Definition of "Ryūkyū"

Ryūkyū is itself an extended archipelago, and geographic dispersion sustained considerable linguistic divergence and cultural differences among the islands (Matsumori 1995:30-31).

2001, John Lie, Multiethnic Japan‎, Harvard University Press, page 96

The Ryūkyū performing arts entered the Japanese mainland through performances by artists from Ryūkyū, after which they developed in new directions distinct from their origins.

2013, Hiroi Eiko, “The Creation of Exotic Space in the Miyako-odori: 'Ryūkyū' and 'Chōsen'”, in Hugh De Ferranti Alison Tokita, editors, Music, Modernity and Locality in Prewar Japan: Osaka and Beyond‎, Routledge, published 2016, page 274

According to George Kerr’s book, “Okinawa, The History of an Island People,” beni imo was brought to Okinawa in 1606 by Noguni Sōkan, who was stationed at a Ryūkyū (Okinawa) trading post in the southern coastal district of the Fukien Province, China.[...]On June 19, 1615, Richard Cook, the English trader at Hirako, recorded in his diary that he planted the first potatoes from Ryūkyū in Japan. According to a document, “History of Okinawa,” prepared by Ijichi Sadaka in 1878, a Japanese named Ryuiemon brought the sweet potato from Ryūkyū to Yamakawa Village in Satsuma in southern Kyüshü between 1665 to 1675.

2021 November 19, Dan Nakasone, “Featured Story – GETTING TO THE ROOT OF BENI IMO”, in The Hawaiʻi Herald‎, archived from the original on 28 January 2022