Ancient Japanese Language = Ancient Chinese ?

[Conqueror]

Small Islands

Ryukyu is Okinawa, just as Temasek is Singapura. Japanese and Koreans fought over it during Ming China era and Ming sided with Korea. Ming was very powerful in earlier years and there was nothing Japan could do. The later Qing China was weak and abandoned defence of Korea as they couldn't even defend themselves. Japan colonized Korea and by extension took over Ryukyu and officialized its name to Okinawa as a Japanese prefecture, not just a colony. It's something like what Wales is to England, not something like what Singapore was to England. At WWII defeat and surrender, US accepted Japanese political rights to Okinawa provided Japan accepted US rights to military bases in Okinawa. China and Korea were both mired in civil wars and couldn't care less. The Okinawa chain of islands lie between Japan and Taiwan. The name Okinawa in Japanese means a flush of links. That's what US saw. That's what Japan had seen even earlier.

The Ryūkyū Kingdom (Japanese: 琉球王国 Ryūkyū Ōkoku; Ryukyuan: 琉球國 Ruuchuu-kuku, traditional Chinese: 琉球國, Chinese: 琉球国; pinyin: Liúqiú Guó; Manchu: Lio Kio Gurun[citation needed]; historical English name: Lewchew, Luchu) was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan. Despite its small size, the kingdom played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval East and Southeast Asia.


I think that Okinawa is a subset of Ryukyu islands. Okinawa is the main island for Ryukyu.

 

[Ramseth]

Re: Small Islands

You have to understand Japanese political and administrative terminology. All the other Ryukyu islands are administered from Okinawa Prefecture. That's why it's called 沖縄本島 not 沖縄島。They're just like what Sentosa, Pulau Ubin etc. are to Singapore. Hokkaido as a region in Japan has a higher status of -do, equivalent to province. Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu have even higher status of a -shu, equivalent to state. Tokyo in Honshu has the highest status of -to, i.e. imperial capital.

 

[Conqueror]

Okinawa Island

You have to understand Japanese political and administrative terminology. All the other Ryukyu islands are administered from Okinawa Prefecture. That's why it's called 沖縄本島 not 沖縄島。They're just like what Sentosa, Pulau Ubin etc. are to Singapore. Hokkaido as a region in Japan has a higher status of -do, equivalent to province. Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu have even higher status of a -shu, equivalent to state. Tokyo in Honshu has the highest status of -to, i.e. imperial capital.

What I'm saying is that the whole stretch of islands, only that biggest piece of land or island is the main island where the ancient Ryukyuan kings had probably lived. Okinawa Prefecture is definitely NOT Okinawa Island. Okinawa Island and some other connecting islands become Ryukyu Islands.

Prefecture ? You have to see the map as a guide.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Re: Okinawa Island

Did the okinawans have a seperate culture from the japs?

 

[Conqueror]

They Are Not As Militaristic As Japan

Did the okinawans have a seperate culture from the japs?

I wrote in my previous post that they kept musical instrument in their living halls instead of swords like the Japs. The most important thing was that they were much closer to China and there were trade and diplomatic visits. Seaweed and Miso was actually Ryukyuan products which both the Japanese and the Korean began to catch on it. So, Miso is not Japanese technically speaking.


Many Chinese moved to Ryukyu to serve the government or engage in business during this period. The Ming dynasty Chinese sent from Fujian 36 Chinese families at the request of the Ryukyuan King to manage oceanic dealings in the kingdom in 1392 during the Hongwu Emperor's reign. Many Ryukuan officials were descended from these Chinese immigrants, being born in China or having Chinese grandfathers.[1] They assisted in the Ryukyuans in advancing their techonology and diplomatic relations.[2][3][4] The Chinese used the fact that the descendants of these Chinese families still lived on Ryukyu as justification for China's "special claim" on the islands, as Li Hongzhang told Ulysses S. Grant. The Ryukyu had paid tribute to China for hundreds of years, and the Chinese reserved certrain trade rights for them in an amicable and beneficial relationship.[5]

 

[IreneYeoh]

Re: They Are Not As Militaristic As Japan

I like Hokkaido ramen best. Okinawa ramen not so good, but can do.

 

[Conqueror]

Numbers In Ancient Chinese

[video=youtube;K6xZMyvIygw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6xZMyvIygw[/video]

古い漢語や廣東語の音には現代日本語音と共通するものもあるな。
日本語では以下の如し：
ichi, ni , san , si , go , roku , sichi , hachi , ku ,zyu , hyaku, sen , man , oku , chou

I personally think that it sounds like 苗族 Hmong-Mien language.