The Ryukyus enjoyed a privileged status as intermediary traders in the eyes of the Chinese because they accepted the suzerain relationship with China and received their envoys. This enabled the Ryukyus to develop as an economic power. The Japanese, then called the Yamato, held a particular importance to Ryukyuans because of their relations with China. Specialty goods were rare in the Ryukyus and many of the tribute items presented to the Chinese were obtained by the Ryukyuans in Japan. Japan also fulfilled a role as a market for the goods that were bought in China and Southeast Asia.
Trade with Japan was conducted on an official level by sending missions to the Muromachi Shogunate as well as privately through merchant transactions in Sakai, Hakata, and Tsushima. The Ryukyuan merchants brought Chinese raw silk, silk fabrics and ceramics and wares from Southeast Asia including spices and medicines to Japan which they traded for Japanese produced craft items such as swords, lacquer ware and fans. The goods brought by the Ryukyuan traders were considered priceless by the upper classes of the Muromachi Shogunate and the trade was warmly welcomed.
By the middle of the 15th century the Muromachi Shogunate was becoming weaker, there were civil disturbances and pirates appeared more frequently so the trading ships heading toward Japan decreased. On the other hand the merchant ships from Japan came to call more frequently in the Ryukyus and trade was conducted there.