The Ryukyuan people are a Ryukyuan-speaking East Asian ethnic group native to the Ryukyu Islands, which stretch between the islands of Kyushu and Taiwan. Administratively, they live in either the Okinawa Prefecture or the Kagoshima Prefecture within Japan. They speak one of the Ryukyuan languages, considered to be one of the two branches of the Japonic language family, the other being Japanese and its dialects.
Ryukyuan people
The gusuku fortification are on the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu UNESCO's list.
The castle town and Ryukyu Kingdom's capital Shuri Castle
Five Ryukyuan men, Meiji period
The Ryukyuan languages , also Lewchewan or Luchuan, are the indigenous languages of the Ryukyu Islands, the southernmost part of the Japanese archipelago. Along with the Japanese language and the Hachijō language, they make up the Japonic language family.
Traffic safety slogan signs in Kin, Okinawa, written in Japanese (center) and Okinawan (left and right).
Imōre (いもーれ), Amami
Menshōri (めんしょーり), Kunigami (Okinoerabu)
Mensōre (めんそーれ), Okinawan