One of my niche interests as of late has been Ryukyu Kingdom coinage. I first heard of the Ryukyus when I watched the show Samurai Champloo in high school; one of the protagonists hailed from the Ryukyu Islands. The next time I encountered the Ryukyus was in the Imperial Academy in Beijing, which had special quarters for students from Ryukyu. As far as I’m aware, no other foreign country was allowed that privilege in the Imperial Academy, which piqued my interest. When I began to research Ryukyuan history, I was hooked, and when I found out that there were things as Ryukyuan cast coins (a numismatical interest of mine), it was all over. Note that the Ryukyu Kingdom was never completely congruent with the geographical islands. Geographically, the Ryukyu Islands are a chain of islands running from the South of Japan in an arc to the north of Taiwan. The history of the kingdom was quite complex, and its early history quite mysterious. At one point it was three kingdoms that united into one. It then existed as an independent kingdom, serving as a tributary to Ming China, before eventually being invaded by a daimyo from southern Japan, who allowed it to nominally remain independent for diplomatic reasons, before being formally annexed around the time of the Meji Restoration. One of my favorite things about Ryukyuan history is how syncretic its culture and history is, perhaps an inevitable outcome from Ryukyu’s position in-between China, Korea, and Japan. One of the most famous artifacts from Ryukyu is the “Bridge of Nations” Bell, which is a huge cast bronze bell that describes Ryukyu as having close relations with these three countries. The Bridge of Nations Bell Inscription: “The Kingdom of Ryukyu is a splendid place in the South Seas, with close intimate relations with the Three Nations of China, Korea, and Japan, between which it is located, and which express much admiration for these islands. Journeying to various countries by ship, the Kingdom forms a bridge between all the nations, filling its land with the precious goods and products of foreign lands; in addition, the hearts of its people emulate the virtuous civilization of Japan and China.” Early History As hinted above, the early history of Ryukyu is quite mysterious. There is archeological evidence of influences from Korea, Japan, and China. Early Ryukyuan earthenware showed influences from all three countries, and coins from various neighboring countries have been discovered in Ryukyu. Chinese coinage as early as Yan ming knives have been found in Ryukyu (circa 400–200 B.C.). At the same time, many local legends and religions seem highly similar to traditions found in Japan. Early settlers might have been highly multi-ethnic, and almost certainly related to the “wako.” Wako is a term that today is mostly associated with pirates, typically of Japanese ethnicity, but historically, wako were likely multi-ethnic seafaring peoples, who could act as raiders, mercenaries, or even occasionally official government functionaries. They were not unlike Vikings, who raided but also settled and occasionally acted as paid bodyguards (i.e. the Varangian Guard). Some may have been losers of civil wars in their homeland, such as the fleeing remnants of the Southern Court in Japan (14th century). Whatever the exact relationships and identity of the wako, they started to settle and consolidate on the Ryukyu Islands in fortresses called “gusukus.” Chinese Trade Relations We must make a quick detour to China, as its relationship with Ryukyu is key to understanding Ryukyuan history. At the time of the Song Dynasty (circa 900–1200 A.D.), the Chinese government had allowed relatively free overseas trade. This openness resulted in the rise of powerful private merchants and overseas trading networks, as well as the establishment of Chinese merchant communities abroad, including in Ryukyu. The boon in unregulated trading ended with the start of the Ming Dynasty around the mid-14th century. The first Ming Emperor, who had started a peasant rebellion against the ruling Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty (the dynasty between the Song and Ming), had trouble controlling Chinese coasts. Evidentially, anti-Ming elements, including Yuan loyalists, had banded with existing wako to create a serious security issue for the Ming government, and the only way to clamp down was to completely end Chinese overseas trade. From then on, all trade would be highly regulated as part of tribute missions. Under traditional Confucian-influenced political ideology, the Chinese Emperor was regarded as the highest ruler in the Chinese sphere of influence. Rulers from abroad, were expected to recognize this fact by only calling themselves kings (not emperors), and expected to engage in certain diplomatic protocols towards each other, and towards the Chinese emperor. These kings were expected to send tribute, ordinarily exotic or useful goods, to the Chinese emperor and officially recognize the emperor as supreme. But the benefits did not flow only one way. In return for their recognition, the Chinese emperor would give gifts back to those foreign rulers, and the rulers’ prestige was increased by the formal recognition of the Chinese emperor (Ryukyu had elaborate investiture ceremonies, involving decrees and envoys from China when a new king was crowned). Also importantly, officials sent on tribute missions were allowed to trade on their own behalf, so missions which were nominally about the sending of tribute were in reality large and lucrative trading opportunities. When the Ming government ended private overseas trade, tribute trade became the sole source of Chinese trade. During one failed mission to induce Japan to join in this tribute system, Chinese emissaries landed in Ryuyku and convinced one of the Ryukuan kings (at this time Ryukyu was divided into three competing kingdoms) to join the tribute system. For one reason or another, Ryukyu was given exceedingly favorable trading status. While most countries, including Korea and Japan were limited to one tribute mission every few years, and only allowed to trade at designated ports, Ryukyuans were allowed to send unlimited tribute missions, and trade at multiple ports. The Chinese government even paid for ships to be manned by Ryukyuans for this trade. This made Ryukyu very important in the trading networks in the area, as it effectively gave Ryukyu monopoly status over the Chinese overseas trade. One theory for why this favorable trade status was given to Ryukyu was that it redirected wako attention away from Chinese ships and towards the sea hardy Ryukuans. Another theory is that the Ryukuans themselves were the problematic wako, so the granting of monopoly status was a sort of accommodation or bribe. This revisionist theory also suggests that the “three kingdoms” of Ryukyu were probably not well geographically defined, and may have been “shell corporations” for the purposes of tribute trade. The tribute trade, as explained above, was not a net negative for the de jure tributee, so the “three” kingdoms may have been an attempt to send more tribute missions to China (under more kings) and increase the benefit of the trade for Ryukyu. The Ryukyuan Kings and Their Coinage The first king of a united Ryukyu was Sho Hashi, who appears to have displaced another king who upset the Yongle Ming emperor by sending him eunuchs as tributes. Sho Hashi may have been the descendent of a wako Southern Court remnant from Japan, and his coup against the offending king may have been helped by Chinese functionaries, who were needed to execute all the niceties of the tribute trade. As to Sho Hashi’s descendants, it’s unclear what exactly the relationship is between him and his successors. Official stories claim that they are his biological descendants but some scholars suspect that more often than not, the ruling king was actually just the dominant strongmen who, for the purposes of investiture and trade tribute, simply reported to the Ming emperor that they was biologically related to his predecessor. There appears to be some contradictions between official histories and inscriptions, making some of the biological relations implausible. Sho Hashi was officially followed by his son, Sho Chu, then followed by Sho Chu’s son Sho Shitatsu. At that point, it jumps back to Sho Hashi’s other son Sho Kinpuku. Sho Kinpuku was followed by Sho Taikyu. It’s unclear whether Sho Taikyu was Sho Kinpuku’s son or brother. Sho Taikyu was the king that cast the famous Bridge of Nations bell mentioned above, and minted the first Ryukyuan coins, the Taisei coins pictured below. Two “Tai Sei Tsu Ho” (Currency of Taisei) A Yongle Tong Bao These coins are quite varied, and the leading theory is that they were made using Yongle coins. The Yongle coins would have been used as “mother coins” for the production of these Taisei coins. The top and bottom character of the Yongle coin would have been carved off and replaced with new vertical characters. Then, the newly carved coin would be pressed into molds and removed. These molds would then be filled with melted bronze to form the coins. This would explain the general consistency of the horizontal characters, which were original to the Yongle coins, and the heterogeneity of the vertical characters, which were added by hand. Another fact that supports this theory is that Ryukyuan coins are slightly smaller than Yongle coins. Since copper shrinks when it cools, it would make sense that the Ryukyuan coins are slightly smaller than the Yongle coins that created the mold for the Ryukyuan coins. Yongle coins were also quite common throughout Asia over this time. They were in fact, minted for the purpose of encouraging overseas trade. The Yongle coins appear not just in Ryukyu, but also extensively in Japan, where they played a pivotal role in pre-Tokugawa history. Nobunaga’s battle standard. He also had the coin inlayed into his sword. Before a major battle, Oda Nobunaga asked the gods to send him a sign. Nobunaga then threw a handful of Yongle coins into the air, which all landed heads up. After winning the battle, Nobunaga adopted the Yongle coins as his battle standard. In another version, it was only one coin thrown into the air, and after the battle, Nobunaga revealed that his coin had the same obverse and reverse the entire time. Sho Taikyu was followed by Sho Toku. Sho Toku is remembered as a bad king, probably to legitimate his successor, Sho En. Sho En was actually not related to Sho Toku or any of the earlier Sho’s. For this reason, historians call the kings from Sho Hashi to Sho Toku, the “First Sho Dynasty” while Sho En and onwards is called the “Second Sho Dynasty”. Sho En appears to have been a servant or retainer of Sho Taikyu. In the official version of the story, Sho Toku behaved in wicked ways, and consequently he lost the mandate to rule. This concept of “Mandate of Heaven” originates in Chinese political ideology and the Ryukyu sources explicitly compare Sho Toku to the premier examples of Chinese Kings who lost the Mandate of Heaven, including King Jia of the Xia, and King Zhou of the Shang. Both those historical Chinese kings were properly replaced by virtuous rulers who started new dynasties. As King Jia and Zhou acted wickedly and were properly replaced by new families, so too was Sho Toku replaced by a non-relative, Sho En. Sho Toku’s heir was hunted down and killed, and some sources indicate that Sho En claimed that Sho Toku had adopted him as the heir. Sho Toku also minted his own coins, likely off the same techniques as Sho Taikyu’s coins, using Yongle coins as the mother coins for the Seiko coin, pictured below. Three “Sei Ko Tsu Ho” (Currency of Seiko) Sho En himself also issued coins, pictured below. It appears from the the higher quality of the coins compared to his predecessors’, that his mint had access to better technology. Three “Kin En Sei Ho” (Golden Round World Treasure) After Sho En, however, Ryukyu did not appear to have issued coins with script until after the invasion of the Satsuma lords a few hundred years later. The Satsuma Conquest of Ryukyu The Satsuma lords, which controlled parts of Southern Japan became increasingly assertive towards Ryukyu, insisting that Ryukyu reject ships without licenses from Satsuma and claimed the ability to regulate Ryukyuan trade. At the same time, Ryukyu lost some of its favored status with China (supposedly due to the uncivilized conduct of the Ryukyuan envoys, including a murder supposedly committed by a Ryukyuan), some yearly limits were imposed, and the arrival of Europeans in Southeast Asia weakened Ryukyu’s trading dominance. Around the end of the 16th century, Satsuma demanded Ryukyu send it supplies for Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s attempted invasion of Korea. Ryukyu apparently promised to send supplies but ended up squelching, which gave Satsuma the excuse to invade Ryukyu. After that, Ryukyu was de facto controlled by the Satsuma, and would pay homage to the shogan while de jure continuing to be a tributary state of China. Japan had an interest in maintaining this arrangement, as its trade relations with China were poor, and it hoped to use Ryukyu as a straw man. There were great efforts to hide the de facto rule of Ryukyu by Japan, including laws that banned the use of Japanese coins when Chinese envoys were in Ryukyu, and procedures for burning Japanese documents on Ryukyuan boats that shipwrecked near Chinese waters. Ryukyu consciously adopted more Sinicization policies in this vein, including the arrangement of its buildings according to feng shui policies, likely to help maintain its independence from the Satsuma. The Chinese government seemed, to some degree, to be aware of this charade, given that Ryukyuan tribute missions often included tributes of goods that could only likely come from mainland Japan. Ryukyu’s tightrope act persisted until around the time of the Meji Restoration (mid-19th century), at which point Ryukyu was formally brought into Japan’s prefecture system and the Ryukyuan king was forced to come to Edo and join the Japanese peerage system. The Ryukyuans protested, and appealed to their nominal suzerain, the Chinese emperor. While some of the powerful Chinese officials advocated on Ryukyu’s behalf, a hoped-for intervention (similar to Chinese intervention in Korea) was ultimately not forth coming. During WWII, Okinawa, one of the most important Ryukyuan islands, was the site of a major American Pacific campaign. Some of Ryukyu’s prized treasures, including royal crowns (one of which is pictured below) were either lost, destroyed, or stolen. And in 2000, UNESCO declared many of the gusuku fortresses World Heritage Sites. The surviving Ryukyuan Crown. The history of Ryukyu is understudied and underrated. Considering the fascinating blend of indigenous, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures that existed in Ryukyu for hundreds of years, as well as the country’s international role in sea trade that existed for just as long, Ryukyu has a fascinating story with more lessons to teach us in the 21st century than ever before. Acknowledgments Much thanks to @AnYangMan and @TypeCoin971793 for encouraging (enabling?) my numismatic interest in cash coins. Special thanks to @AnYangMan for my first Ryukyu coin, and @TypeCoin971793 's kind gift of a Japanese Yongle Tong Bao. Thanks to Nastassia, who is, as usual, my best editor. Sources Early Japanese Coins- David Hartill The Ryukyu Kingdom, Cornerstone of East Asia- Mamoru Akamine Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650- Gregory Smits The „invincibility tsuba" This time I want to elaborate on the so-called „makezu no tsuba" (まけずの鍔), lit. the „invincibility tsuba" (picture 1)…markussesko.com Ryuukyuuan coins The Ryuukyuus are today known as Okinawa Prefecture. They are are string of islands stretching in an arc from Japan's…roberts.faculty.history.ucsb.edu Okinawa crown mystery defies leads after nearly 70 years Patty Sternfelt fondly remembers playing with kimonos and sashes that her grandfather, Cmdr. Carl Sternfelt, brought…www.stripes.com
posnerfan_48, Thank you for an interesting an well researched article . I had no idea the Ryukyu Islands had their own coinage but I'm not surprised. They were heavily influenced by the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, & Vietnamese, who all had coinage. Members from my generation still carry bad memories of the Ryukyu Islands, specifically Okinawa. Okinawa was the only place American soldiers physically engaged the Japanese during WW II. I had one uncle who took part in that campaign & his war stories were hair raising . A great deal of Okinawa was destroyed in that war . I Have a friend who traveled Okinawa in the 1980s to learn about their famous tradition of making ceramics. Their ceramics were highly regarded by the Japanese for use in the tea ceremony, & the samurai would often store their Sake in pottery jars made in the Ryukyu Islands. When my friend returned from Okinawa she made me the rustic tea bowl in Raku pottery pictured below . It is decorated only with its glaze & a few incised lines depicting blades of grass.
I'm glad you enjoyed the article! I'm mostly interested in a specific period of history of the Ryukyu islands, before its conquest by the Satsuma. I did learn about the battle of Okinawa in school, and I grew up knowing that one of my childhood friend's grandfather was in the Pacific theater. My own great grandfather died resisting the Japanese invasion in northern China, at a very young age. As for something controversial and interesting about the American campaign in Okinawa you may want to read the last link I cited! I did not know that about Ryukyuan ceramics! That's very neat and thank you for bringing it to my attention. The Ryukyuan coinage gave me an itch to visit the Ryukyus myself. I hope that this age of peace lasts so that we may all enjoy the fruits and wonders of each other's cultures, without ever forgetting the sacrifice that was necessary to achieve this peace.
@posnerfan_48, thanks very much for a magnificent and very enlightening writeup (and coins, etc., etc.). I'd never heard of this part of the world, but, especially with all of the dramatic, never mind dynamic eclecticism, it really has everything. Your comparison of wako to the Vikings was as evocative as it was cogent. You really lit up the synapses like a switchboard! ...For the sake of thinking out loud, history, especially as an avocation, can be a little like this or that genre of novels. The plot is as integral to the total effect as the characters. You reminded me of how I gravitate toward periods when this level of cultural interaction was central to what was happening. ...Just because I can't shut up about it, Very Cool! Your writeup got my day off to a good start. Thanks again!
Nice article, if I was better at being able to read the legends on those coins I would probably collect them - as it is I am sticking to Mandarin.
When I began collecting stamps at the end of the 1960s, issues of the Ryukyus under US administration were popular with American collectors.
Excellent writeup and coins! I own two Ryukyu coins, both from the Satsuma period, 1850s-70s, before the islands were formally annexed into the Empire of Japan Ryukyu Tsu Ho, 100 mon, modeled after a Tempo Tsuho "Sa" on rim for Satsuma clan And the other main one, a massive (43mm!) round cash, Ryukyu Tsuho / Han Shu, nominally worth 1/2 shu or 125 mon This also has the Sa validation mark, at 9:00 It is -extremely- important to only buy these if they have the correct validation mark, as both types are heavily counterfeited. The islands were returned to Japan from US control in 1972/3, and the 20th anniversary of this event is commemorated on one of my favorite modern 500 yen NCLT coins from Japan
Thanks for the post! I've been tempted to get into these several times but I was a bit put off by the high-ish price. I did not know about the control marks! That seems really important, and I've never heard that before, so much thanks for the information!
Very interesting! I have read about these, and even bid on one, but alas I have none to show. One of these days it’ll work out. I always think that provincial Japanese coins are in some ways more interesting than the basic issue. For comparison, here is a standard 100 mon issued by the government. In both cases, their actual value deviated from the official values, decreasing by about half.
