asian populations, especially Japanese populations. They exhibit about 80% admixture with mainland Japanese, followed by 19% admixture with Chinese populations. They also have isolate characteristics.
The female mtDNA and male Y chromosome markers are used to study human migrations. The research on the skeletal remains from the Neolithic Shell midden period (also known as Kaizuka period) in Okinawa, as well from the Gusuku Period, showed predominance of female haplogroups D4 and M7a and their genetic continuity in the contemporary female population of Okinawa. It is assumed that M7a represents "Jomon genotype" introduced by a Paleolithic ancestor from Southeast Asia or the South Asia, around the Last Glacial Maximum with the Ryukyu Islands as one of the probable origin spots; in contrast, the frequency of the D4 haplogroup is relatively high in populations, including in Japan, indicating immigrant Yayoi people, probably by the end of the late Kaizuka period, while haplogroup B4 presumably ancient aboriginal Taiwanese ancestry. However, as in the contemporary Japanese population M7 showed a decrease, whereas the frequency of the haplogroup N9b showed an increase from the south to north direction, it indicates that the mobility pattern of females and males was different as the distribution of Y haplogroups do not show a geographical gradient in contrast to mtDNA, meaning mainly different maternal origins of the contemporary Ryukyuan and Ainu people. The research on the contemporary Okinawan male Y chromosome showed, in 2006; 55.6% of haplogroup D-P-M55, 22.2% O-P31, 15.6% O-M122, 4.4% C-M8, and 2.2% others. It is considered that the Y haplogroups expanded in a demic diffusion. The haplogroups D and C are considered of Neolithic and Paleolithic origin, with coalescence time of 19,400 YBP and expansion 12,600 YBP (14,500 YBP and 10,820 YBP respectively), and were isolated for thousands of years once land bridges between Japan and continental Asia disappeared at the end of the last glacial maximum 12,000 YBP. The haplogroup O began its expansion circa 4,000–3,810 years ago, and thus the haplogroups D-M55 and C-M8 belong to the Jomon's male lineage, and haplogroup O belongs to the Yayoi's male lineage. Haplogroup M12 is considered as mitochondrial counterpart of Y chromosome D lineage. This rare haplogroup was detected only in Yamato Japanese, Koreans, and Tibetans, with the highest frequency and diversity in Tibet.
According to a 2019 study, Ryukyuans shared some facial features with Ainu but there were also some differences. Specifically, they retained the phenotypes of Neolithic Shell midden-era populations. Compared to mainland Japanese, Ryukyuans were shorter, had broader faces and lower facial and nasal heights. But they also had broader nasal bones and more prominent glabellas and nasal roots. Their non-metric dental characteristics were intermediate between the Sinodonty of mainland Japanese and Sundadonty of Ainu. Another study suggests that phenotypes associated with both Jōmon and Yayoi populations are better preserved in the southernmost regions of the Japanese archipelago since northern Japan was significantly impacted by Northeast Asian-led migrations.
A 2024 study analyzed two Jōmon-era remains from the Ryukyuan islands; the 'Minatogawa I' and 'Shiraho 4'. 'Minatogawa I' resembled Wajak crania from Indonesia than to Peking Man and Liujiang man individuals from China and had morphological affinities with Australo-Melanesians. 'Shiraho 4', on the other hand, resembled prehistoric Southeast Asians, along with mainland Jōmon and Mintogawa.
The finding of ancient Chinese knife money near Naha in Okinawa indicates a probable contact with the ancient Chinese state Yan as early as the 3rd century BCE. According to the , the Yan had relations with the Wa ('dwarf', 'short') people living southeast of Korea, who could be related to both the mainland Japanese or Ryukyuans. The futile search for the elixir of immortality by Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), in which the emperor tried to cooperate with "happy immortals" who dwelt on the islands, could be related to both Japan and Ryukyu Islands. There is a lack of evidence that the missions by the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) reached the islands; however, as the Japanese did reach Han's Luoyang, notes from 57 CE do mention a general practice of tattooing among the people of "hundred kingdoms" in the eastern islands, a practice which was widespread and survived only among the Okinawan's women, Ainu in Hokkaido, and Atayal people in Taiwan. Cao Wei (220–265) and Han dynasty records show that the inhabitants of western and southern Japan and Okinawa had a lot in common regarding political-social institutions until the 2nd century CE – they were of small stature, bred oxen and swine, and were ruled by women, with a special influence of women sorceresses, related to the Ryukyuan Noro priestesses which were closely associated with local political power until the 20th century, as well as with the Ryukyuan swine economy culture until World War II. It is suggested that the mention of a specific sorceress Pimeku, her death and successive conflict, is related to some socio-political challenges of the ancient Matriarchy.
The first certain mention of the islands and its people by the Chinese and Japanese is dated in the 7th century. Emperor Yang of Sui, due to previous tradition, between 607–608 held expeditions in search of the "Land of Happy Immortals". As the Chinese envoy and the islanders linguistically could not understand each other, and the islanders did not want to accept the Sui rule and suzerainty, the Chinese envoy took many captives back to the court. The islands, by the Chinese named Liuqiu (Middle Chinese: ), would be pronounced by the Japanese as Ryukyu. However, when the Japanese diplomat Ono no Imoko arrived at the Chinese capital he noted that the captives probably arrived from the island of Yakushima south of Kyushu. In 616 the Japanese annals for the first time mention the "Southern Islands people", and for the half-century were noted some intruders from Yaku and Tanu Province. According to the , in 698 a small force dispatched by Japanese government successfully claimed the Tanegashima, Yakushima, Amami Islands, Tokunoshima and other islands. The recorded that the Hayato people in southern Kyushu still had female chieftains in the early 8th century. In 699 are mentioned islands Amami and Tokara Islands, in 714 Shingaki and Kume Island, in 720 some 232 persons who had submitted to the Japanese capital Nara, and at last Okinawa in 753. Nevertheless the mention or authority, over the centuries the Japanese influence spread slowly among the communities.
During the Gusuku period (c. 1187–1314), with recent chronology dated from c. 900–950 CE, Okinawans made significant political, social and economical growth. As the center of power moved away from the seashore to inland, the period is named after many gusuku, castle-like fortifications which were built in higher places. This period is also notable, compared to mainland Japan, for fairly late introduction of agricultural production of rice, wheat, millet and the overseas trading of these goods, as well during Shubanjunki's rule the introduction of Japanese kana writing system in its older and simple phonetic form. After the years of famine and epidemic during the Gihon's rule, Eiso introduced regular taxation system (of weapons, grains and cloth) in 1264 and as the government gained strength, the control extended from Okinawa toward the islands of Kume, Kerama, Iheya, and Amami Ōshima (1266). Between 1272 and 1274, as the Mongol invasions of Japan began, Okinawa on two occasions rejected the Mongols' authority demands. To Eiso's reign period is also ascribed the introduction of Buddhism into Okinawa.
In this period, another rapid economical, social and cultural development of Ryukyu began as the polities had developed formal trade relations with Japan, Korea and China. During the Satto's reign, Chūzan made tributary relations with China's Ming dynasty in 1374 as the Hongwu Emperor sent envoys in 1372 to Okinawa. In the next two decades Chūzan made nine official missions to the Chinese capital, and the formal relations between them endured until 1872 (see Imperial Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom). Despite significant Chinese economical, cultural and political influence, the polities continued to maintain strong autonomy. In 1392, all three polities began to send extensive missions to the Korean Joseon kingdom. In 1403, Chūzan made formal relations with the Japanese Ashikaga shogunate, and an embassy was sent to Thailand in 1409. The contacts with Siam continued even in 1425, and were newly made with places like Palembang in 1428, Java in 1430, Malacca and Sumatra in 1463.
As in 1371, China initiated its maritime prohibition policy (Haijin) to Japan, Ryukyu gained a lot from its position as intermediary in the trade between Japan and China. They shipped horses, sulphur and seashells to China, from China brought ceramics, copper, and iron, from southeast Asian countries bought tin, ivory, spices (pepper), wood (sappanwood), which they sold to Japan, Korea or China, as well as transporting Chinese goods to Hakata Bay from where swords, silver and gold were brought.
In 1392, 36 Chinese families from Fujian were invited by the chieftain of Okinawa Island's central polity (Chūzan) to settle near the port of Naha and to serve as diplomats, interpreters, and government officials. Some consider that many Ryukyuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers. They assisted the Ryukyuans in advancing their technology and diplomatic relations. From the same year onward Ryukyu was allowed to send official students to China i.e. Guozijian. The tributary relationship with China later became a basis of the 19th century Sino-Japanese disputes about the claims of Okinawa.
After the Kyūshū Campaign (1586–1587) by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, his assistant Kamei Korenori, who was interested in southern trade, wanted to be rewarded with the Ryukyu Islands. A paper Hand fan found during the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) mentioning a title "Kamei, Lord of Ryukyu", reveals that Hideyoshi at least nominally offered the post although he had no legitimate claim upon the islands. In 1591, Kamei ventured with a force to reclaim the islands, but the Shimazu clan stopped him as they guarded their special relationship with the Ryukyu kingdom. Hideyoshi was not very concerned about the quarrel because the invasion of Korea was more important in his mind. As the Ming's influence weakened due to disorder in China, Japanese established posts in Southeast Asia, and the Europeans (Spanish and Portuguese) arrived, the kingdom's overseas trade began to decline.
In the early 17th century during the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), the first shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu intended to subject the kingdom to enable intermediary trade with China, and in 1603 ordered the Ryukyuan king to pay his respect to the shogunate. As the king did not react, with the instruction of the shōgun, the Satsuma Domain of the Shimazu clan in Kyūshū incorporated some of kingdom's territory during the 1609 Invasion of Ryukyu. They nominally let a certain level of autonomy and independence to the kingdom due to Ming's prohibition of trade with the shogunate, but forbade them trade with other countries except China. The Amami Islands became part of Shimazu's territory, taxes were imposed, making them subordinate in the relations between Japan and China. Until the invasion, the Shimazu clan lords for four centuries had a vague title of the "Lords of the Twelve Southern Islands" or "Southern Islands", although initially meaning the near Kyushu islands, then covering all the Ryukyu Islands. Later in the 1870s this was used as a "justification" of Japan's sovereignty. From 1609 the Ryukyuan missions to Edo started which lasted until 1850.
During the rule of kings Shō Shitsu (1648–1668) and Shō Tei (1669–1709) i.e. sessei Shō Shōken (1666–1673) were recovered the internal social and economical stability with many laws about government organisation, and affairs like sugarcane production, and tax system with emphasis on agricultural production. The production was encouraged because Satsuma's annual tax deprived Ryukyu's internal resources. Although the production of sweet potatoes and sugar industry grew, the peasants were not allowed to enlarge their fields. The agricultural reforms especially continued under king Shō Kei (1713–1752) and his sanshikan advisor Sai On (1728–1752) whose Nomucho (Directory of Agricultural Affairs) from 1743 became the basis of the agricultural administration until the 19th century. In the Sakishima Islands great part of the tax was paid in textiles made of ramie. The relations with the Qing dynasty improved after their second mission when the first Ryukyuan official students were sent to China in 1688.
In the first half of the 19th century, French politicians like Jean-Baptiste Cécille unsuccessfully tried to conclude a French trade treaty with Ryukyu, with only a promise by Shuri government about the admission of Christian missionaries. However, due to extreme measures in teaching, Bernard Jean Bettelheim's propagation of Protestantism between 1846–1854 was obscured by the government.
In 1875, the Ryukyuans were forced to terminate their tributary relations with China, against their preference for a state of dual allegiance to both China and Japan, something a then-weakened China was unable to stop. A proposal by the 18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant for a sovereign Okinawa and the division of the other islands between China and Japan was rejected, with a last-minute decision by the Chinese government not to ratify the agreement rendering it null. On three occasions between 1875 and 1879, the last Ryukyuan King, Shō Tai, refused to submit to the demands placed upon his people, and in 1879, his domain was formally abolished and established as Okinawa Prefecture, forcing his move to Tokyo with the reduced status of Viscount.
Members of the Ryukyuan aristocratic classes such as Kōchi Chōjō and Rin Seikō continued to resist annexation for almost two decades; however, following the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), both Chinese and Ryukyuan interest in sovereignty faded as China renounced its claims to the island. Many historians criticise Meiji-era Japan's characterisation of the process as being considered a relatively simple administrative change, rather than the creation of Japan's first colony and the beginning of its "inner colonialism".
During the Meiji period, as with the Ainu people of Hokkaido, the Ryukyuans had their own culture, religion, traditions and language suppressed by the Meiji government in the face of forced assimilation. From the 1880s onwards, schools forbade the display of Ryukyuan styles of dress, hairstyles and other visual aspects, considering them to be backwards and inferior, with students forced to wear Japanese clothing and to assimilate into Japanese culture. Indoctrination into a militaristic and Emperor-centred ideology for children began from the age of beginning elementary school onwards; the ultimate goal of this education was a total unification of the Ryukyuans into the Yamato people, embodying the ideal of ethnic purity, with contemporary Nihonjiron literature for the time ignoring Japan's minorities). Ryukyuans often faced prejudice, humiliation in the workplace and ethnic discrimination, with the Ryukyuan elite divided into factions either in support of or in opposition to assimilation. Negative stereotypes and discrimination were common against the Ryukyuans in the Japanese society.
Around and especially after the Japanese annexation of Taiwan in 1895, Japan's developmental focus shifted away from Okinawa, resulting in a period of famine known as "Sotetsu-jigoku" ("Cycad hell"). Between 1920 and 1921, a fall in sugar prices, as well as the transfer of Japan's sugar production to Taiwan, led to Ryukyu being the poorest prefecture, despite having the heaviest taxation burden; the drop in sugar prices would continue into 1931, further worsening the situation. As a result of the ensuing economic crisis, many people were forced to either find work in Japan (often Osaka and Kobe) or abroad in Taiwan. By 1935, roughly 15% of the population had emigrated.
Okinawa comprises just 0.6% of Japan's total land mass, yet about 75% of all U.S. military installations stationed in Japan are assigned to bases in Okinawa. The presence of the military remains a sensitive issue in local politics. Negative feelings toward the mainland Government, Emperor (especially Hirohito due to his involvement in the sacrifice of Okinawa and later military occupation), and U.S. military (USFJ, SACO) have often caused open criticism and protests, for example by 85,000 people in 1995 after the U.S. military rape incident, and by 110,000 people in 2007 due to the Japanese Ministry of Education's textbook revisions (see MEXT controversy) which critics say downplays the involvement of the Japanese military in the forced mass suicide of the civilians during the Battle of Okinawa. For many years the Emperors avoided visiting Okinawa, with the first ever in history done by Akihito in 1993, since it was assumed that his visits would likely cause uproar, as in July 1975 when Akihito as a crown prince visited Okinawa and a firebomb was thrown at him, although these tensions have eased in recent years. Discrimination against Okinawans both past and present on the part of the mainland Japanese is the cause of their smoldering resentment against the government. There is a small post-war Ryukyu independence movement, but there are also Okinawans who wish to be assimilated with the mainland. A poll in 2017 by the Okinawa Times, Asahi Shimbun and Ryukyusu Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (QAB) jointly conducted prefectural public opinion surveys for voters in the prefecture. 82% of Okinawa citizens chose "I'm glad that Okinawa has returned as a Japanese prefecture". It was 90% for respondents of the ages of 18 to 29, 86% for those in their 30s, 84% for those aged 40–59, 72% for respondents in their 60s, 74% for those over the age of 70.
The Okinawans have a very low age-adjusted mortality rate at older ages and among the lowest prevalence of cardiovascular disease and other age-associated diseases in the world. Furthermore, Okinawa has long had the highest life expectancy at older ages, as well has had among the highest prevalence of among the 47 Japanese prefectures, also the world, since records began to be kept by the Ministry of Health in the early 1960s despite the high birth rate and expanding population of Okinawa prefecture. This longevity phenotype has been in existence since records have been kept in Japan, and despite the well-known dietary and other nongenetic lifestyle advantages of the Okinawans (Blue Zone),Santrock, John (2008). "Physical Development and Biological Aging". In Mike Ryan, Michael J. Sugarman, Maureen Spada, and Emily Pecora (eds.): A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development (pp. 129–132). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. there may be some additional unknown genetic influence favoring this extreme phenotype. The Okinawa Centenarian Study (OCS) research team began to work in 1976, making it the world's longest ongoing population-based study of centenarians.
As the Jōmon-Yayoi transition (c. 1000 BCE) represents the formative period of the contemporary Japanese people from a genetic standpoint, it is argued that the Japonic languages are related to the Yayoi migrants as well. The estimated time of separation between Ryukyuan and mainland Japanese is a matter of debate due to methodological problems; older estimates (1959–2009) varied between 300 BCE and 700 CE, while novel (2009–2011) around 2nd century BCE to 100 CE, which has a lack of correlation with archeology and new chronology according to which Yayoi period started around 950 BCE, or the proposed spread of the Proto-Ryukyuan speakers to the islands in the 10–12th century from Kyushu. Based on linguistic differences, they separated at least before the 7th century, before or around Kofun period (c. 250–538), while mainland Proto-Ryukyuan was in contact with Early Middle Japanese until 13th century.
The Ryukyuan languages can be subdivided into two main groups, Northern Ryukyuan languages and Southern Ryukyuan languages. The Southern Ryukyuan subfamily shows north-to-south expansion, while Northern Ryukyuan does not, and several hypothetical scenarios can be proposed to explain this. It is generally considered that the likely homeland of Japonic—and thus the original expansion of Proto-Ryukyuan—was in Kyushu, though an alternate hypothesis proposes an expansion from the Ryukyu Islands to mainland Japan.
Although authors differ regarding which varieties are counted as dialects or languages, one possible classification considers there to be five Ryukyuan languages: Amami language, Okinawa language, Miyako language, Yaeyama language and Yonaguni, while a sixth, Kunigami, is sometimes differentiated from Okinawan due to its diversity. Within these languages exist dialects of local towns and specific islands, many of which have gone extinct. Although the Shuri dialect of Okinawan was historically a prestige language of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, there is no officially standardized Ryukyuan language. Thus, the Ryukyuan languages as a whole constitute a cluster of local dialects that can be considered unroofed abstand languages.
During the Meiji period and post-Meiji period, the Ryukyuan languages were considered to be dialects of Japanese and viewed negatively. They were suppressed by the Japanese government in policies of forced assimilation and into using the standard Japanese language. From 1907, children were prohibited to speak Ryukyuan languages in school, and since the mid-1930s there existed , a system of punishment for the students who spoke in a non-standard language. Speaking a Ryukyuan language was deemed an unpatriotic act; by 1939, Ryukyuan speakers were denied service and employment in government offices, while by the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, the Japanese military was commanded to consider Ryukyuan speakers as spies to be punished by death, with many reports that such actions were carried out. After World War II, during the United States occupation, the Ryukyuan languages and identity were distinctively promoted, also because of ideo-political reasons to separate the Ryukyus from Japan. However, resentment against the American occupation intensified Ryukyuans' rapport and unification with Japan, and since 1972 there has followed re-incursion of the standard Japanese and further diminution of the Ryukyuan languages.
It was considered that contemporary people older than 85 exclusively use Ryukyuan, between 45 and 85 use Ryukyuan and standard Japanese depending on family or working environment, younger than 45 are able to understand Ryukyuan, while younger than 30 mainly are not able to understand nor speak Ryukyuan languages. Only older people speak Ryukyuan languages, because Japanese replaced it as the daily language in nearly every context. Some younger people speak Okinawan Japanese which is a type of Japanese. It is not a dialect of the Okinawan language. The six Ryukyuan languages are listed on the UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger since 2009, as they could disappear by the mid-century (2050). It is unclear whether this recognition was too late, despite some positive influence by the Society of Spreading Okinawan.
The village priestesses, Noro, until the 20th century used the white cloth and magatama beads. The noro's duty was to preserve the generational fire in the hearth, a communal treasure, resulting with tabu system about the fire custodian in which they had to be virgins to maintain close communication with the ancestors. The office became hereditary, usually of the noro's brother's female child. The center of worship was represented by three heartstones within or near the house. The belief in the spiritual predominance of the sister was more prominent in Southern Ryukyus.
The introduction of Buddhism is ascribed to a 13th century priest from Japan (mostly funeral rites), while the 14th century trade relations resulted with Korean Buddhism influences (including some in architecture), as well Shinto practices from Japan. Buddhism and indigenous religion were ideological basis until 18th century, when Confucianism gradually and officially became government ideology during Shō On (1795–1802), much to the dismay of Kumemura. It was mostly important to the upper class families. Among the Catholic converts was not lost the former religious consciousness.
Until the 18th century, the Ryukyuan kings visited the Sefa-utaki (historical sacred place) caves for worship. Another traditional sacred places are springs Ukinju-Hain-ju, where was placed the first rice plantation, and small island Kudaka, where the "five fruits and grains" were introduced by divine people, perhaps strangers with agricultural techniques. The foremost account, which claimed common origin between the Japanese and Ryukyuans, was made-up by Shō Shōken in the 17th century, to end up the pilgrimage of the Ryukyu king and chief priestess to the Kudaka island.
The Eight Shrines of Ryūkyū were a group of shrines that received special status and support from the Ryukyu Kingdom's royal government. These shrines played a significant role in the religious and political life of the kingdom, as King Shō Toku worshiped Hachiman (Emperor Ōjin). Asato Hachiman Shrine is dedicated to Hachiman, while the seven others are .
During the Meiji period, the government replaced Buddhism with Shintoism as the islands' state religion. The government subsequently ordered the rearrangement of statues and the redesign of shrines and temples to incorporate indigenous deities into the national Shinto pantheon. It also placed Shinto worship before indigenous, Buddhist, and Christian practices and transformed local divinities into guardian gods. In the 1920s, the government ordered the building of Shinto shrines and the remodelling of existing shrines with Shinto architectural symbols, paid by local tax revenue, which was a financial burden due to the collapse of sugar prices in 1921 which devastated Okinawa's economy. In 1932, Shinto clergy were brought over from the mainland and housed in Okinawa.
Most Ryukyuans of the younger generations are not serious adherents of the indigenous religion anymore. Additionally, since being under Japanese control, Shinto and Buddhism are also practiced and typically mixed with local beliefs and practices.
The weight-loss Okinawa diet derives from their cuisine and has only 30% of the sugar and 15% of the grains of the average Japanese dietary intake.
The Kabura-ya (Japanese signal arrow) still has a ceremonial use for house, village or festival celebration in Okinawa.
It is considered that the rhythms and patterns of dances, like Eisa and Angama, represent legends and prehistoric heritage. Ryūka genre of songs and poetry originate from the Okinawa Islands. From the Chinese traditional instrument in the 16th century developed the Okinawan instrument from which the and the Japanese derive.
Women frequently wore indigo tattoos known as hajichi on the backs of their hands, a sign of adulthood and talisman to protect them from evil. These tattoos were banned in 1899 by the Meiji government. In remote districts their katakashira off-center topknot, similar to that of the Yami people and some Filipinos ethnic groups, among men and women also disappeared in the early 20th century.
The bashôfu, literally meaning "banana-fibre cloth", is designated as a part of Ryukyu and Japan "important intangible cultural properties". The weaving using indigenous ramie was also widespread in the archipelago, both originated before the 14th century.
Originally living in thatching houses, townsmen developed architecture modeled after Japanese, Chinese and Korean structures. Other dwellings suggest a tropical origin, and some villages have high stone walls, with similar structural counterpart in Yami people at Orchid Island.
For the categories of Cultural Properties, see the following lists: archaeological materials, historical materials, crafts, paintings, sculptures, writings, intangible, and tangible.
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