3. Renaissance of Kuninda

Introduction

As Ryukyu was in the process of becoming unified as a kingdom, its relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and the role played by Kuninda in this became increasingly important.

On the other hand, due to Ryukyu’s declining status as a hub port used by Portuguese, Spanish, and Chinese merchants for East Asian trade, Kuninda also began to decline, as described in the previous article, “The Origins of Kuninda”.

However, Kuninda would later transform from an independent society centered on overseas Chinese and realize a renaissance during the 18th century, which came to be called the “Age of Kuninda”.

Why, then, was Kuninda able to reinvent itself? The historical background of these developments is described below.

The spark behind Kuninda’s renaissance

Kuninda realized a renaissance during the 18th century, which came to be called the “Age of Kuninda”. The spark behind this was the Satsuma invasion of 1609.

In an attempt to invade and annex Ryukyu to the Satsuma Domain’s territory, Satsuma completely subdued and occupied the Ryukyu islands.

However, there was one person who stood in the way of the Satsuma Domain’s attempts to fully annex Ryukyu. That was Tokugawa Ieyasu. Through Ryukyu, Ieyasu sought to improve relations with China, which had cooled after Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, and also to initiate mutual trade. However, Ieyasu’s overtures were rejected by an increasingly wary China.

Wanting to avoid military confrontation with the mainland, Ieyasu continued to allow Ryukyu’s tribute to China after Satsuma’s invasion, and he also permitted China to bestow peerage on the Ryukyu king by imperial edict. Large quantities of Chinese goods flowed into the mainland market via the Ryukyu Islands.

Ieyasu positioned the Ryukyu Kingdom as a vassal of Satsuma and incorporated it as a “foreign country” under the Bakuhan system (feudal system of the shogunate and domains), and thereafter Ryukyu entered a period of “dual subordination” by China and Japan.

Ryukyu as a vassal state of Satsuma as a supplementary country Ryukyu

With the Ryukyu Kingdom becoming a vassal state of Satsuma, the King of Ryukyu could no longer call himself king without Satsuma’s approval.

It was customary for the eldest son to be king of Ryukyu from generation to generation, but Ryukyu lost the ability to make autonomous decisions when it became a vassal state.

In addition, since the Tokugawa Shogun had authority over the Satsuma Domain, the Tokugawa Shogunate had the final say on such decisions.

Therefore, when the King of Ryukyu ascended to the throne, he sent an envoy to Edo (Tokyo) to repay the kindness and thank the Tokugawa Shogun for recognizing him as king.

Meanwhile, Satsuma established a local kariya (magistrate’s office) to directly govern the Ryukyu Islands, which had become Satsuma’s vassal state. Against this background, the Satsuma Domain began to use the tribute trade as a cover to engage in smuggling hidden from the shogunate.

Ryukyu in collaboration with Satsuma

At that time, Chinese goods purchased in China were said to have double the value of other goods and generated considerable trade profits. In reality, however, they were even more valuable than that. For example, some Chinese herbal medicines could be sold for more than 20 times the purchase price.

The shogunate allowed the Satsuma Domain to import only goods for consumption within the domain through tribute trade, but prohibited goods from flowing out to Nagasaki, Kyoto, Osaka, and the Edo market.

Meanwhile, how was the situation in the Ryukyu Islands? The Tokugawa Shogunate permitted Ryukyu to sell Chinese goods obtained through the tribute trade on the Japanese market outside of the Satsuma Domain. The tribute trade was an important matter for the survival of the Ryukyu Kingdom; moreover, the Japanese market demanded it.

In these circumstances, Satsuma devised a way to slip through the shogunate’s watchful eye by teaming up with the Ryukyu Kingdom to conduct trade in secret.

Smuggling conducted out of Ryukyu

So how did Satsuma succeed in smuggling in collusion with Ryukyu?

The Chinese goods brought back by Ryukyu through the tribute trade were largely divided into two portions: that belonging to the Ryukyu royal government, and that belonging to the Satsuma Domain. Satsuma used part of its portion for internal consumption, but hid many other goods from the shogunate and resold them on the Japanese market as the king’s portion.

Since Ryukyu was allowed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to sell Chinese goods acquired through tribute trade on the Japanese market outside of the Satsuma Domain, the Satsuma used this as a cover to resell goods in secret from the shogunate.

Satsuma merchants were well aware of the prices and demand for Chinese goods in the Japanese market, for example, they knew what kind of goods were needed in the Nagasaki, Kyoto, Osaka, and Edo markets, and how much their prices could be inflated.

The royal government did not have such information. Moreover, it had to go through the Satsuma merchants in order to obtain marine products such as kelp and abalone for taking to China and to borrow the silver it needed for purchasing Chinese goods in China. In fact, the tribute trade would not have been possible without the Satsuma Domain’s cooperation.

Accordingly, the collusion of smuggling arose out of this congruence of the interests of the Satsuma Domain and the royal government of Ryukyu.

Ingenuity of the tribute trade

When a tribute ship arrived at Fuzhou in China, usually only the delegations that offered tribute and had an audience with the emperor traveled to Beijing. Tribute trade was conducted in Fuzhou, mainly at the Fuzhou Ryukyu pavilion, for around six months before the delegation returned with an imperial letter and gifts for the Ryukyu king from the emperor.

However, by the time the delegation returned to Fuzhou from Beijing, the traders would have wasted a lot of time and money on acquiring Chinese hospitality.

The Satsuma Domain and Ryukyu Kingdom adopted the following approach. After a delegation left for Beijing, the mission would return directly to Ryukyu after completing their trade.

However, since this meant that the delegation would not be able to return to Ryukyu, an additional tribute ship would be prepared to bring them back to Ryukyu, and this tribute ship would also conduct trade.

Because this meant that, even though the tribute trade was officially conducted once every two years, in reality it was conducted yearly, thereby making it possible for Ryukyu and Satsuma to make even more profit.

Bolstering of Kuninda

This made tribute to China even more important for the Ryukyu Kingdom. Since the tribute required the preparation of written oaths of allegiance, reports and petitions to the emperor, as well as correspondences with the Fuzhou contact office (Fujian Bureau of Political Affairs), Kuninda could not be allowed to fall into disuse.

A policy for strengthening Kuninda was adopted by actively transferring skilled Chinese-speakers from Shuri, Naha, and even Satsuma to Kuninda.

The Kuninda samurai were given a stipend in rice according to their rank when they reached a certain age, and this was a preferential treatment not accorded to samurai of the Shuri, Naha, and Tomari clans. It is a testament to how much importance the royal government placed on Kuninda.

This reflected the expectation that the Kuninda samurai should be set apart from the Shuri, Naha, and Tomari samurai clans and play a historical role as a special “professional group” based on tribute and imperial edicts.

In this way, Kuninda, which until then had developed as a unique society dominated by overseas Chinese, was transformed and revitalized.

Summary

Having developed through trading opportunities gained amidst the Ming Dynasty’s countermeasures against Japanese pirates, Kuninda at one point declined due to Portuguese and Spanish advances into East Asian trade and the emergence of Chinese merchants following the lifting of the sea ban.

The Satsuma Domain bypassed the shogunate’s oversight and conducted secret trade in collusion with the Ryukyu royal government, thereby increasing the importance of tribute trade with China, and this ironically spurred Kuninda’s revival.

Receiving preferential treatment, Kuninda came to exert influence over key figures of the royal government. What made this possible?

To go further, why was Ryukyu able to continue trading as a tributary state of China while being a vassal state of Satsuma?

How the people of Kuninda played an active role in the Ryukyu Kingdom, and how the 18th century came to be referred to as the “Age of Kuninda,” will be explained in detail in the next article, “Kuninda in the Ryukyu Kingdom”.