King of Sannan

In 1372, Satto, a ruler on Okinawa Island, greeted a Chinese envoy from the newly established Ming dynasty and was later given the title of King of Chūzan.

This report was highly unusual because Okinawans routinely deceived the Chinese into thinking that the throne was normally succeeded from the father to the son.

[3] Even more puzzling is an article of 1394 in the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, according to which an envoy of Satto, King of Chūzan, arrived at Korea and requested the extradition of Shōsatto, Crown Prince of Sannan (山南王子承察度).

This episode indicates that they shared the same vessel because a long sea voyage made it difficult even for a single group of ships to arrive at China on the same day.

Historian Dana Masayuki noted that Sangurumi's transfer from Sannan to Chūzan coincided the political turmoil recorded by Korean sources.

Historian Ikuta Shigeru even speculated that the conflict between the three kings was a cover story created by Chinese merchants to increase the number of name-lenders.

[1] Historian Wada Hisanori criticized Ikuta's hypothesis but nevertheless speculated that Kings Ōōso and Taromai were puppets of Shō Hashi, who later unified Okinawa Island.

Modern historians question this narrative, favoring a progressive view of history, in which numerous chiefdoms were gradually unified into a kingdom.

[6] The Chūzan Seikan identified the King of Sannan as Aji (local ruler) of Ōzato, who supposedly subjected to his rule Sashiki, Chinen, Tamagusuku, Gushikami, Kochinda, Shimajiri-Ōzato, Kyan, Mabuni, Makabe, Kanegusuku, and Tomigusuku.

However, it remains a matter of debate whether they corresponded to the later administrative divisions of Shimajiri (south), Nakagami (central), and Kunigami (north).

Historian Ikemiya Masaharu pointed to the religiously oriented division of Okinawa, in which Shimajiri was not treated as a monolithic entity but was divided into the east and the west.

Although this statement contradicts contemporary Chinese sources, it was apparently based on Haneji Chōshū's limited access to diplomatic records.

In 1423, Shō Hashi reported the unification to the Ming emperor, and Shishō was posthumously appointed as King of Chūzan.

[5] Sai Taku's edition of the Chūzan Seifu (1701) generally followed the Chūzan Seikan, but added an episode about Shō Hashi: When Shō Hashi was an heir to the Aji of Sashiki, he exchanged his gold-painted folding screen with a lifeblood spring owned by the Aji of Shimajiri-Ōzato (i.e., King of Sannan).

This modification triggered a drastic reordering of events: Shō Hashi first overthrew Bunei, King of Chūzan, and installed his father Shishō in 1406.

[3] While Sai On drastically rewrote history, he somehow kept the episode of Shō Hashi's takeover of the Aji of Ōzato in his early years.