As Japan opened up and a new government was formed in 1866, the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Sho Tai , had investiture rites performed for his coronation by envoys from China.
In 1871 all of the feudal domains in Japan were abolished and the system of prefectures was established. The Ryukyus were put under the jurisdiction of Kagoshima Prefecture. In 1872 the Meiji government on the mainland summoned envoys and announced that Sho Tai had been appointed King of the Ryukyu Domain.
This was the start of what is called the "Disposition of the Ryukyus".
The Ryukyuan government only understood that this event meant that jurisdiction over the Ryukyus was being transferred from Satsuma to the central government in Tokyo. They did not take notice that the important point of this was the dissolution of the Ryukyu Kingdom.
The Meiji government, wanting to avoid confrontation with the Ryukyuans and Chinese did not immediately implement the dissolution of the domains as it had with the rest of Japan. Instead they took a step by step approach toward the dissolution of the kingdom by naming Sho Tai the "king", not "lord", of a domain.