Chronology for Okinawa

last revised: February 19, 2004

Prehistoric and Historic Chronology:
The Okinawan/Ryukyuan Archipelago

Dates	Mainland Periods		Okinawa Chronology				Okinawa Periods
Dates	Mainland Periods		Osumi-Tokara	Amami	Okinawa	Miyako-Yaeyama	Okinawa Periods
1868	Modern		Kagoshima Prefecture		Okinawa Prefecture		Modern
1600	Early Modern		Satsuma-Han		Ryukyu-koku		Early Modern
1573	Azuchi- Momoyama			Ryukyu Kingdom ca. 12th-16th centuries			Gusuku Period
1392	Muromachi
1185	Kamakura
794	Heian						Late Shellmound Period	IV
710	Nara
300	Kofun
	Yayoi	Late	Kyushu Yayoi	Kyushu Yayoi & Amami-Okinawa Culture				III
A.D. 0- B.C.		Middle				Amami-Okinawa & Philippine Cultures		II
300		Early				Amami-Okinawa & Philippine Cultures		I
1000	Jomon	Latest	Kyushu Jomon & Amami-Okinawa Culture	Kyushu Jomon & Amami-Okinawa Culture			Early Shellmound Period	V
2000		Late	Kyushu Jomon			Miyako-Yaeyama Culture		IV
3000		Middle						III
5000		Early						II
8000		Earliest		Kakoinohara Ax	Kakoinohara Ax			I
10,000		Incipient		Kakoinohara Ax	Kakoinohara Ax			I
13,000	Palaeo- lithic	IV-III					Palaeolithic
20,000		II		Amami Palaeolithic	Upper Minatogawa ca. 14,000 BP -------- Shimojibaru Cave ca. 15,000-16,000 BP -------- Minatogawa ca. 18,000 BP
30,000		I			Yamashita-cho ca. 32,000 BP	Pinza'abu Cave ca. 26,000 BP

There are two large gaps in the occupation of the main Okinawan islands. The first gap begins with the final phases of the Palaeolithic and ends with the oldest radiocarbon date of ca. 6700 BP (uncalibrated). The second gap is from the 4th century to the 10th or 11th century.
The occupation of the southern islands, the Miyako and Yaeyama groups, can be divided into four periods (Takamiya 1991, pp. 35-40):
1. non-ceramic with polished and partially polished axes, and dates ranging from 2200 BP (radiocarbon uncalibrated) to AD 1010 (historic).
2. Shimo-Tabara type pottery, and uncalibrated radiocarbon dates ranging from 3850 to 3260 BP. The order of phases 1 and 2 is questionable.
3. Nakamori type pottery and Chinese trade ceramics, dating probably to the 13th-16th centuries, comtemporary with the Gusuku Period.
4. The 17th and 18th centuries, affiliated with Japan.

Modern Okinawa	1879 to present	Meiji 12th year the han (daimyo fiefs) were eliminated and the ken (prefecture) established.
Early Modern Ryukyu	1609 to 1879	Shimatsu invasion brought the Ryukyu Kingdom into the baku-han (shogunate-daimyo fief) system, but the kingdom remained somewhat independent.
Old Ryukyu	ca. 12th c. to 1609	Period of the independent Ryukyu Kingdom. This kingdom encompassed the Amami, Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama island groups. It probably began about the late 14th century. This roughly parallels the archaeological Gusuku Period, from about the 12th or early 13th century to about the 15th or 16th century.
Prehistoric Period	Palaeolithic to ca. AD 12th c.	Palaeolithic sites are found in the archipelago, but then there is a gap to about 6600 BP, when a Jomon-like culture spreads over the islands from the main Okinawa island to Kyushu. A Yayoi-like culture existed in the same area from the middle of the 1st millennium BC until some unknown time in the 4th century AD or later. There is no Kofun Period in the Ryukyu archipelago. Little is known of the prehistory of the Miyako and Yaeyama island groups, but the prehistoric cultures there derived from Taiwan.

References

Oda, Shizuo. (1992). Kuroshio-ken no Senshi Bunka (Prehistoric Cultures in the Region Washed by the Kuroshio Current). Daiyonki Kenkyu, 31: 409-420.
Oda, Shizuo, ed. (1998). Kuroshio-ken no Masei Sekifu (The Compilation of the Polished Axes/Adzes Around the Kuroshio Current). Kokogaku Shiryoshu 3 (Archaeology Series, no. 3). Sakura City: Kokuritsu Rekishi Minzoku Hakubutsukan-nai Harunari Kenkyu-shitsu (Harunari Office, National Museum of Japanese History). [Heisei 9 Nendo Monbu Kagaku Kenkyuhi Hojokin, Juten Ryoiki Kenkyu 1: Nihon-jin oyobi Nihon Bunka no Kigen ni Kansuru Gakusai-teki Kenkyu (1997 Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas 1: Interdisciplinary Study on the Origins of the Japanese People and Cultures)]
China, Teijun. (1999). Okinawa-ken Kunigami-gun Ginoza-son Me'ebaru Iseki (The Me'ebaru Site, Ginoza Village, Kunigami County, Okinawa Prefecture). Nihon Kokogaku Nenpo 50, 1997 Nendoban (Archaeologia Japonica: Annual Report of the Japanese Archaeological Studies and Excavations 50, Fiscal Year 1997). Tokyo: Nihon Kokogaku Kyokai, pp. 678-681.
"Kadokawa Nihon Chimei Daijiten" Hensan Iinkai, and Takeuchi Rizo, eds. (1986). Kadokawa Nihon Chimei Daijiten, 47, Okinawa (Kadokawa Encyclopedia of Japanese Place Names, vol. 47, Okinawa). Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten.
Takamiya, Hiroe. (1991). Senshi Kodai no Okinawa (Prehistoric and Ancient Periods in Okinawa). Nanto Bunka Sosho 12 (Cultures of the Southern Islands Series, no. 12). Tokyo: Dai'ichi Shobo.
(Zai) Okinawa-ken Bunka Shinkokai Kobunsho-kan Kanri-bu Shiryo Henshu-shitsu, eds. (1998). Minatogawa-jin to Kyusekki Jidai no Okinawa (Minatogawa Human Remains and Palaeolithic Okinawa). Okinawa Kenshi Bijuaru-ban 2 Koko 1 (Visual History of Okinawa, vol. 2, Archaeology, vol. 1). Okinawa: Okinawa-ken Kyoiku Iinkai (Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education). [Office of Historiography, Department of Archives Administration, Okinawa Prefectural Culture Promotion Foundation, eds.]

Prehistoric and Historic Chronology: The Okinawan/Ryukyuan Archipelago

References

Prehistoric and Historic Chronology:
The Okinawan/Ryukyuan Archipelago