琉球侵攻と日明關係

Abstract

The Ryukyu kingdom was defeated in the invasion of 1609 by the Satsuma domain of the Shimazu clan, with the result that the kingdom came to be brought into the political orbit of Tokugawa Japan, while maintaining its tributary relationship with Ming China that had been in place since the latter half of the 14th century. As has been made clear in previous research, the chief goal of the invasion was not total political control of the Ryukyu by either the bakufu or Satsuma domain but to have the Ryukyu kingdom play the role of intermediary in trade negotiations between the bakufu and the Ming court. Behind this, development was a thriving civilian trade in Asian waters involving Japanese silver and Chinese raw silk thread. Thus after the invasion, the bakufu frequently commanded the Shimazu to have the Ryukyu kingdom serve as an intermediary in negotiations between Japan and the Ming, while around the same time demanding that the Korean government or Ming traders who had come to Japan serve as similar intermediaries, but these efforts did not prove fruitful. As a result, Ming China and Japan, who were ultimately unable to establish official diplomatic ties, formed an indirect relationship via Ryukyu kingdom, which had formal relations with both states (assuming the position of a subject of each). This situation continued after Ming was replaced by the Qing and was maintained until the middle of the 19th century. Therefore, the invasion of the Ryukyu kingdom can be said as an event that determined the relations among the three countries, Ryukyu, Japan and China, in the early modern period. In this article, I focus on such a historical significance of the invasion of the Ryukyu and organize and analyze historical sources from Ryukyu, Japan and China concerning the movements of each country with regard to an invasion. This attempt can be summed up in the following three points. First, I examine the reaction of the Ming to the invasion and also its influence on the Ming in detail, which has not been accorded sufficient attention. For example, it has not been recognized that a number of problems regarding the invasion were placed on the civil examinations. Second, I make a comprehensive explanation of the facts as seen in the actions of the Ryukyu kingdom as an intermediary in Japan-Ming trade (about which there is no scholarly consensus) based on a critical examination of the source materials. Third, I attempt to grasp the situation comprehensively in terms of East Asian international relations and in particular the relationship of the Ming and Japan without viewing the historical significance of the invasion of the Ryukyu kingdom in terms of resistance against baku-han regime nor as part of the "process of making the Ryukyu kingdom the puppet of Satsuma or the bakufu" or the "abandonment of subjectivity by the Ryukyu (in resisting Satsuma or the bakufu)." Consequently I have demonstrated that 1) for both Japan and the Ming the Ryukyu kingdom was an important strategic element in its relations with the other, and each state tried to pull the Ryukyu kingdom in its own direction while keeping a wary eye on its rival, and 2) the Ryukyu kingdom expressed its self consciousness as an subjective entity to both Japan and the Ming, and as a result of its active efforts to attain a place in the limited space between these two larger neighbors, the international position of early-modern Ryukyu could be established.