The is a period in the history of the
Okinawa Islands
The Okinawa Islands ( or ) are an island group in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan and are the principal island group of the prefecture. The Okinawa Islands are part of the larger Ryukyu Islands group and are located between the Amami Islands of Ka ...
when three lines of kings, namely , and , are said to have co-existed on Okinawa Island. It is said to have started during
King Tamagusuku's reign (traditional dates: 1314–1336) and, according to
Sai On
(1682–1762), or Cai Wen in Chinese, also known as , was a scholar-bureaucrat official of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, serving as regent, instructor, and advisor to King Shō Kei. He is renowned for the many reforms he initiated and oversaw, and is amon ...
's edition of the ''
Chūzan Seifu
was an official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom compiled between 1697 and 1701 by a group of scholar-officials led by Sai Taku. It was a Kanbun translated version of ''Chūzan Seikan''.
Later, it was rewritten into Classical Chinese by Sai Tak ...
'' (1725), ended in 1429 when
Shō Hashi
was the last King of Chūzan and the first king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, uniting the three polities of Chūzan, Hokuzan, and Nanzan by conquest and ending the Sanzan period.
Family
* Father: Shishō
* mother: daughter of Miiko
* Wife: sister of I ...
unified the island. Historical records of the period are fragmentary and mutually conflicting. Some even question the co-existence of the three polities.
Contemporary sources
Okinawa does not have their own contemporary records of the Sanzan period. Contemporary sources are limited to Chinese and, to a far lesser extent, Korean diplomatic records. They are in a fragmentary fashion and probably overshadowed by diplomatic fictions. Since the Chinese sources simply record local rulers who contacted China, they do not rule out the possibility that some other local rulers co-existed without establishing diplomatic contacts. For this reason, Okinawa's real situation remains largely a mystery.
According to the ''
Veritable Records of the Ming
The ''Ming Shilu'' () contains the imperial annals of the emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). It is the single largest historical source for the dynasty. According to modern historians, it "plays an extremely important role in the histo ...
'', the newly formed Ming dynasty sent an envoy to what it called the "State of Ryūkyū," among many other countries, in 1372 to start tributary relations. In response, a ruler who was referred to as
Satto
Satto (察度) (1321 – November 17, 1395) was King of Chūzan. He is the first ruler of Okinawa Island who was recorded by contemporary sources. His reign was marked by expansion and development of Chūzan's trade relations with other states, ...
, King of Chūzan, sent his younger brother Taiki to pay tribute. In 1380,
Shōsatto
, read variously as Ōzato, Ofosato, and Ufusatu, was a local ruler of Okinawa Island, who was given the title of King of Sannan. Contemporary sources on Shōsatto are very scarce. Following a visit of a Chinese envoy on Okinawa Island, he first s ...
, King of Sannan, sent a mission to Ming China, which was followed by
Hanishi
, read variously as Haneji and Haniji, was a local ruler of Okinawa Island, who was given the title of King of Sanhoku. Very little is known about him. He first appeared in Chinese diplomatic records in 1383 and his last contact was of 1390. After ...
, King of Sanhoku in 1383. The names of Sanhoku and Sannan are apparently Chūzan-centric. It is not clear who coined these names.
Ming China's perception of the co-existence of the three "kings" can be found in an article of 1383 of the ''Veritable Records'', which was based on the report of a Ming envoy who visited Okinawa in 1382. The Ming considered that there were three rulers in the region who engaged in conflict. It recognized them as "kings" and called for peace.
As for the Kings of Sanhoku, the ''Veritable Records'' record the un-Okinawan-looking names of three kings, Hanishi, Min and Han'anchi, but make no mention of their blood relations. The last diplomatic contact of the King of Sanhoku was of 1416.
The records of the Kings of Sannann are more complicated. The diplomatic missions under the name of Shōsatto, King of Sannan, lasted from 1380 to 1396. An unusual characteristic of Sannan was that the "King's father's younger brother" (王叔) Ōeishi also sent envoys from 1388 to 1397. In 1403,
Ōōso
was a local ruler of Okinawa Island, who was given the title of King of Sannan. He first contacted the Chinese emperor in 1403, claiming himself to be a younger brother or cousin of Shōsatto, the late King of Sannan, who reportedly had no son. Ō ...
, who claimed to be Shōsatto's younger brother or cousin, reported Shōsatto's death in 1403 and was recognized as King of Sannan the next year. In 1415, Crown Prince
Taromai
, read variously as Tarumoi and Tarumī, was a local ruler of Okinawa Island, who was given the title of King of Sannan. He first contacted the Chinese emperor in 1415, claiming himself to be an heir to King Ōōso, without clearly specifying his ...
reported that King Ōōso had been murdered by his "elder brother" Tafuchi. Taromai's blood relationship with Ōōso was not mentioned. As the King of Sannan, Taromai sent envoys from 1416 to 1429.
The ''
Annals of the Joseon Dynasty
The ''Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty'' (also known as the ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' or the ''True Record of the Joseon Dynasty''; ko, 조선왕조실록 and ) are the annual records of Joseon, the last royal house to rule ...
'' of Korea records mysterious events about the King of Sannan. In 1394, Satto, King of Chūzan, requested Korea to return Shōsatto, Crown Prince of Sannan (山南王子承察度), who had supposedly fled to Korea. In 1398, Onsadō, King of Sannan (山南王温沙道), fled to Korea after reportedly being banished by the King of Chūzan. He died there in the same year. These records clearly contradict the ''Veritable Records'', raising questions about the reliability of Okinawa's diplomatic correspondence to foreign countries.
The King of Chūzan sent envoys to China much more frequently than the Kings of Sanhoku and Sannan. The King of Chūzan paid tribute biennially from 1372 to 1382 and after that once or twice a year. Chūzan's missions were also unusual in that some of them were sent under the name of the crown prince although it should have been done by the king. In 1404, Crown Prince
Bunei reported King Satto's death and was recognized as the next king. In 1407, Crown Prince
Shishō's envoy reported his "father" Bunei's death to seek the approval of the succession to the throne. An article of 1425 in the ''Veritable Records'' states that Ming China let Crown Prince
Shō Hashi
was the last King of Chūzan and the first king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, uniting the three polities of Chūzan, Hokuzan, and Nanzan by conquest and ending the Sanzan period.
Family
* Father: Shishō
* mother: daughter of Miiko
* Wife: sister of I ...
succeed the late King Shishō.
Historians have noted suspicious patterns in the Sanzans' diplomatic missions. While Ming China bestowed vessels and their crews on the Kings of Chūzan and Sannan, the King of Sanhoku had no such record. This may explain why the King of Sanhoku's missions almost always coincided with Chūzan's even though they were supposedly in conflict. In addition, staffs in the missions were apparently shared. For example, Sangurumi (三吾良亹), who was sent to China by the King of Sannan in 1392, claimed to be a nephew (姪) of Shōsatto, King of Sannan. In Chūzan's missions, however, he appeared as a nephew (従子) of Satto, King of Chūzan, in 1403 and as a nephew (姪) of Bunei, King of Chūzan, in 1404. Even though historian Wada Hisanori regarded him as multiple persons with the same name, Wada acknowledged that the envoys and vessels sent by Taromai, King of Sannan, clearly overlapped with those of the King of Chūzan.
The ''Annals of the Joseon Dynasty'' states that in 1418, Katsuren, the second son of the King of Chūzan, called for trade with Korea and sent vessels that carried Chinese and Southeast Asian goods. Historians have no consensus on his true identity.
It is noted by historians that the ''Veritable Records'' make no mention of the supposed unification. The only thing that can be inferred from the records is that the Kings of Sanhoku and Sannan ceased to send diplomatic missions. The King of Chūzan retained the title of "King of Chūzan" even after he became the sole ruler of the State of Ryūkyū.
In 1416, the
Ashikaga shōgun Ashikaga (足利) may refer to:
* Ashikaga clan (足利氏 ''Ashikaga-shi''), a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Minamoto clan; and that formed the basis of the eponymous shogunate
** Ashikaga shogunate (足利幕府 ''Ashikaga bakufu''), a ...
sent a letter in reply to the ''yo-no-nushi of the State of Ryūkyū'' (りうきう國のよのぬし). This rare record has been handed down only on the mainland Japanese side.
Okinawa's later narratives
Okinawa's own narratives on the Sanzan period were recorded centuries later by
Ryūkyū
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...
. Major history books include the ''
Chūzan Seikan
, compiled in 1650 by Shō Shōken, is the first official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. In six scrolls, the main text occupies five and an accompanying summary the sixth. Unlike later official histories such as '' Chūzan Seifu'' and '' Kyūyō ...
'' (1650),
Sai Taku , also known by his Japanese-style name , was a Ryukyuan aristocrat and bureaucrat in the royal government of the Ryūkyū Kingdom.
Sai Taku was born in Kumemura on January 4, 1645. He descended from Cai Xiang. He took part in the compilation of ...
's edition of the ''
Chūzan Seifu
was an official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom compiled between 1697 and 1701 by a group of scholar-officials led by Sai Taku. It was a Kanbun translated version of ''Chūzan Seikan''.
Later, it was rewritten into Classical Chinese by Sai Tak ...
'' (1701),
Sai On
(1682–1762), or Cai Wen in Chinese, also known as , was a scholar-bureaucrat official of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, serving as regent, instructor, and advisor to King Shō Kei. He is renowned for the many reforms he initiated and oversaw, and is amon ...
's revised edition of the ''Chūzan Seifu'' (from 1724 onwards) and the ''
Kyūyō
is an official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom compiled between 1743 and 1745 by a group of scholar-officials led by . Written in kanbun, and numbering twenty-two scrolls, a supplementary volume in three scrolls documents relations with Satsuma, ...
'' (1745). They reflect Okinawa's historical tradition to some degree. They are, however, desperate attempts to reconcile conflicting sources. Sai On, in particular, extensively rewrote his father's edition of the ''Chūzan Seifu'' using newly obtained Chinese sources. As a result, he damaged its historical value, from modern historians' perspective.
Additionally, the ''
Omoro Sōshi
The is a compilation of ancient poems and songs from Okinawa and the Amami Islands, collected into 22 volumes and written primarily in hiragana with some simple kanji. There are 1,553 poems in the collection, but many are repeated; the number of ...
'' (1623) is helpful in understanding Okinawa's own world-view although it is a compilation of poems and by no means a history book.
The ''Chūzan Seikan'' and Sai Taku's edition of the ''Chūzan Seifu'' follow Chinese sources in that they refer to the supposed polities as , Chūzan and . For some unknown reason, however, Sai On changed the names of Sanhoku and Sannan to and respectively.
A world view presented in the ''Omoro Sōshi'' is strikingly different from that of the history books. The perception that Okinawa was divided into three polities is absent from the poem anthology. It never uses the terms of Sanzan, Sanhoku, Chūzan or Sannan. The King of Sanhoku is referred to as ''
Aji
Aji or AJI may refer to:
Location
*Aji (town), Tieling County, Liaoning, China
*Aji Island, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan
*Aji, Kagawa, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan
* Aji River (disambiguation), rivers with the same name
Other
* Aji (Go), a latent tr ...
of Nakijin''. The supposed King of Sannan is ''Aji of Ōzato''. Alternatively, he is referred to as . They are no different from other regional rulers.
According to Ryūkyū's official history books, King Tamagusuku, who had maintained a unified polity, lost the support of local rulers. People in the south followed the Aji of Ōzato while the northern region was controlled by the Aji of Nakijin. In other words, these books identify the Aji of Nakijin as the King of Sanhoku and the Aji of Ōzato as the King of Sannan. Most modern historians question this alleged split because they do not support the existence of a unified polity on Okinawa before the "reunification" in the 15th century.
No personal names were recorded for the Aji of Nakijin in the ''Chūzan Seikan'' or Sai Taku's edition of ''Chūzan Seifu'', except Hanishi, whose name was obviously taken from Chinese sources. It was not known to Ryūkyū how many rulers assumed the title. Sai On's edition of ''Chūzan Seifu'' adds two personal names, Min and Han'anchi, which were taken from a Chinese source, not from Okinawa's own.
Similarly, the ''Chūzan Seikan'' and Sai Taku's edition of ''Chūzan Seifu'' have no record of personal names of the Aji of Ōzato. The names of Ōōso and Taromai, added by Sai On to the ''Chūzan Seifu'', are not based on Okinawa's own narrative. Another problem is about the identification of the place of Ōzato. There are two candidates for it:
Shimasoe-Ōzato in modern-day
Nanjō City and
Shimajiri-Ōzato in modern-day
Itoman City. In addition, the ''Omoro Sōshi'' divides southern Okinawa into three regions: the eastern region (covering Shimasoe-Ōzato), the central region and the western region (including Shimajiri-Ōzato). The ''Chūzan Seifu'' identify the Shimasoe-Ōzato Aji as the King of Sannan, which appears to reflect Okinawa's own narratives. However, both editions of the ''Chūzan Seifu'' identify Shimajiri-Ōzato as the capital of Sannan.
According to the ''Chūzan Seikan'', the Aji of Nakijin's domain included Haneji, Nago, Kunigami, Kin, Ie and Iheya. The Aji of Ōzato controlled the 11 regions of Sashiki, Chinen, Tamagusuku, Gushikami, Kochinda, Shimajiri-Ōzato, Kyan, Mabuni, Makabe, Kanegusuku and Tomigusuku. The Chūzan King subjugated Naha, Tomari, Urasoe, Chatan, Nakagusuku, Goeku, Yomitanzan, Gushikawa, Katsuren and Shuri. Shuri is treated as the everlasting capital of Chūzan. However, it is clear from literary evidence and archaeological findings that Urasoe was the center of the most powerful polity on the island before the capital was moved to Shuri.
Tamagusuku, King of Chūzan, was succeeded by King
Seii Sei may refer to:
* the plural of Seia gens
The gens Seia was a minor plebeian family of equestrian rank at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the time of Cicero, and a few of them held various magistracies under the late ...
. After Seii's death, people deposed the crown prince and enthroned Satto, the ruler of Urasoe, in 1350. Although his existence was supported by contemporary sources, his life is colored by mythology: he was a son of a humble farmer and a
swan maiden
The swan maiden is a mythical creature who shapeshifts from human form to swan form. The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached. In folktales of this type, the male character spies the maiden, ...
. During his reign, he started to pay tribute to Ming China. Also, he received tribute from the southern island groups of
Miyako and
Yaeyama for the first time in history. Satto was succeeded by his son Bunei in 1395.
Although the history books agree that Shō Hashi unified Okinawa, the accounts of the unification process contain non-negligible inconsistencies. The oldest ''Chūzan Seikan'' states that after Shō Hashi succeeded his father Shishō as Aji of Sashiki in 1402, he overthrew the King of Sannan and claimed the title. He then overthrew Bunei, King of Chūzan, in 1421 to become the King of Chūzan. He finally killed the King of Sanhoku in 1422. Sai Taku's edition of ''Chūzan Seifu'' generally follows the ''Chūzan Seikan''. However, it dates Shō Hashi's conquest of Chūzan 16 years earlier than the ''Chūzan Seikan''. It also claims that Shō Hashi installed his father Shishō as King of Chūzan instead of himself. Shō Hashi became the King of Chūzan only after Shishō's death in 1421. Sai On's edition of ''Chūzan Seifu'' is drastically different from these two books. It claims that Shō Hashi defeated the King of Chūzan and installed his father Shishō in 1406. He conquered the King of Sanhoku in 1416 and the King of Sannan in 1429.
The ''Chūzan Seikan'' seems to follow Okinawa's own tradition. Sai Taku "corrected" the ''Chūzan Seikan'' with Chinese records which stated that Shishō, Crown Prince of Chūzan, reported the death of "his father" Bunei. Sai On's drastic revision was also based on Chinese records. The last diplomatic contact of the King of Sannan was of 1429 while that of the King of Sanhoku was of 1416. From these records, Sai On naïvely inferred that these two kings ceased to exist immediately after the last contacts.
Interpretations
Modern historians have also struggled to resolve contradictions. Unlike Sai On, Wada Hisanori attached weight to the ''Chūzan Seifu''. He identified Taromai as the eldest son of Shō Hashi and concluded that Taromai, King of Sannan, was a puppet of Chūzan. According to Wada, Shō Hashi overthrew the King of Sannan in 1403 and ascended to the throne. He overthrew Bunei, King of Chūzan, in 1405 and installed his father Shishō as King of Chūzan. He gave the title of King of Sannan to his son Taromai in 1415 to become the Crown Prince of Chūzan. He succeeded his father Shishō as King of Chūzan in 1422. After the death of Taromai around 1429, Shō Hashi formally abolished Sannan. The reason that Shō Hashi nominally maintained Sannan was that he wished to keep profitable Chinese trade conducted under the name of the King of Sannan.
Ikuta Shigeru presented an even more radical interpretation of the Sanzan period. He dismissed Okinawa's later narratives as mere legends. He argued that the King of Sannan was under the control of the King of Chūzan from the very beginning. Due to lack of sufficient evidence, he refrained from determining Sanhoku's relationship with Chūzan. He related these alleged kings to Ming China's ''
haijin
The Haijin () or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies in China restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming dynasty and early Qing dynasty. Despite official proclamations the Ming policy was ...
'' (sea ban) policy. Unlike the preceding
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
, the Ming Dynasty prohibited Chinese merchants from engaging in oversea trade. In order to maintain international trade that covers the vast area from Southeast Asia to Japan and Korea, they set up tribute-paying missions under the names of foreign kings. At their height, they used three dummy names. As Okinawa's importance in international trade decreased, the names of Sanhoku and Sannan ceased to be used.
Tripartite hypothesis
Ethnologist Ōbayashi Taryō argued that the narrative of the Sanzan period recorded centuries later by Ryūkyū reflected the
tripartite ideology, which the French scholar
Georges Dumézil
Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French philologist, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and mythology. He was a professor at Istanbul University, École pratique d ...
found in
Proto-Indo-European mythology
Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested ...
. He mapped Sanhoku to military, Chūzan to sovereignty and Sannan to productivity.
Ōbayashi provided two types of evidence for the tripartite hypothesis. One is justifications for the unification by Shō Hashi. Shō Hashi took over Bunei, King of Chūzan, because the king had not exercised juridical powers properly. He then destroyed Han'anchi, King of Sanhoku, who had been known for extraordinary military prowess. The official history book ''
Kyūyō
is an official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom compiled between 1743 and 1745 by a group of scholar-officials led by . Written in kanbun, and numbering twenty-two scrolls, a supplementary volume in three scrolls documents relations with Satsuma, ...
'' records two theories regarding the downfall of Taromai, King of Sannan. One is that he lost public support because of his extravagant lifestyle. Another story is that he lost support from the peasantry after he exchanged his domain's lifeblood spring for Shō Hashi's gold-painted
folding screen
A folding screen, also known as pingfeng (), is a type of free-standing furniture consisting of several frames or panels, which are often connected by hinges or by other means. They have practical and decorative uses, and can be made in a variet ...
. In other words, he lost his country because he relinquished the source of productivity.
Another type of evidence is regalia. Sanhoku's sacred treasure was a
Japanese sword (blade) named ''Chiyoganemaru''. When Sanhoku was about to fall, King Han'anchi got angry at the sacred sword's failure to protect the domain and threw it into the water. Sannan's regalia was a gold-painted folding screen. It is not certain what kind of treasures Chūzan had before Shō Hashi's takeover. Ōbayashi claimed that a song in ''
Omoro Sōshi
The is a compilation of ancient poems and songs from Okinawa and the Amami Islands, collected into 22 volumes and written primarily in hiragana with some simple kanji. There are 1,553 poems in the collection, but many are repeated; the number of ...
'' could be interpreted as Shō Hashi's possession of a sacred drum when he was a local ruler of Sashiki. The ''Omoro Sōshi'' suggests that sacred drums were believed to give the mythical power to bring people under control.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanzan Period
History of Okinawa Prefecture