A pretext for aggression The efforts of the Ryukyu kingdom notwithstanding, Japanese troops led by Admiral Saigo Tsugumichi departed from Nagasaki for Taiwan in 1874. They subdued the aboriginal inhabitants in Mutan She and the surrounding area and carried the remains of 44 of the murdered Ryukyu islanders back to Okinawa, where they were buried in an out-of-the-way location. (The remains of the other ten were not found.)
一八七四年，日本政府由長崎出兵（名為西鄉軍），對排灣族居住的牡丹社發動總攻擊，平定了南部十八社的原住民，運回被排灣族殺害的宮古島四十四位官民的遺骨（其餘十顆頭骨無法找到），將其葬在沖繩一處偏僻的墓地。