琉球一件(一千八百七拾九年八月廿二日支那政府ノ照会ニ対スル答弁ノ覚書) / Ryūkyūan Affair (In August 22nd, 1879, a memorandum in response to the claim of Chinese government)

Ryukyu Ikken is a set of ten printed documents. It is a collection of the diplomatic correspondence between Japan and Qing (China) concerning the Japanese annexation of Ryukyu as the Prefecture of Okinawa. This is the 5th volume. On the book cover, there is "In August 22nd, 1879, a memorandum in response to the claim of Chinese government". Right after the establishment of prefectures in place of feudal domains, the Japanese annexation of Ryukyu became a political issue between Japan and Qing. Shishido Tamaki, the minister plenipotentiary posted in Qing submitted an account of the legal grounds for Japanese annexation of Ryukyu to Office of Foreign Affairs of Qing. It is a memorandum that Japan has made in September 1879 in response to a memorandum sent from Qing to Japan in August 22nd, 1879(the document of HW601(4)). It was the problem that Ryukyu had concluded Treaty of Amity with some countries and also, that Ryukyu had a historical relationship with China to justify Japanese annexation of Ryukyu. In this document, Japan describes what they think about this problem. It is written with both kanji (Chinese characters) and kana (Japanese syllabary). (Updated on November 4, 2022)