Arata Goto: Chofu Ota and Chokyo Takamine—Ryukyu Shimpo and Its Era

The theme assigned to me by the editorial department is about Chofu Ota (1865–1938) and Chokyo Takamine (1868–1939), as noted on the right. Since the Ryukyu Shimpo is one of the leading newspapers in Okinawa Prefecture and continues to be published today, I believe readers of this magazine are familiar with it. However, I am quite uncertain whether people have even heard the names of Ota and Takamine.

Ota was from a Shizoku (samurai class) family in Shuri and was a leading intellectual and journalist in modern Okinawa. He is particularly well-known for advocating an extreme theory of assimilation, arguing that Okinawans should align themselves with other prefectures even down to the way they sneeze. Additionally, for the sake of Okinawa's industrial development, he served as the president of the Okinawa Sugar Company and, in his later years, as the Mayor of Shuri.

Takamine was also from a Shizoku family in Shuri. He was involved in management for a long time as the first president of the Bank of Okinawa (different from the current Bank of Okinawa), the first private bank in Okinawa. He was a figure who was widely active in political and business circles, serving as the first chairman of the Prefectural Assembly, Okinawa's first member of the House of Representatives, and the first Mayor of Shuri.

In 1882, the two were selected as the first group of prefectural scholarship students and went to Tokyo. After living in a dormitory at Gakushuin, they both studied at Keio University. In Ota's later journalistic activities, the influence of Yukichi Fukuzawa's "An Outline of a Theory of Civilization" is often pointed out, particularly regarding his theories on civilization. It appears that their studies at Keio University strongly influenced Ota and his peers.

At that time, within Okinawa Prefecture, the pro-Qing faction held strong power, centered around the former ruling class who were dissatisfied with the so-called Ryukyu Disposition—the Meiji government's forced integration of Okinawa into Japan. To maintain peaceful governance, the prefectural office promoted a policy of preserving old customs. Through their life as students in Tokyo, Ota and others learned that the world was changing significantly and felt a strong sense of crisis that Okinawa's modernization was progressing slowly. Thus, upon returning to Okinawa, Ota and Takamine launched the Ryukyu Shimpo in 1893, with Jun Sho (the fourth son of the last Ryukyu King, Tai Sho) as president, along with Choei Goeku and Morikazu Tomigusuku. Goeku and Tomigusuku also studied at Keio University. Furthermore, Gasho Kishimoto, who studied at Keio University as a prefectural scholarship student like Ota, and Tsunetaro Imanishi, a Keio University graduate who later wrote "International Law," are said to have helped with the launch from Tokyo (Tokyo Asahi Shimbun, September 17, 1893).

The purpose of launching the Ryukyu Shimpo was to inform the people of Okinawa about global trends, to nurture and develop Okinawa's social forces, and to eliminate discriminatory attitudes from other prefectures. Starting with Jun Sho, who had just turned 20, everyone was still a young person in their 20s, and they were burning with ideals. Although the circulation at the time of the first issue was reportedly only about 500 copies, the birth of a journalistic institution in Okinawa as a symbol of civilization and enlightenment was of great significance. Partly due to Japan's victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, which began the following year, the tide within the prefecture changed significantly. The pro-Qing faction lost power, and the new-thought faction, including Ota, gained influence.

However, Ota and Takamine began to walk separate paths following the failure of the Kodo-kai movement that occurred after the First Sino-Japanese War. The Kodo-kai movement was a petition to the government to make the Sho family hereditary governors of the prefecture, and both were deeply involved in the movement. However, such a petition could not possibly be granted, and it ended in failure, being strongly criticized from both inside and outside the prefecture as an anachronistic argument for the restoration of the feudal domain.

Afterward, Ota used the Ryukyu Shimpo as his stronghold to persistently preach the necessity of civilization. If they became an obstacle, his criticism was even directed at Jun Sho and others. For a period, Ota left the Ryukyu Shimpo, but he served as its president for a long time and remained active as a journalist until just before his death. During that time, while changes could be seen in Ota's thinking, his stance of aiming for Okinawa's independence remained consistent. For that purpose, civilization was indispensable, and the extreme theory of assimilation mentioned earlier was also intended to transform Okinawa—which had fallen significantly behind other prefectures due to the policy of preserving old customs—as quickly as possible.

On the other hand, after the Kodo-kai movement, Takamine was widely active in political and business circles as mentioned before. In particular, in the first-ever House of Representatives election held in Okinawa Prefecture in May 1912, he received official endorsement from the Rikken Seiyukai and was elected with the highest number of votes. The other winner was Kishimoto, who also received official endorsement from the Rikken Seiyukai.

However, in July 1914, during his term, Takamine suddenly resigned as a member of the Diet. One theory suggests that pressure from Governor Kyugoro Omi of the Kenseikai faction had an influence, but it is not well understood. According to Takamine's own words, he made the "decision to devote myself to business affairs because the recent political turmoil and frequent summons mean spending almost half the year in Tokyo, which causes various obstacles to the Bank of Okinawa, Okinawa Koun Co., Ltd., and the coal industry that I am engaged in" (Ryukyu Shimpo, July 7, 1916). If we believe Takamine's words and his decision to resign based on the belief that acting as a businessman was more important for Okinawa than being a politician, we might see Fukuzawa's influence here as well.