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In 1875 the Meiji government formulated policy contained in the edict entitled the "Disposition of the Ryukyus". It conveyed the government's policy of dismantling the Ryukyu Domain and annexing it as Okinawa Prefecture. In the same year it dispatched an official to take charge of the dissolution, Michiyuki Matsuda.
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Having received notice of these measures, the Ryukyuan Court, without instituting any countermeasures of their own, simply appealed to the Japanese government to be allowed to continue to conduct the dual tributary relationship with China and Japan it had up until then. Rule in the court was multi-layered and many were simply afraid that by being annexed as part of Japan they would lose land, status and assets.
The Meiji government, deciding that it was unable to understand what the response of the court would be through persuasion, issued an edict authorizing the apprehension of the King.
In March of 1879, after receiving his orders to "abolish the Ryukyu Kingdom and establish Okinawa Prefecture", Matsuda, with police and army units in tow, landed in the Ryukyus and communicated what he was to do to the Ryukyuan court. Through this action all of the land, citizens, and all related documents of the court administration of the former Ryukyuan Royal Court were to be turned over to the Meiji government. Sho Tai, the former king, was given a degree of nobility and ordered to reside in Tokyo. The 500-year rule of the Ryukyu Kingdom was destroyed by these actions.
