Ryukyu Domain
| Ryūkyū Domain 琉球藩 | |||||||||
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| Domain of Japan Tributary state of Qing China (until 1875) | |||||||||
| 1872–1879 | |||||||||
Mon of the Second Shō family
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Ryukyu Domain included the southern-half of the Ryukyu Islands. | |||||||||
| Capital | Shuri Castle | ||||||||
| Government | |||||||||
| • Type | Monarchy | ||||||||
| Domain King (藩王) | |||||||||
• 1872–1879 | Shō Tai | ||||||||
| Sanshikan | |||||||||
• 1872–1879 | Urasoe Chōshō | ||||||||
• 1875–1879 | Tomikawa Seikei | ||||||||
• 1877–1879 | Yonabaru Ryōketsu | ||||||||
| Historical era | Meiji period | ||||||||
• Established | 1872 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1879 | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Okinawa Prefecture | ||||||||
| History of Ryukyu |
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![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:"History_of_the_Ryūkyū_Islands"_for_template_heading.png){kind=link}
The Ryukyu Domain (琉球藩, Ryūkyū han) was a short-lived domain of the Empire of Japan, lasting from 1872 to 1879, and simultaneously a tributary state of the Qing Empire, until 1875, before being fully incorporated into Japan as the current Okinawa Prefecture and other islands at the Pacific edge of the East China Sea.
When the domain was created in 1872, Japan's feudal han system had developed in unique ways. The domain was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka, not land area. This was different from the feudalism of the West.