Through the eye of the coin : viewing the Kingdom of Ryukyu’s shifting positionality through the use of square-holed coins

Small square-holed copper ‘Tongbao’ coins circulated widely in East Asia and beyond from the Tang Dynasty onward. Although China first minted these coins, its neighbouring states began minting coins in similar styles soon after, though the prominence of Chinese coins remained unchallenged until the seventeenth century. Because coins flow freely across borders and regions as currency rather than as ordinary commodities, their circulation created multidirectional networks of economic and political connections. This thesis calls this framework the Square-Holed Coinosphere, which contrasts with the largely one-sided flow of the Sinosphere model. Centering on the Kingdom of Ryukyu, an archipelagic kingdom situated between China and Japan from the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries, this thesis examines how the use of cash coins mirrored changing relations of diplomacy, trade, and sovereignty. Drawing on multilingual documents, archaeological records, and the coins themselves as objects of analysis, this thesis argues that coins carried more than monetary value and reflected Ryukyu’s diplomatic manoeuvres, position vis-à-vis its two powerful neighbours, and the gradual loss of its sovereignty. The case of Ryukyu provides insight into how the Square-Holed Coinosphere was shaped not just by economic trade, but also by political performance and contested sovereignty.