THE RYUKYU PEOPLE : A CULTURAL APPEAISAL 



By Maeshalt. T. Newman 



Associate Curator, Division of Physical Anthropology, V, S. National Museum 



and 



Ransom L. Eng 



Former Executive Officer 



Military Qovemment Research Center 



Okinatoa 



[With 5 plates] 

 INTRODUCTION 



As United States forces conquered island after island in the Pacific, 

 hitherto obscure peoples suddenly became headline news. Such a 

 people were the Ryukyuans who were living a simple agrarian life as 

 vassals of the Japanese on a chain of small islands between southern 

 Japan and Formosa. But with the invasion beginning March 27, 

 1945, the islands, especially Okinawa, became household words over- 

 night. After organized Japanese resistance ceased, following 82 

 days of bitter fighting, Okinawa and the Ryukyus left the headlines. 

 Since the Japanese surrender, Okinawa continues to be important as 

 one of the reduced-status bases in the Pacific retained by the United 

 States. Currently the civil affairs of the Ryukyu people are admin- 

 istered by the United States Army Military Government. 



In view of our interest in the Ryukyus, we have summarized avail- 

 able information on the native people from earliest times to the present. 

 We have attempted to relate the natural environment of the islands 

 and the long history of foreign influence to the native way of life up 

 to World War II. Thus we hope to show not only what the native 

 life was like but how it came to be that way. To complete the picture 

 we have considered the impact of World War II and the effects of the 

 American occupation upon the islanders. 



This has not been easy. The archeology of the Ryukyus is little 

 laiown, and the early written records usually show either a Chinese 

 or Japanese bias. Satisfactory racial and cultural studies of the 



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