Dōka to teikō no hazama. Shō Tai no baai 抵抗と同化のはざま─尚泰の場合

Shō Tai (1843-1901) was the last monarch to ascend to the Ryukyuan throne in 1848 and to receive investiture as King from Qing Emperor in 1866. Although historiography has paid him scarce attention, his determination not to give up the use of Ryukyuan customs and language even after 1879 – when the Ryūkyū Kingdom was abolished, the Okinawa Prefecture formally established, and Shō Tai forced to live in Tokyo – is generally considered as a form of resistance to the assimilation of Okinawans into the Japanese empire. The image of Shō Tai as a romantic or tragic hero has thus survived across time. Actually, the analysis of some Japanese and Okinawan sources reveals that Shō Tai repeatedly directed his former councillors to cooperate with the Japanese administrators, and encouraged his former subjects to accept Japanese rule. By evaluating the role he played, before and after his move to Tokyo, in the dispute among pro-Chinese and pro-Japanese factions, the essay aims at deconstructing Shō Tai as an icon, and separating the various layers of historiography, collective memory and myth.