The , also called the or the 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 of Japan as Okinawa Prefecture (i.e., one of Japan's "home" prefectures) and its decoupling from the Chinese tributary system. These processes began with the creation of Ryukyu Domain in 1872 and culminated in the kingdom's annexation and final dissolution in 1879; immediate diplomatic fallout and consequent negotiations with Qing China, brokered by Ulysses S. Grant, effectively came to an end late the following year. The term is also sometimes used more narrowly in relation to the events and changes of 1879 alone. The Ryūkyū Disposition has been "alternatively characterized as aggression, annexation, national unification, or internal reform".
Background
Early in the Edo period, with the invasion of 1609, the Ryukyu Kingdom entered into a vassal-suzerain relationship with the Japanese Satsuma Domain, also sending a series of missions over the following two hundred and fifty years to Edo, the de facto capital of Tokugawa Japan. At the same time, the Kingdom continued its tributary relationship with Imperial China, both receiving and sending missions; this dual status is sometimes reflected through a four character idiom that means . Thus the political status of the Ryūkyūs vis-à-vis the rest of Japan was exceptional in at least three ways: part of the han system, but not directly; ruled over by kings; and the locus of semi-autonomous diplomatic ties with foreign powers, despite sakoku or the "closed country" policy.
The years following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 saw not only the abolition of the han system (Ryūkyū subject for the time being to the jurisdiction of Kagoshima Prefecture) but also efforts to "consolidate" the borders of the new nation state. With the Mudan incident, the massacre of dozens of shipwrecked Ryūkyūans (from the Miyako Islands) in Qing-ruled Taiwan in 1871, the "" was brought to the fore. In May the following year, negotiations with China over the incident still ongoing, Vice Treasury Minister Inoue Kaoru proposed annexation of the Ryūkyūs, arguing that they had long been subordinate to Satsuma, and that their "return to Japanese jurisdiction" would allow for a "single system for the homeland".
Disposition
In the New Year of 1872, Narahara Shigeru and crossed to Ryūkyū where, in discussion with court officials, they agreed to waive the Kingdom's former debts to the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. Then in July, the Ryūkyū government was informed it should send its congratulations on the success of the Meiji Restoration. Prince Ie and Ginowan Uēkata were duly dispatched to Tōkyō, arriving early in September. Meeting with the Meiji Emperor on the 14th, they presented their letter (originally signed by "King of Ryūkyū, Shō Tai, Kingdom of Ryūkyū", but amended in consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to "Shō Tai of Ryūkyū") and listened to a speech by the Emperor in which he referred to the long history of subordinate status to Satsuma. The Emperor also had Minister of Foreign Affairs Soejima Taneomi read out an Imperial Proclamation in which Shō Tai was elevated to (despite the earlier abolition of the han system). According to Gregory Smits, "Strictly speaking, the establishment of the Domain of Ryukyu marked the start of the Ryūkyū shobun." This was followed a fortnight later by a decree of the Dajō-kan whereby the treaties agreed in the 1850s between the Ryūkyūs and USA, France, and the Netherlands were inherited by Tōkyō.
In May 1874, Japan launched a punitive expedition against Taiwan; Britain acting as mediator, in the peace settlement of 31 October that year, China not only agreed to pay an indemnity but also referred to the Ryūkyūans as , a fact described the following year by Gustave Boissonade as "the happiest outcome of the treaty". Meanwhile, on 12 July 1874, responsibility for the Ryūkyūs was transferred from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Home Ministry. In November 1874, the Ryūkyū government sent a tributary mission to China, drawing criticism from Home Minister Ōkubo Toshimichi, who set out in a report of enquiry a number of steps to be taken to address the Ryūkyū Domain's adherence to "ancient outdated laws" and failure to see "reason", while senior Domain officials were summonsed to Tōkyō.