{"id":191,"date":"2010-03-04T08:49:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T08:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=191"},"modified":"2010-03-05T08:49:23","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T08:49:23","slug":"the-ryukyuans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/the-ryukyuans\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ryukyuans"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do famous people like \u3042\u3089\u304d\u3086<\/strong>, \u3042\u3080\u308d\u306a\u307f\u3048<\/strong>, and \u00a0\u306a\u304b\u307e\u3086\u304d\u3048<\/strong> have in common? Other than the fact that they’re famous in Japan and in the music\/acting industry, they all have one thing in common. That commonality\u00a0comes from\u00a0being a group of people\u00a0called \u308a\u3085\u3046\u304d\u3085\u3046\u307f\u3093\u305e\u304f<\/strong> or the Ry\u016bky\u016b People.\u00a0Currently, many Ry\u016bky\u016bans live in the\u00a0\u304a\u304d\u306a\u308f<\/strong> and \u304b\u3054\u3057\u307e<\/strong> Prefectures. The Ry\u016bky\u016bans have assimilated into Japanese society and are pretty much considered “Japanese”. However, the Ry\u016bky\u016bans are still considered by some Japanese people as an aboriginal group apart from “Japan”.<\/p>\n

For one thing, the dialect used in northern Okinawa isn’t really a dialect at all, but a separate language called \u304f\u306b\u304c\u307f<\/strong>. Culture wise, the Ry\u016bky\u016bans are considered to be very different from the Japanese. For instance, women have a strong influence in Ry\u016bky\u016ban society. In particular, women shamans and priestesses hold a revered postion in Ry\u016bky\u016ban society. Religion wise the Ry\u016bky\u016bans have a separate religion that focuses on ancestor worship. The myths and deities that are prominent in the Ry\u016bky\u016ban culture are also distinctly different from the myths of the mainland Japanese. \u306b\u3089\u3044\u304b\u306a\u3044<\/strong> is the birthplace of creation, which according to Ry\u016bky\u016ban mythology, is where the gods reside.<\/p>\n

The earliest historical references made about the Ry\u016bky\u016ban people date back to the 6th and 7th centuries. Before the 17th century, the Ry\u016bky\u016ban islands\u00a0were considered an independent kingdom apart from the Japanese. To make a long story short, the Ry\u016bky\u016bans were first\u00a0integrated into Japanese society by the \u3057\u307e\u305a <\/strong>family. In 1609, the \u3057\u307e\u305a <\/strong>pretty much attacked the Ry\u016bky\u016bans and made it a vassal state. However it was only until the late 1800s that the Ry\u016bky\u016ban islands were formally\u00a0annexed as a part of Japan, and renamed as Okinawa Prefecture.<\/p>\n

Intrestingly, many Okinawans today consider themselves “Japanese”, but\u00a0yet at the same time of Okinawan\u00a0heritage. To be truthful, there are some tensions between the Okinawans and the Japanese government. The presence of the U.S. military in Okinawa, and the feeling among Okinawans that the Japanese government has done little to remove the\u00a0military bases,\u00a0is still a contentious and lingering debate. There are some voices that are calling for Okinawa’s independence from Japan, especially those of the \u308a\u3085\u3046\u304d\u3085\u3046\u3069\u304f\u308a\u3064\u3046\u3093\u3069\u3046<\/strong> or the Ry\u016bky\u016b Independence Movement. So far though, no plans have materialized for Okinawa’s independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do famous people like \u3042\u3089\u304d\u3086, \u3042\u3080\u308d\u306a\u307f\u3048, and \u00a0\u306a\u304b\u307e\u3086\u304d\u3048 have in common? Other than the fact that they’re famous in Japan and in the music\/acting industry, they all have one thing in common. That commonality\u00a0comes from\u00a0being a group of people\u00a0called \u308a\u3085\u3046\u304d\u3085\u3046\u307f\u3093\u305e\u304f or the Ry\u016bky\u016b People.\u00a0Currently, many Ry\u016bky\u016bans live in the\u00a0\u304a\u304d\u306a\u308f and \u304b\u3054\u3057\u307e Prefectures. The Ry\u016bky\u016bans…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7766,7767],"class_list":["post-191","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-okinawa","tag-ryukyuans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}