Okinawa Studies in Taiwan under Japanese Rule: Focusing on the Use of the Word “Nantō”

• Main Author: Teshima, Takahiro
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: Iha Fuyū; Japanese historiography; Kobata Atsushi; Okinawan identity; Ryukyu; Shidehara Taira; Yanagita Kunio
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss45/15
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

In the modern period, certain research on Okinawa utilizing the noun “nantō,” which signified the southern islands, was known as Nantō studies. It accentuated Okinawa as the southernmost portion, or one component, of Japan, emphasizing Okinawa’s identity as a place that preserves old Japanese culture, based on the hypothesis that culture originates in the center of a cultural region and spreads to the frontier. This article examines the possibilities and limitations of Nantō studies in colonial Taiwan. Under the academic guidance at Taihoku Imperial University, including Japanese history, which had previously received less attention in prior research, Nantō studies could reach a higher standard. Meanwhile, Taihoku Imperial University’s policy was to study the southern region as a national policy, and the professors sometimes inevitably exposed the uniqueness of the former Ryukyu Kingdom or the cultural similarities between Okinawa and the southern regions, which Nantō studies had attempted to conceal. Additionally, Taiwan or other regions could have assumed Okinawa’s position of supplying the image of an ancient aspect of Japanese culture from the frontier. Members of Nantō studies in Taiwan attempted to preserve the identity of Okinawa as the southernmost part of Japan by editing the journal Nantō, but their efforts had a mix of possibilities and contradictions or limitations. They shifted their focus to the often-neglected outlying islands, making Nantō studies more diverse. However, this new approach also carried the negative aspect of forcing the assimilation of the smaller regions into one “Okinawa.”