The Ancient Ryukyus / Establishment of a Unified Royal Court 4/12

The Royal Lineage of Myth and Legend

The dawn of the history of the Ryukyus, and the origin and succession of each member of the royal line were written down in three formal histories that were compiled by the monarchy; the Chuzan Seikan, the Chuzan Seifu, and the Kyuyo.
According to these histories a god, Amamiku / Amamikiyo, came to the world below and created the islands and let the first man and woman live on them. Three sons and two daughters were born to them. The first son became king, the second son became an Aji (regional feudal lord) and the third son a farmer. The eldest daughter became the Ufujimi, or high priestess, for the whole country and the second daughter became a Noro, or regional priestess.
The king was called Tenson and during his long reign he divided Okinawa into three regions, taught the people how to farm and build houses, named the royal abode Shuri and classified the government administration into sections. While obviously a legend, the content gives important clues to historians regarding the historical awareness of the age.


The Isogusuku Castle Ruins


Urasoe Yodore Royal Mausoleum
According to the histories, Shunten succeeded Tenson and ruled from the middle 12th to 13th centuries. Legend has it that Shunten was the son of Minamoto Tametomo, a famous Heian period exile from mainland Japan forced to live his life out in the remote islands. It must be stressed here that this is legend and its foundation in truth has been denied.
Next in the royal line came Eiso, who ruled from the middle 13th century until the middle 14th century. According to the histories, Eiso's mother had a dream in which the sun gave this child to her and so Eiso is called Tidanufa (child of the sun). Eiso is credited with ruling the country using a gusuku (castle) as his base of power and improving developments in agriculture, as well as his calm and steady way of ruling. While the legendary accounts of King Eiso are of his being born as the child of the sun, he is also written about in some ballads so it is thought that he might have actually have existed, although this is unconfirmed.

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