Place · region

Okinawa Prefecture

1879– · 19th century

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost prefecture of Japan, created in 1879 when the Meiji government annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom, deposed King Sho Tai and abolished the Ryukyu Domain. The islands saw the bloody Battle of Okinawa in 1945 and remained under US administration until their return to Japan in 1972. American military bases still occupy much of the main island.

Okinawa Prefecture
Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Ryukyu KingdomDecline, Summary

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Ryukyu KingdomRyukyu Domain

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Okinawa Prefecture. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/okinawa-prefecture
MLA
“Okinawa Prefecture.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/okinawa-prefecture. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Okinawa Prefecture.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/okinawa-prefecture.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Okinawa Prefecture’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/okinawa-prefecture (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻