The Misappropriation Of Ryukyu And The Expansion To Ezo Area From Edo Period To Early Meiji Period:A Study Under The Perspective Of Japanese Frontier Transformation

In the first chapter,I try to clarify the changes of territory in Edo age of Japan by analyzing the maps which formed in that period.Explicit explanations of territory changes and its historical background will provide us a definite and reasonable basis to discuss the “boundary” of Japan.In the second and third chapter,I explore the relations between Japan and Ryukyu,Japan and ezo,so as to demonstrate Ryukyu's position of “foreign country” and ezo's position of “foreign lands” relative to Japan.In the forth chapter,I try to describe actions that Japanese government took todelimitits northern and the southwestern frontier at the start of the Meiji era.In postscript part,on the basis of the first three chapters,I disclose the nature of the Meiji government's actions of delimiting its northern border and the expansion of its southwestern border: Due to the social patterns of ezo and its position of “foreign lands” relative to Japan,it was reasonable for Tokugawa shogunateto expand its northern frontier regions in ezo.So it is also understandable for Meiji government to take actions to expand its northern boundary according to Russia-Japanese agreement.However,since Ryukyu Kingdom established,it has been an independent political entity.And with respect to Japan,it was always a “foreign country”.So Meiji government's annexation of Ryukyu was aggressive and unreasonable.