The iediate cause of the Mutan She incident was the slaughter by aboriginal inhabitants of the officers and crew of a ship from Miyako Island that had run aground in southern Taiwan during a storm. When Ja pan dispatched troops to Taiwan in retaliation, the act was tantamount to an open declaration of the annexation of Ryukyu. Ryukyu was eventually incorporated into Japan's prefectural system in 1879.
牡丹社事件的出兵，使得琉球王國歸屬日本的問題明確化，一八七九年，琉球王國終於被日本「廢藩置縣」並入日本，而日本出兵台灣，試圖染指台灣的意圖，也在一八九五年的甲午之役後實現，清廷割讓台灣，正式承認日本「併吞」原藩屬國琉球的事實。