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2 The crucial year 1945 3 The Princess Lilies 4 After 1945 5 Okinawan Tension with Japan |
Okinawan history up to 1945
When Commodore Perry visited Okinawa in 1854, he noted:
The source of modern-day Okinawans is disputed. Evidence suggests the island was never part of formal Japanese territory until annexation in 1872, although the Kingdom of the Ryukyus had been subjugated by the Shimazu clan, lords of southern Kyushu, as early as 1609, and the Okinawans also paid tribute to the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty of China. The earliest inhabitants were likely descended from crossovers via a prehistoric land bridge from modern-day China, with a later mixture of Malaysians, Micronesians, and Japanese. Others, however, basing their claims mostly on evidence from studies of physical anthropology, and more recently also genetics, take the view that the modern Okinawans are the most pure descendants of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Japanese islands (Japanese: Jōmon-jin 縄文人 "People of the Jōmon Era"). Scientists of this persuasion explain that the Hondo ("Mainland") Japanese are rather a complex mix of the prehistoric Japanese aborigines with immigrants who originated in the ancestral populations of various continental Asian peoples, especially the Koreans, Manchu-Tungus, and Chinese.
Early Chinese visitors noted the hospitality of Okinawa's islanders. Pressed between two powerful neighbors — China and Japan — it suited them well to be polite.
The Okinawan language seems to be a scion of Japanese, having split off long ago. The comparative method, a linguistic method for scientifically comparing languages and reconstructing a hypothetical "ancestor language" from which the present-day languages evolved, has proven beyond a doubt that the languages of the Ryukyu Archipelago, including Okinawan, are genetically related to the Japanese language. The dialects of the Ryukyus may all be grouped together to form one of the main branches of the Japanese-Ryukyuan language family; the other main branch is comprised of the various Japanese dialects.
The dominant economy was farming of sugar cane, and later on, the potato, without which far more Okinawans would have died in the 1945 battle. Other farmed items include guava, banana, papaya, and tobacco.
In the fifteenth and sixtenth century, Okinawans traded from Java to Japan, to China and Korea. This led to an increased level of prosperity for the kingdom.
At about the end of the sixteenth century, Japanese feudal leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered Okinawa to give men and arms for a Chinese invasion. The attack went without Okinawa's help, and the Hideyoshi meanwhile died. There was a ferocious battle of succession; the Shimazu family of Kyushu Island won — the Satsumas, the Okinawans nearest Japanese neighbors.
The Shimazu's wanted Okinawa's trade, and wanted favor with the regime in Edo (modern-day Tokyo), and the Okinawans (presumably) had not paid respects to the new regime in Kyushu. Permission to invade Okinawa was granted by the rulers in Edo.
The Okinawan invasion was in 1609. Three thousand men and more than one hundred war ships sailed from Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu. The Okinawans were nearly weaponless; many treasures were taken to Kagoshima.
The Satsuma rulers never permitted Okinawans to own arms, leading to Okinawa's most famous contribution to world culture — karate (below).
The Satsumas enacted crippling taxes, taking over the island trade; we note Japan had been closed in 1636.
After Perry's "black ships" came by, the Meiji Restoration proceeded after the Meiji Emperor attained the throne in 1867. Tokyo told China that Okinawans were Japanese.
The island were formally annexed to Japan in 1879, the monarchy in Shuri Castle abolished. While they were ostensibly Japanese, Okinawans experienced extreme racism.
As a side note, the mongoose was introduced from India in 1910 to control the poisonous habu snake.
Tokyo mandated Japanese language in the slowly-expanding school system, wanting to render the islanders Japanese citizens. By 1939 there was compulsory military training. Some educated Okinawans wanted to end Okinawa's culture and become Japanese. As the Japanese rolled from one military victory to another from 1931 to 1941, when they made the arguably worst military mistake in all history at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese did seem God's chosen people; perhaps the Japanese would one day sit astride the entire world. Had they attached themselves to the right master?
Into the 1940s, Okinawans were fed a constant stream of propaganda. By 1944, Okinawans were befuddled by their Japanese masters. There were wartime shortages, women were raped, and civilian products commandeered for military use.
The year 1945 was defined by the Battle of Okinawa (which see), and the consequent annexation of Okinawa by the Americans.
The Battle of Okinawa, fought in 1945, was one of the last major battles of World War II, claiming the lives of an estimated 120,000 people.
Okinawa was the only place where there was a land battle in Japan during WW II, and it was the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War. In addition to the Japanese military people who died fighting in the Battle of Okinawa, more than one third of the civilian population, 100,000 people, died. The Okinawa victims were not only killed by bombs and shells, but also by the Japanese military.
Another point of Okinawan resentment is due to that the WWII Japanese military forced school girls to join a group known as the Princess Lilies and go to the battle front as nurses. The Princess Lilies was an organization made up of girl students, 15 to 16 years old, who participated in the battle as nurses. There were seven girl's high schools in Okinawa at the time of WW II. The Princess Lilies were organized at two of them, and a total of 297 students and teachers joined the group and eventually served the Army as nurses. Two hundred and eleven died. Most of the girls were put into caves, which served as temporary clinics, and took care of injured soldiers. There was no medicine, food or water. Many of the young girls died while trying to get water for the wounded soldiers. The Japanese military also told these girls that if they were taken prisoner the enemy would rape and then kill them, and then gave the girls hand grenades to commit suicide with before being taken prisoner. One of the Princess Lilies explains this by saying, "We had a strict imperial education, so being taken prisoner was the same a being a traitor. We were taught to prefer suicide to becoming a captive." --(Moriguchi, 1992) Many students died saying "Tenno Banzai." which means "Long live the Emperor."
The board of education, made up entirely of mainland Japanese, required the girls' participation. Teachers opposed to the board of education, insisting the students be evacuated to somewhere safe, were accused of being traitors.
The Americans were under strict orders not to harm civilians, but there were atrocities such as the Cave of the Virgins, where many Okinawan school girls commited suicide. The school girls jumped off of the cliffs for fear of being raped by the "invaders". A fear put into their heads by the Japanese military.
The island was occupied by the United States as a result of World War II.
Okinawa remains the poorest prefecture of Japan as of this writing (August 2003).
Many Okinawans refuse to raise the Japanese flag at official events, because of the flag's perceived link to Japan's emperor, the Japanese Imperial Military, and the World War II Battle of Okinawa. The Japanese flag reminds many Okinawans of the worst aspects of Japanese imperialism.
On October of 1987, Mr. Syoichi Chibana burned the Japanese flag while it was being raised for the Kaiho National Athletic meet in Yomitan, Okinawa. This incident not only shocked Japanese, but also Okinawans.
The crucial year 1945
The Princess Lilies
After 1945
On November 21, 1969 US President Richard Nixon and Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato agreed in Washington, DC on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. Under terms of the agreement, the US retained its rights to bases on the island, but those bases were to be nuclear-free. The United States military still controls about 19% of the island, and this presence is subject to much controversy: while the Americans give jobs to the locals and pay much rent on land, some Americans have committed serious crimes on the island. ((And some Americans have been accused of committing crimes when in fact they were "set up" by factions interested in getting the US forces removed from Okinawa.)) ((Not an indictment of the text you have here but of the way in which you present the facts. They seem to be somewhat slanted against the US. Understandibly perhaps, but slanted nonetheless.))Okinawan Tension with Japan