|
|
|
| Reshaping Ryukyu: A Historical Narrative of Okinawa During the Early American Occupation |
| Sun Jiashen1, Xiang Jie2 |
1.The Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100007, China
2.School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract The rewriting of history in the post-colonial period is often accompanied by significant adjustments to the power structure of occupied regions and profound reconstruction of ethnic identity, which essentially is a process in which the dominant power realizes its own interest demands and ruling legitimacy through discourse construction. On April 1, 1945, U.S. troops landed on the main island of Okinawa, and after a brutal Battle of Okinawa, they completely took control of the Ryukyu Islands and quickly established the United States Military Government, marking the beginning of a 27-year occupation and rule over the Ryukyu Islands. This period, which followed Japan’s colonial rule (1879-1945) and preceded Japan’s administration period (since 1972), became a crucial turning point in the historical development of the Ryukyu Islands.After its establishment, the U.S. Military Government strictly followed the strategic positioning of the Ryukyu Islands by the U.S. military during the Battle of Okinawa, clearly implementing the core ruling principle of “separating Ryukyu from Japan” and establishing the basic policy of “pro-American and anti-Japanese, supporting Ryukyu’s subjectivity”. At the same time, it gradually established autonomous institutions participated by Ryukyuans and indirectly managed by the United States, attempting to politically sever the historical ties between Ryukyu and Japan, strengthen Ryukyu’s “independent” image, and lay the foundation for the United States to long-term control this strategically important location in the western Pacific.To maximize its own strategic interests and consolidate the legitimacy of its rule in Ryukyu, the United States did not limit itself to political and military control, but took cultural and educational means as an important tool to systematically reconstruct the historical memory and cognitive system of the Ryukyu people. In this process, various cultural carriers such as textbooks, museum exhibitions, and academic publications became the core positions for the United States to promote the construction of historical narratives, all centered on the core orientation of “taking Ryukyu as the center”. They deliberately highlighted the subjectivity and uniqueness of Ryukyu, weakened or even erased the profound impact of Japanese colonial rule on Ryukyu, and implanted pro-American values.In this specific historical context, the rewriting of Okinawa’s history was by no means a simple rearrangement of historical facts, but a profound transformation of the discourse system. It completely subverted the hegemonic discourses constructed during the Japanese colonial period, such as “Okinawa is an inalienable part of Japan” and “Ryukyu and Japan share the same ancestors”, and broke Japan’s long-term monopolistic narrative of Ryukyu’s history. At the same time, taking advantage of the opportunity of the U.S.-led historical rewriting, the Ryukyuan intellectual class got rid of the ideological imprisonment during the Japanese colonial period, actively participated in the excavation, collation and dissemination of ethnic history, reorganized the historical context of Ryukyu as an independent kingdom, retrieved the language, culture and folk memories suppressed by Japanese colonialism, and thus realized the re-memory of ethnic history and the reconstruction of identity, promoting the revival and development of Ryukyu studies.Focusing on the historical writing and narrative of Ryukyu in the early period of the U.S. occupation (1945-the 1950s), this paper systematically analyzes how the United States realized its strategic demands through discourse construction from four dimensions: the U.S.-led macro historical writing strategy, the narrative construction in post-war textbooks, the civilized display narrative in museums, and the historical research of Ryukyuan scholars. It explores the internal connection between historical writing, power operation and identity, reveals the complexity and diversity of Ryukyu’s historical narrative during this period, and provides an important reference for understanding the multiple aspects of Ryukyu’s history and the evolution of East Asian geopolitics.
|
|
Received: 03 April 2025
|
|
|
|
1 伊波普猷：「琉球史の趨勢」，服部四郎、仲宗根政善、外間守善編：『伊波普猷全集』第7巻，東京：平凡社，1975年。
2 柳田国男：『海上の道』，東京：筑摩書房，1961年。
3 岡本恵徳：『「ヤポネシア論」の輪郭：島尾敏雄のまなざし』，那覇：沖縄タイムス社，1990年。
4 王明珂：《反思史学与史学反思》，上海：上海人民出版社，2016年。
5 Office of Strategic Services， U.S.， “The Okinawans of the Loo Choo Islands： a Japanese minority group，” 1944-06-01， https：//catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3289290， 2025-04-03.
6 Watkins J. T. （ed.）， “The past year in review，” in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Historical Records of Postwar Okinawa and the Beginning of U.S. Occupancy， vol. 89， Ginowan： Ryokurindō， 1994， pp. 167-169.
7 Hanna W.， Okinawa： The Land and Which Situates the Islands， in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Papers of James T. Watkins （Watkins Collection）， vol. 31， Tokyo： Ryokurindō， 1994.
8 Hanna W.， The Story of Okinawa， in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Papers of James T. Watkins （Watkins Collection）， vol. 26， Tokyo： Ryokurindō， 1994.
9 琉球政府文教局教育研究課編：『琉球史料』第十集文化篇2，那覇：琉球政府文教局，1958年。
10 仲宗根政善：「米軍占領下の教育裏面史」，沖縄タイムス社編：『新沖縄文学』第44号，那覇：沖縄タイムス社，1980年，57-63頁。
11 嘉納英明：『戦後沖縄教育の軌跡』，那覇：那霸出版社，1999年。
12 琉球政府文教局教育研究課編：『琉球史料』第三集教育篇，那覇：琉球政府文教局，1958年。
13 琉球新報編集局編：『燃える青春群像：沖縄文教?外国語学校』，那覇：琉球新報社，1988年。
14 月刊沖縄社編：『激動の沖縄百年：新聞?雑誌?教科書復刻版』，那覇：月刊沖縄社，1981年。
15 Crane S. A.， “Memory， distortion， and history in the museum，” History and Theory， Vol. 36， No. 4 （1997）， pp. 44-63.
16 Lowe P. S.， “Troop Information Memorandum No. 15-18，” in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Papers of James T. Watkins （Watkins Collection）， vol. 2， Tokyo： Ryokurindō， 1994， pp. 113-125.
17 沖縄県教育委員会編：『沖縄の戰後教育史』，那覇：沖縄県教育委員会，1977年。
18 Hanna W.， “Okinawa exhibit pamphlet，” in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Papers of James T. Watkins （Watkins Collection）， vol. 29， Tokyo： Ryokurindō， 1994， pp. 139-142.
19 沖縄県文化振興会公文書管理部史料編集室編：『沖縄県史料沖縄諮詢会記録』，那覇：沖縄県教育委員会，2001年。
20 那覇市歴史博物館編：『戦後をたどる：「アメリカ世」から「ヤマトの世」へ』，那覇：琉球新報社，2007年。
21 Hanna W.， Okinawa： Ten Years Later， in Watkins J. T. （ed.）， Papers of James T. Watkins （Watkins Collection）， vol. 46， Tokyo： Ryokurindō， 1994.
22 琉球政府文教局教育研究課編：『琉球史料』第一集政治篇1，那覇：琉球政府文教局，1958年。
23 嘉陽安春：『沖縄民政府：一つの時代の軌跡』，東京：久米書房，1986年。
24 琉球政府文教局教育研究課編：『琉球史料』第九集文化篇1，那覇：琉球政府文教局，1958年。
25 新川明：『反国家の兇区』，東京：社会評論社，1971年。
26 鹿野政直：『戦後沖縄の思想像』，東京：朝日新聞社，1987年。 |
|
|
|
2026, Vol. 56 
