The History of Okinawa (Rise and Fall of the Ryukyu Kingdom) Explained in 8 Minutes 

A few interesting things of note: The poisonous snakes referenced in the video are the Golden Habu also known as a pit viper. Habusu is a local alcoholic drink commonly served in Okinawa with the golden habu in the bottle of Awamori AKA island Sake(which is a dryer and stronger compared to Sake IMO) During the period of strong Ming and Ryukyu relations, a cultural exchange took place over many years were students were sent to study in the imperial academy and experts were sent to live in Okinawa to help improve the economy. Also, the Ming gifted many ships to the Okinawans to increase the volume of trade they could conduct with Chins Before the ban on Okinawans owning weapons was strictly enforced in 1608 an earlier ban was created in the late 15th century (but does not seem to have been enforced)

My great grandfather is Okinawan. He lived to be 97 and he even saw and spoke to my first born sons.

3rd Gen Okinawan here! My Grandmother was born there in 41' during the war.. Several of her older brothers died do to being in the middle of the conflict.. She met my US Grandfather there on the mid 60s.. he was a drill Sargent stationed there at the time.. They then married there and moved to a US base in Tokyo, where my Aunt and Dad were born.. Then out of all places they moved to Wisconsin in 68', where my Dad eventually met my mother in the 1980s, then in 1990 I was born, and here I am! I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the beautiful island and the people/family of Okinawa!

Okinawa language -> Uchi na guchi, they say a dialectic, but Japanese treat us like Taiwan, we not part of Japan, but we are part of there territory... and very few peolple still use the origial langue or know about Okinawa culture, in Tokyo we like so little okinawa gin. Good times anyways nice to know someone talk about Okinawa.

So this is where Mugen comes from.

I was raised in the US but am half Okinawan on my mom's side and have been trying to reconnect with my culture, this video has been so helpful!

I lived in okinawa for 2 years. Met an old lady whi knew uchinaguchi. The old language.was awesome

Thank you for making this video. I am half Okinawan and it is always a welcoming sight to see new media of Okinawa's culture and history.

Ryukyu has a really interesting culture, their native culture is very distinctive and eventually closely adopted Confucian customs, their fashion and architecture's also really interesting. Their robes, food, and palaces almost look like a Chinese- Japanese fusion. Their tortouise tombs are also very fascinating, as it combines Confucian ancestor worship with local traditions.

Thank you for another great video. Your handcrafted art and unique topics make your channel my favorite on RU-vid.

glad to see my home get some spotlight, thank you!

I’ve been living in Okinawa for the last two years & I love it here. Great video!

Nice vid on ryukyu islands. My father's family were from the islands. I remember he told me that the islands kingdom were heavily influenced by the chinese before japanese took over it. We still have some chinese looking artifacts that passed down from our ancestors.

I think it's really cool that you made a video about Okinawa. I used to live there years ago because I'm from a military family and I miss the island so much. It's honestly the best place I've been to.

I knew nothing of Okinawan history. Great topic!

Finally a good Okinawa video!

I lived in Okinawa for 4 years and married an Okinawan. “History of an Island People” by Kerr really got it right. Such a beautiful place. Great video.

Should have used sanshin music in the background!

This is the best video on the history of Okinawa that I’ve seen. I love your narrative style. Happy to be a subscriber.

Ryukyu... the Kingdom I first learned about when I played Europa Universalis IV

Ryukyu needs more provinces in EU4!

Your art is getting a lot better

Very interesting video! I lived there as a dependent kid, 1959-1962. I enjoyed our time there, and have always wanted to go back.

Just would like to point out I have a new video on the topic and it goes into a bit more detail. If anyone is interested in the topic stop by!

Fantastic video on Okinawa! Out of all history channels, yours inspired me the most to start my own history channel! I hope you don’t mind, but I loved your map intro presentation so much that I adopted it myself. Thank you for all the terrific and extremely educational content! You’re by far my favorite channel! Keep up the great work!

Such a beautiful island!

Hey man love your channel! I love this video because 1. It is a great video and 2. My mom is from the ryukyu islands so I am biased as well lol. The ryukyu islands has some pretty interesting history so I love it when it is talked about in depth.

Very interesting video, I knew nothing about the history of Okinawa

I was on Okinawa for parts of 1971 and 1972. I was a Marine cannoneer on the 155 Howitzer stationed at Camp Hague. I was there during the transition from U.S. control to Japanese control of the island. The people of Okinawa are a proud and friendly people, and they were not happy to be transitioned to the Japanese government. I’m curious how they feel today, over 50 years have passed since the change.

Ikue Asazaki song Obokuri piqued my interest in Okinawa/the Ryukyu Kingdom and learning the story behind them makes me enjoy the song all the more

the ryukyuans sing high pitched music just like neighboring hokkien chinese music but they add a rural japanese feel to it

Wow I already knew some of the history with Ryukyu but rarely got an in depth knowledge about it.

My great grandma was Okinawan. She passed almost two years ago, I never understood why she didn’t like us saying we were Japanese. Now I understand

Very informative thank you! It would definitely help to add regional back ground music if you can find some but the visuals were good!

Okinawan history is really interesting. I'm currently stationed on the island and have been wanting to learn more about Okinawan people and culture.

This was a really good and informative quick video.

I grew up in Okinawa in the 70s. for 2 years when my dad was in the Air Force. It was the best time of my life I want to return there someday. I will always have a part of Asian culture influence on my life because of Okinawa..I hope to visit it one day.

Thanks. I've been to Okinawa a bunch of times in my 20 year career with the Marine Corps.

Very interesting video

Good video.

Brilliant video, thanks ! Dare I might add interesting additional info concerning China : after the Chinese Ming dynasty was overthrown (to which the Ryukyu Kingdom was a tributary state), the expanding Qing dynasty replaced it. It also demanded tribute from the Ryukyu kingdom, which was approved by the Tokugawa Shogunate in order to maintain good relations with China. The Ryukyu therefore technically stayed a tributary state to China until it was fully annexed by Japan. Great work :)

My dear man, could you ever possibly do a video on the Ikko Ikki?

Great video!!! Our brand is Based here on Okinawa and Love exploring every inch this beautiful place has to offer.

Great video! Do you know anything about the 5 men who arranged for a ship (or more) of pigs to be sent to Okinawa in the early 1900s to save the island's population from completely disappearing? My children's great-great grandfather was one of those 7 men. I understand they are celebrated every so often, with a descendant of each one in attendance each time. My husband's cousin went as the representative a few years ago.

Ryukyu independence!

Good video! Great drawings! Did not know karate started there....

The Kingdom of Ryukyu will live forever in the 3 mountains and in the eternal pain that it caused to me. And we need more provinces to ryukyu.

Wow that's interesting

My time spent on Okinawa will be a forever cherished memory

My great grandmother was born on Okinawa in the late 1860’s. I remember her because of the tattoos she had. Married women had hand tattoos before the Japanese occupiers band the practice. My mother lost her father, three brothers and most of her nursing school classmates during the war.

My second home ❤

Okinawa ...the place where you meet nice and cool people.. great awesome places..great food .... " OKINAWA truly a great and best place to stay!...

Please do a video on Taiwan sir! Thanks for the incredibly awesome and expertly researched content 🙏💚

This is Interesting, as i'm MC i am currently living in okinawa As a US-Citizen and me and my Brother have been studying There History!

It's pronounced RyukYu not Ryuku. Great video.

*Three Mountains intensify*

Nifee debiru(Thank you) for featuring Ryukyu Kingdom. The background music you used is unmistakably that of Japanese, not of Ryukyu Kingdom or Okinawa. There were a few more errors but, you did a darn good job researching otherwise!

I was just looking up the history of the Ryukyu kingdom in order to feed my fantasy of the Ancient Aztecs somehow getting a hold of Japanese military and weapons knowledge. The way this just happen to pop up on my feed as I was wrapping up my research is freighting and at the same time titillating.

aight guys ima go for Three Mountains, wish me luck

You know, I have been watching your show for a long time, and seen everything you have made until now! You make videos nobody else is making about, and that is cool and speciell about you! But if you make videos about kingdom of Okinawa, kingdom of Armenia and so on, why did not you ever made video about kingdom of Georgia???

*Mugen was from Okinawa you know*

Free Ryukyu

There are eight US military installations on Okinawa main island, not 32. Still, this comprises about a third of the total land area of the island.

Okinawaaaa!!!Yeah!!!

Ryukyu Three Mountains Achievement!

4:24 “As external threats diminished, internal strife increased.” Oh humanity... how did we last this long?

I... I did not expect those ducks.

I’m currently living in Ishigaki island, Okinawa Pref. for working. I really love living here so far, the people are so friendly, the culture are so unique and exotic, the nature is so amazing and the foods are so incredibly yummy *I can’t even pick which one I like the most, they are just too delicious 😭❤️ I will return to my country in 2 weeks, I will definitely cry so hard at the airport 😭😭 there are so many good memories created in this island, I’m so falling in love and will definitely come back to this lovely place next time for sure! ❤️❤️

Can you do the History of Peru video?

Three mountains

Literally the Welsh of the Pacific…

Fun fact: In the Okinawan language (Uchinaanchu), "karate" is actually pronounced "kara-tee" like how many Americans _"mispronounce"_ it, ironically enough. "Te" is hands in *_Japanese._* "Ti" is hands in Okinawan. People correcting me with "kara-te" always annoy me because of this. I'm Okinawan.

Free Okinawan 😢😢😢

Can you do the History of Jeju since it has a nearly simple independent history from Korea as Okinawa is to Japan?

I love the voice.

Your videos cover such interesting topics, especially ones that aren’t always on the face of historical coverage. This was fantastic, thank you.

whether Okinawa today should be a part of Japan, China, or become an independent nation is an issue that still has not been resolved. It will probably be revisited in the far future

I am 4th generation Okinawan in Hawaii, I did my DNA and found out my Mom's side is from Siberia Russia, my paternal grandma born 1893 in Okinawa had blue eyes, she died 101. I am an Okinawan-Messianic-Jewish- Rabbi going to be 70yrs. old. I am an Author of 4 books on Amazon, and retired Broadcaster in Radio and TV. I do Stand Up Comedy as Shlomo Miyagi "The Unemployed Comic"

Interesting

I would love a video about the Emishi. *Mononoke Princess intensifies*

Free Ryukyu!

I've read that karate was developed with the help of banned weapons. Do you know it was true whether karate was developed by the poor or was it mostly the rich noble people that learnt karate?

Okinawa is technically the dispatching point of East Asia during times of war, which is why the US military bases still occupy parts of the island to this day.

"I hail from the Ryukyu Islands."- Mugen

free Ryuku

This is really minor, but the spelling of Philippines is incorrect at 0:52. Philippines is supposed to be spelled with one L and two Ps 😊

What,i heard is that they have developed a high level of Karate there.

Those Chinese who lived on Okinawa before Japanese occupation were descended from people of Fujian ethnic origin whose spoken language sounded very similar to Japanese.

As a Shorin Ryu karateka, I am especially interested in this island culture. If you look around, you can find an image of many students training at Shuri castle in times gone by.

i dint get the whole 'ducks at a caste' thing in the end

Great 8 minutes! I don’t know how you documented it, but this was pretty accurate. Wait, was it made by AI?

If an east asian culture hasn't had a "multiple kingdoms period" is it even a real east asian culture ?

5:48 this flag was used in the Genshin impact game as Inazuma Shogun and for Electro symbol

that's interesting. how did the Boar, and deer get on that island?

lol we have a duck named Bobalou i was stationed there till 2018 and the duck been feeding at the chowhall for decades now

Interesting how there is so much history in such tiny island. Also 1.5 million habitants is a lot. Should make more of this kind of videos, but please don't forget ancient civilizations 😊 thank youu

2:10 which Chinese Dynasty was this?

An admiral from malay peninsular have arrive in ryukyu and live there for a while

Great video, but something was a bit lacking. You failed to mention: -how they became the Daimyo of Japan, -sailed to America by island hopping through Siberia, -converted to the Aztec religion and reformed the said religion, -made the Native Americans their shoguns (which confused Columbus that he had reached "Cipanggu"), -and, finally, conquered the whole world.

#FreeOkinawa