Ryukyuan culture (琉球の文化, ''Ryūkyū no bunka'') are the cultural elements of the indigenous

Ryukyuan people The Ryukyuan people ( ryu, 琉球民族 (るーちゅーみんずく), Ruuchuu minzuku or ryu, どぅーちゅーみんずく, Duuchuu minzuku, label=none, ja, 琉球民族/りゅうきゅうみんぞく, Ryūkyū minzoku, also Lewchewan or L ...

, an ethnic group native to

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

and parts of

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

in southwestern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The cultural elements of the Ryukyuans are far from a unified entity, with different islands having their own distinct subculture and practices. Furthermore, the inhabitants of the

Tokara The is an archipelago in the Nansei Islands, and are part of the Satsunan Islands, which is in turn part of the Ryukyu Archipelago. The chain consists of twelve small islands located between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. The islands have a tota ...

and

Ōsumi Islands The is an archipelago in the Nansei Islands, and are the northernmost group of the Satsunan Islands, which is in turn part of the Ryukyu Archipelago. The chain extends from the southern tip of Kyushu to Yakushima. Administratively, the group belo ...

are of Yamato Japanese descent, akin to the inhabitants of mainland Japan.

Music

There are many styles of music exclusive to the Ryukyu Islands. The most popular one is arguably the genre of eisa from the

Okinawa Islands The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Kagoshi ...

. It typically incorporates dancing, taiko drums and the three-stringed

sanshin The is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese (). Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Origins Its close resemblance in both appearance a ...

(Okinawan

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

). In the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is an archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is southwest o ...

of Kagoshima, a musical style known as

shima-uta is a genre of songs originating from the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture of southwestern Japan. It became known nationwide in the 2000s with the success of young pop singers from Amami Ōshima such as Hajime Chitose and Atari Kōsuke. Nam ...

has gained recent popularity in mainland Japan as a result of its usage by contemporary singers. Besides eisa and shima-uta, there are many more traditional styles of Ryukyuan music, many of which cannot be found in mainland Japan. The musical culture also differs heavily between each island group. For example, eisa is not popularized in most of the Amami Islands (with the exception of Yoron and

Okinoerabu , also known as Okinoerabu, is one of the Satsunan Islands, classed with the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. The island, 93.63 km² in area, has a population of approximately 14,000 persons. Administratively it is divided into th ...

). The Amami Islands also have their own version of the Okinawan sanshin, differing in both material and sound. Today, traditional Ryukyuan music still maintains a heavy presence in the Nansei Islands. New genres have also been created by mixing folk music with modern instruments and techniques.

Languages

Traditionally, the Ryukyuan people spoke the

Ryukyuan languages The , also Lewchewan or Luchuan (), are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family. Al ...

, a sub-branch of the

Japonic language family Japonic or Japanese–Ryukyuan, sometimes also Japanic, is a language family comprising Japanese, spoken in the main islands of Japan, and the Ryukyuan languages, spoken in the Ryukyu Islands. The family is universally accepted by linguists, and ...

. Conservatively, there are six Ryukyuan varieties in total: the Okinawan,

Kunigami is a village in Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the north tip of Okinawa Island, with the East China Sea to the west, Pacific Ocean to the east, and villages of Higashi and Ōgimi to the south. As of 2015, the village ...

, Miyakoan, Yaeyama,

Yonaguni , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean proper. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okina ...

and Amami languages. They are not mutually intelligible with

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, nor with each other for the most part.

Origins

When the

Yayoi people The were an ancient ethnicity that migrated to the Japanese archipelago from Korea and China during the Yayoi period (300 BCE–300 CE). Although highly controversial, a single study that utilized radiometric dating techniques inconclusively ...

migrated to the Japanese archipelago from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, they likely brought over the

Proto-Japonic Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese–Ryukyuan is the reconstructed language ancestral to the Japonic language family. It has been reconstructed by using a combination of internal reconstruction from Old Japanese and by applying the comparative metho ...

language. Between the 2nd and 9th centuries, Japonic speakers inhabited the Ryukyu Islands. While the exact time frame is unknown, the Proto-Japonic language split into

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Jap ...

and Proto-Ryukyuan during the first millennium AD. There are two theories regarding the origins of Proto-Ryukyuan: # Proto-Ryukyuan was already diverging as a distinct entity from Proto-Japonic even before its speakers arrived in the Ryukyu Islands. # Proto-Ryukyuan diverged from Proto-Japonic after Yayoi migrants arrived in the Ryukyu Islands. Regardless of theory, the speech of the Ryukyuans continued to develop separately from that of the Japanese mainland.

Usage

When the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...

was an independent nation, the Ryukyuan languages were widely spoken among its people. However, after the

Ryūkyū Disposition , also Disposition of the Ryūkyūs, dispositions relating to the Ryūkyūs, or Annexation of Okinawa, was the political process during the early years of the Meiji period that saw the incorporation of the former Ryukyu Kingdom into the Empire ...

occurred in the 1870s, the kingdom was annexed into the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...

. From there, the Ryukyuan languages saw a steady decline as a result of assimilation policies. These policies were often aggressive, with

dialect card A was a system of punishment used in Japanese regional schools in the post-Meiji period to promote standard speech. During the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate most Japanese people could not travel outside of their home domain. As a resul ...

s (方言札, ''hōgen-fuda'') being issued to students who spoke Ryukyuan rather than Standard Japanese. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the discrimination against the Ryukyuan languages heightened. Thousands of Okinawan speakers were killed for "spying", as the Japanese soldiers were unable to understand them and thus were suspicious. The Ryukyuan languages continued to decline even after the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

and into the American occupation period. Today, Ryukyuan languages mainly persist among elderly inhabitants, with the majority of younger Ryukyuans being monolingual in Japanese. As a result of language mixing between Standard Japanese and a Ryukyuan substrate, new varieties of Japanese have arisen in the Ryukyu Islands. In Okinawa, this is known as Uchinaa-Yamatoguchi (Okinawan Japanese). In

Amami Ōshima , also known as Amami, is the largest island in the Amami archipelago between Kyūshū and Okinawa. It is one of the Satsunan Islands. The island, 712.35 km2 in area, has a population of approximately 73,000 people. Administratively it is d ...

, it's called Ton-futsūgo (Amami Japanese). In 2009,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

included the Ryukyuan languages in its atlas. The Yaeyama and Yonaguni languages are classified as "severely endangered", whereas the other 4 Ryukyuan varieties are "definitely endangered".

Cuisine

The cuisine of the Ryukyu Islands are a diverse collection of regional foods, and have been influenced by other cuisines as a result of trade during the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom. There have also been recent additions to local Ryukyuan cuisine as a result of American military presence. Popular dishes include

goya champuru Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

rafute Rafute is a pork belly dish in the Okinawan cuisine of the island of Okinawa, Japan. Rafute is skin-on pork belly stewed in soy sauce and brown sugar. It is traditionally considered to help with longevity. Rafute was originally a form of Okinawan ...

and

taco rice is a popular example of modern Okinawan cuisine. It consists of taco-flavored ground beef served on a bed of rice, frequently served with shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato and salsa. Charlie's Tacos, serving tacos in shells made from ...

. In the Amami Islands, a chicken-based soup known as

keihan rice is a local dish of the Amami Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture in the south of Japan. It is generally cooked with chicken, and although the exact recipe can vary, it often includes ingredients such as egg, pickles, dried shiitake, orange peel, nori ...

is popular throughout

. The historical staple food of the Ryukyu Islands was the

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

. Traditional Okinawan cuisine has recently gained international attention due to its health benefits as a result of prioritizing carbohydrates over calories. Compared to the mainland Japanese, Okinawans are 40% more likely to become

centenarian A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100 years. Because life expectancies worldwide are below 100 years, the term is invariably associated with longevity. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living cente ...

s. However, the overall life expectancy of Okinawa Prefecture has declined due to the introduction of fast food, with Okinawa recently losing its #1 spot in average longevity. Okinawan men now rank 26th out of 47 prefectures in highest average life expectancy across Japan.

Religion

The traditional beliefs of the Ryukyu Islands are known as the

Ryukyuan religion The Ryukyuan religion (琉球信仰), Ryūkyū Shintō (琉球神道), Nirai Kanai Shinkō (ニライカナイ信仰), or Utaki Shinkō (御嶽信仰) is the indigenous belief system of the Ryukyu Islands. While specific legends and traditions ...

, an animistic faith with influences from

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and other eastern religions. Practices are mainly centered around deity and ancestor worship, with different rituals being performed. These rituals are generally performed by women, as they are believed to be spiritually stronger than men. This can be reflected in the hierarchy of the Ryukyu Kingdom, where priestesses held considerable power. In the Ryukyuan religion, it's said that the Ryukyu Islands were formed by creation goddess

Amamikyu Amamichuu, or , is the creation goddess of the Ryukyu Islands in the Ryukyuan religion. Name Amamikyu's name comes from the reading of the Chinese characters 阿摩美久 or 阿摩彌姑, which were most likely written ad hoc for the Okinawan ...

, who bore three children. The first son became the king, the first daughter became the head priestess and the third child became the first farmer. These 3 children are said to be the ancestors of the Ryukyuan people. In addition to Amamikyu, there are many other gods for specific actions or objects. Much like Shinto in mainland Japan, Ryukyuan beliefs still maintain a ceremonial presence in the region.

References

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