LOO-CHOO, LU-CHU, LIU-KIU, LIU CHIU, or RIU-KIU. A chain of 55 islands (36 of them inhabited) which originally formed the Kingdom of Loo-choo, but which are now a part of the Empire of Japan. They lie in the Pacific Ocean between the parallels of 24° and 30° N., and the meridians of 122° and 130° E., and ex tend in a southwest direction from Colnet Sound, which forms the south boundary of the island of Kinship toward the northeast coast of Formosa, from which they are distant about 80 miles. The total area is 934 square miles.
The chief islands are Anami-Oshima, Tokuno shima, Okinawa-shima, Ishigaki-shima, and 1rio mote-shima. The most important of these is Oki nawa, on which Shuri, the capital, is situated. Okinawa-shima and the southern groups are of coral formation; but farther north the islands are of volcanic origin and rise steeply from the ocean. In some places the hills rise to heights of 1400 to 1500 feet, but in Okinawa the country is com paratively low and undulating, with rounded hills 400 to 500 feet in height. The prevailing rocks are gneiss, hornblende, and granite, over lain with much weathered sedimentary strata. Coralline limestone is abundant. The climate is healthful and pleasant; the mean temperature is about 70° F., the mean humidity 78, and the rainfall for the year 84.69 inches. The islands suffer much from typhoons.
The soil is fertile and well cultivated. The most valuable crop is sugar. The largest is sweet potatoes. on which the great bulk of the popu lation subsists: six kinds of rice, three of barley and wheat. and six sorts of beans are produced, as well as immense quantities of vegetables of all sorts, including gourds and melons. Two crops of rice a year can be grown. Cotton, Satsuma tobacco, and a little tea are also raised, but the main supply of tea comes from Japan. The sago palm is extensively cultivated, and oranges of a peculiar aromatic flavor are grown. Plantain trees furnish the fibre which the women weave into the principal fabric made on the island. Fish of many kinds, including sharks, abound on the coast. Pigs are extensively reared; and there is a fine breed of ponies, 10 to 1014 hands high. There are no beasts of prey. hut venomous snakes called habu abound, and infest even the houses. They are from 6 to 7 feet long. 21/2 to 3 inches in diameter, and their bite is speedily mortal.
The people are probably of the same stock as the Japanese, whom they resemble to a great extent in their manners and customs. They are
mild-mannered and courteous, and to the Chinese the Kingdom is known as the 'Land of Propriety.' Those of the higher classes are as secluded as in China. Women tattoo their hands. The tombs are built of stone on the hillsides, and are horse shoe-shaped as in China. The dead are buried in coffins, but in the third year, the flesh has rotted away, the bones are washed with saki. and placed in urns.
The language is closely allied to -Japanese, especially the Japanese of several centuries ago, and in both its accidence and syntax it greatly resembles Korean. It has no alphabet, Chinese having been for centuries the medium of com munication, and Chinese literature, history, and philosophy the chief study of the learned. Two sects of Buddhism were introduced, but religion is now in decay and there is hardly a temple or a shrine. The population, at the close of 1898, was 453,550.
The Kingdom of Loo-choo first appears in Chinese history in the year 610. hut little is known of it before 1187, when one Sunten, said to have been a son of the famous Japanese war rior Tametomo (q.v.), ascended the throne. In 1372 it became tributary to China, sending a mission to Peking every other year. and its kings receiving investiture from the Emperor. The first intimate relations with Japan began in 1451, when presents were sent to the Ashikaga Shoguns. in 1609 the islands became subject to the Daimio of Satsuma, and from that time tribute was paid to both countries until 1874, when China relinquished her claims by treaty with Japan. and the Japanese gar risoned the chief city and its seaport. In 1876 Shotai, the King, was carried to Tokio and made a marquis (died August 19, 1901). and in 1879 the islands not already included in Kagoshima Prefecture were incorporated into the Japanese Em pire; the ken or prefecture of Okinawa (q.v.) was established, and grouped with the nine provinces of Kiushiu. The peo ple, however, are still without the elective franchise. See China Review, vol. viii. (Hong Kong. 1879) ; Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, vol. i. (Yoko hama, 1874) ; also vol. iv. (1876) ; vol. xxi. (1893) ; vol. xxiii. (1S95) on 'M C11111111 Language; and vol. xxiv. on Lu chuan Bibliography (1S96). Also Jour nal of the Society of Arts (London, 1881) ; and Journal of the Royal Geo graphical Society, vol. v. (London, 1895).