King of Ryukyu

The earliest known form of the narrative dates to the reign of King Shō Shin of the Second Shō dynasty. A stone monument dated 1522 makes reference to "three dynasties of Shunten's, Eiso's and Satto's". His son King Shō Sei expressed the line of succession in a slightly more elaborate form. The Katanohana Inscription (1543) reads: "Shō Sei, King of Chūzan of the Great State of Ryūkyū, ascended to the throne as the 21st king since Sonton [Shunten]" (大りうきう国中山王尚清ハ、そんとんよりこのかた二十一代の御くらひをつきめしよわちへ). Similarly, another stone monument dated 1597 states that Shō Nei is the 24th king since Sonton [Shunten] (しやうねいハそんとんよりこのかた二十四たいのわうの御くらゐ...). The numbers of kings mentioned in these monuments agree with those of the official history books compiled much later although it is not clear whether the individual members were fixed at this stage.{{cite book

|author=Ikemiya Masaharu 池宮正治

|chapter=Ryūkyū no rekishi jojutsu: "Chūzan Seikan" kara "Kyūyō" e |script-chapter=ja:琉球の歴史叙述: 『中山世鑑』から『球陽』へ

|title=Ryūkyū-shi bunka ron |script-title=ja:琉球史文化論

|pages=3–21

|publisher=Kasama Shoin 笠間書院

|year=2015

|language=Japanese

}}

Historian Dana Masayuki relates the notion of the line of succession to Buddhist temples where ancestral tablets of the deceased kings were stored. According to the Chūzan Seifu, Manju-ji stored the ancestral tablets of Satto, Bunei, Shishō and Shō Hashi, while the tablets of Shō Taikyū and Shō Toku were at Tenkai-ji. Shō En, the founder of the Second Shō dynasty, established Tennō-ji and designated it as the family mausoleum. It is not certain which temples were dedicated to the missing kings of the First Shō dynasty, Shō Chū, Shō Shitatsu, and Shō Kinpuku. Nevertheless, each king performed "ancestral" worship for deceased kings from different dynasties in the presence of a Chinese envoy, presumably because they deceived the Chinese into thinking that the throne was normally succeeded from the father to the son.{{cite book

|author=Dana Masayuki 田名真之

|chapter=Ryūkyū ōken no keifu ishiki to Minamoto no Tametomo torai denshō |script-chapter=ja:琉球王権の系譜意識と源為朝渡来伝承 |trans-chapter=Ryuyuan Royal Succession Ideology and The Minamoto Temetomo Legend

|editor=Kyūshū shigaku kenkyūkai 九州史学研究会

|title=Kyōkai no aidentiti |script-title=ja:境界のアイデンティティ

|pages=181–196

|publisher=Iwata Shoin 岩田書院

|year=2008

|language=Japanese

}}

According to the Ryūkyū-koku yuraiki (1713), Ryūfuku-ji in Urasoe, in addition to the above-mentioned temples, served as the royal mausoleum. This temple stored inkstone tablets representing the deceased kings from Shunten to Shō Hashi. According to the Chūzan Seifu, Ryūfuku-ji was originally founded by Eiso under the name of Gokuraku-ji and was re-established by Shō En. Dana Masayuki surmises that Gokuraku-ji used to serve not only as the family mausoleum of the Eiso dynasty but as the state mausoleum tracing the royal line back to Shunten. The apparent conflict between Manju-ji and Gokuraku-ji is resolved if Manju-ji is seen as a representation of the state in relation to China while Gokuraku-ji was the manifestation of Okinawa's own narrative.

Shō Shin established Enkaku-ji and transferred the function of the family mausoleum from Tennō-ji to Enkaku-ji. Shō Shin founded another temple named Sōgen-ji and decided to use it as the state mausoleum while the function of Enkaku-ji was clarified as the mausoleum of the Second Shō dynasty. He moved all ancestral tablets, starting from Shunten, to Sōgen-ji and thereby visualized the single line of succession based on Okinawa's own narrative.

Minamoto no Tametomo (1139–1170), the uncle of the Kamakura shogunate's founder Minamoto no Yoritomo, has been consistently treated as the father of Shunten since the earliest official history book, the Chūzan Seikan (1650). The earliest known association of Tametomo with Ryūkyū can be found in a letter written by a Zen monk in Kyoto named Gesshū Jukei (1470–1533) with a request by Kakuō Chisen, another Zen monk serving to Ryūkyū's Tennō-ji. According to a tale which Gesshū attributed to Kakuō, Tametomo moved to Ryūkyū, used demons as servants, and became the founder of the state, which the Minamoto clan had ruled since then. The reference to demons may reflect the centuries-old Japanese Buddhist perception of Ryūkyū as the land of man-eating demons, as seen in, for example, the Hyōtō Ryūkyū-koku ki (1244). Although at this stage, Tametomo was not explicitly associated with Shunten, the tale apparently circulated in the network of Zen Buddhists connecting Kyoto to Okinawa. A similar tale was recorded in the Ryūkyū Shintō-ki (1606) by Jōdo-shū monk Taichū, who visited Ryūkyū from 1603 to 1606. This indicates that by that time, the tale of Tametomo had been known to non-Zen Buddhists. In light of these, the apparent innovation of the Chūzan Seikan (1650) was the explicit association of Tametomo with Shunten.{{cite book

|author=Ikemyia Masaharu 池宮正治

|chapter=Rekishi to setsuwa no aida: Katarareru rekishi |script-chapter=ja:歴史と説話の間: 語られる歴史

|title=Ryūkyū-shi bunka ron |script-title=ja:琉球史文化論

|pages=23–52

|publisher=Kasama Shoin 笠間書院

|year=2015

|language=Japanese

}}

The tale of Tametomo had a profound impact on Ryūkyū's self-perception. In 1691, for example, the king ordered all the male members of the royal family to use the kanji Chō (朝) as the first of their two-character given names, presumably to indicate an affinity to Minamoto no Tametomo (源為朝).

Another innovation of the Chūzan Seikan (1650) was the association of the foundation myth with the royal line. The foundation myth concerning the goddess Amamikyu itself was recorded in the Ryūkyū Shintō-ki (1606). However, the Chūzan Seikan was the first to make reference to the {{nihongo|Tenson-shi|天孫氏}}, who supposedly descended from the goddess.

Without showing a clear genealogy, the official history books connect the Tenson dynasty remotely to the Eiso dynasty. Eiso's mother dreamed that the sun intruded into her bosom, giving a miraculous birth to Eiso, but Eiso's foster father was said to have descended from the Tenson dynasty. Similarly, Satto was said to have been mothered by a swan maiden. Shō En was believed to have descended from Gihon of the Shunten dynasty (i.e., the second Shō family originated from the Minamoto clan), or some other king. It is not clear why the Chūzan Seikan did not provide a special link to the First Shō dynasty.

The founder of the Tenson dynasty was a descendant of {{nihongo|Amamikyu|阿摩美久|4=the goddess of creation}}. The 25 generations of the Tenson dynasty ruled the land for 17,802 years, but their names are unknown.

The Shunten dynasty lasted from AD 1187 to AD 1259.{{cite journal |author=Ryukyu Islands (United States Civil Administration, 1950–1972). Shōgai Hōdōkyoku 琉球列島米国民政府涉外報道局 |date=1970 |title=守礼の光 |url= |journal=守礼の光 |volume= |issue=2–12 |pages= |doi= |quote=In reviewing history, it can be noted that there was political turmoil in the Ryukyus in the 1250s during the reign of King Gihon, the last king of the Shunten dynasty. In the 1350s the Eiso dynasty was overturned and Urasoe Anji Satto became the new King of the Ryukyus}}

In 1186, the 25th ruler's throne was usurped by Riyū. Minamoto no Tametomo's son Shunten overthrew Riyū the next year, becoming the king.

The Eiso dynasty lasted from AD 1260 to AD 1349. In 1259, Gihon, who was the last king of the Shunten dynasty, abdicated his throne. Fathered by the sun, Eiso succeeded him. During the reign of Tamagusuku, the state was divided into three polities. The King of Nanzan (Sannan) and the King of Hokuzan (Sanhoku) came to compete with the King of Chūzan.

The Satto dynasty lasted from AD 1350 to AD 1405.{{cite book| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gvLGDwAAQBAJ&q=Tenson+Dynasty&pg=PA235 | title = Ancient Ryukyu: An Archaeological Study of Island Communities | author = Richard Pearson | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 2013 |isbn = 9780824865894 |quote = The victorious Ryukyu Kingdom compiled the Chūzan seikan as its history in the seventeenth century AD, outlining a succession of three early dynasties (Haneji 1983). These were the Tenson dynasty, the Eiso dynasty (AD 1260 to 1349), and the Satto dynasty (AD 1350 to 1405).}} Satto, the son of a peasant and a swan maiden, replaced Seii as the King of Chūzan. Satto started a tributary relation to the Ming emperor.

The First Shō dynasty lasted from AD 1429 to AD 1469.{{cite journal |author=Richard Pearson |title=Okinawa: The Rise of an Island Kingdom : Archaeological and Cultural Perspectives : Proceedings of a Symposium, Kingdom of the Coral Seas, November 17, 2007, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |url= |journal= |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi= |access-date= |date=2009|publisher=Archaeopress |quote=In an alternate scheme, the First Sho dynasty ( 1429–1469 ) was established by Sho Hashi in 1429 and the Second Sho dynasty ( 1470 - 1879 ) was established by Sho En in 1470 (ed. ) }} Shō Hashi, the virtual founder of the First Shō dynasty, overthrew Bunei in 1406. He installed his father, Shō Shishō, as the nominal King of Chūzan. Shō Hashi annihilated the King of Hokuzan (Sanhoku) in 1416. In 1421, after the death of his father, Shō Hashi became the King of Chūzan. He overthrew the King of Nanzan (Sannan) until 1429, unifying the island. The surname Shō (尚) was given by the Ming emperor.Kerr, George. Okinawa: The History of an Island People. Tokyo: Tuttle, 2000. p. 89.

The Second Shō dynasty lasted from AD 1470 to AD 1879. When Shō Toku, the last king of the First Shō dynasty, died in 1469, courtiers launched a coup d'état and elected Shō En as king. He became the founder of the Second Shō dynasty. The kingdom was at its peak during the reign of his son, Shō Shin. In 1609, the Satsuma Domain conquered the Ryukyu Kingdom. From then on, Ryūkyū was a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain, while the king was ordered to keep its tributary relation with China. The kingdom became a domain of Japan in 1872. In 1879, Japan replaced Ryukyu Domain with Okinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. King Shō Tai was dethroned and later given the title of marquis.

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• Kerr, George H. (1965). Okinawa, the History of an Island People. Rutland, Vermont: C.E. Tuttle Co. [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39242121 OCLC 39242121]

{{refend}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110722080146/http://manwe.lib.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/cgi-bin/disp-img.cgi?file=iha0230 中山世鑑]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120217052440/http://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/limedio/dlam/B1241188/1/vol05/3501.txt 中山世譜]

{{Kings of Chūzan}}

{{Government of the Ryukyu Kingdom}}

Ryukyu

Chuzan

Monarchs, Ryukyu

Monarchs, Ryukyu