 This arrangement was known as a "dual vassalage" status, and continued until the mid-19th century.During the Meiji period (1868–1912), the Meiji government of the Empire of Japan (1868–1947) began a process later called "Ryukyu Shobun" ("Ryukyu Disposition") to formally annex the kingdom into the modern Japanese Empire.Firstly established as Ryukyu Domain (1872–1879), in 1879 the kingdom-domain was abolished, established as Okinawa Prefecture, while the last Ryukyu king Shō Tai was forcibly exiled to Tokyo.