Changes

[[File:Shuri-skyline.jpg|right|thumb|320px|The rooftops of [[Shuri castle]], as seen from the [[Ryutan|Ryûtan]] Pond]]

[[File:Shuri-skyline.jpg|right|thumb|320px|The rooftops of [[Shuri castle]], as seen from the [[Ryutan|Ryûtan]] Pond, 2014.]]

[[File:Shurimap.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A map of Shuri, with the castle and Ryûtan clearly visible, and [[Tamaudun]] and [[Aijo-ufumichi|Aijô-ufumichi]] extending down from the castle in the bottom right]]

[[File:Shurimap.jpg|right|thumb|320px|A map of Shuri, with the castle and Ryûtan clearly visible, and [[Tamaudun]] and [[Aijo-ufumichi|Aijô-ufumichi]] extending down from the castle in the bottom right]]

[[File:Kinjo-road.jpg|right|thumb|320px|The [[Shuri Kinjo stone-paved road|Shuri Kinjô cobblestone street]] to the south of the castle]]

[[File:Kinjo-road.jpg|right|thumb|320px|The [[Shuri Kinjo stone-paved road|Shuri Kinjô cobblestone street]] to the south of the castle]]

The castle may have been built as early as the 1230s,<ref>Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing (2000), 50. </ref> or sometime in the 1350s-1390s according to most sources, but it was certainly in place, in any case, by [[1427]], just before the unification of Okinawa & establishment of the Ryûkyû Kingdom under King [[Sho Hashi|Shô Hashi]]. Shô Hashi made Shuri his capital, leaving the former royal palace at Urasoe. The Ryûtan pond was built in [[1427]], and an earthen embankment called [[Chokotei|Chôkôtei]] was constructed in [[1452]], connecting Shuri to the port city of Naha. A secondary royal mansion, built for the Crown Prince and called [[Ufumi udun]], was built just outside the castle sometime before [[1487]]; it would later be used as a maternity hut for members of the royal family, as a secondary residence, and in the 1850s as the regent's mansion.

The castle may have been built as early as the 1230s,<ref>Kerr, George. ''Okinawa: The History of an Island People''. Revised Edition. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing (2000), 50. </ref> or sometime in the 1350s-1390s according to most sources, but it was certainly in place, in any case, by [[1427]], just before the unification of Okinawa & establishment of the Ryûkyû Kingdom under King [[Sho Hashi|Shô Hashi]]. Shô Hashi made Shuri his capital, leaving the former royal palace at Urasoe. The Ryûtan pond was built in [[1427]], and an earthen embankment called [[Chokotei|Chôkôtei]] was constructed in [[1452]], connecting Shuri to the port city of Naha. A secondary royal mansion, built for the Crown Prince and called [[Ufumi udun]], was built just outside the castle sometime before [[1487]]; it would later be used as a maternity hut for members of the royal family, as a secondary residence, and in the 1850s as the regent's mansion.

The city was considerably expanded as King Shô Shin (r. [[1477]]-[[1526]]) consolidated power into the capital, as well as under his successor, [[Sho Sei (1497-1555)|Shô Sei]] ([[1527]]-[[1555]]). [[Engaku-ji]], the chief family temple of the [[Sho Dynasty|Shô Dynasty]], was established in [[1492]]. The royal mausoleum at Tamaudun was completed in [[1501]],<ref>Kerr, 109.</ref> the [[Benten]] Hall and its attached Tennyo Bridge at the Ryûtan pond were built the following year, and the cobblestone road to the south in [[1522]].

The city was considerably expanded as King Shô Shin (r. [[1477]]-[[1526]]) consolidated power into the capital, as well as under his successor, [[Sho Sei (1497-1555)|Shô Sei]] ([[1527]]-[[1555]]). [[Engaku-ji]], the chief family temple of the [[Sho Dynasty|Shô Dynasty]], was established in [[1492]]. The royal mausoleum at Tamaudun was completed in [[1501]],<ref>Kerr, 109.</ref> the [[Benten]] Hall and its attached Tennyo Bridge at the Ryûtan pond were built the following year, and the cobblestone road to the south in [[1522]]. These and other monuments and structures were part of a broader transformation of the city from more simply the location of the ruler's palace, to a royal capital that functioned as a "physical manifestation of royal power and authority."<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii (2019), 162.</ref>

In 1526, Shô Shin obliged the ''[[anji]]'' (local lords) to take up residence within the capital; by removing them from their lands, Shô Shin strengthened the royal government's control over them, and over their lands, much as the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] would do a century later in mainland Japan with the ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' system, and by obliging all samurai in the [[han|domains]] (with some exceptions) to live in the castle-towns, under the watchful eyes of their respective ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]''. ''Anji'' residences were organized within the city according to the geographical location of their fiefs, with different neighborhoods being populated by the lords of ''[[magiri]]'' in northern, central, and southern Okinawa.

In 1526, Shô Shin obliged the ''[[anji]]'' (local lords) to take up residence within the capital; by removing them from their lands, Shô Shin strengthened the royal government's control over them, and over their lands, much as the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] would do a century later in mainland Japan with the ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' system, and by obliging all samurai in the [[han|domains]] (with some exceptions) to live in the castle-towns, under the watchful eyes of their respective ''[[daimyo|daimyô]]''. ''Anji'' residences were organized within the city according to the geographical location of their fiefs, with different neighborhoods being populated by the lords of ''[[magiri]]'' in northern, central, and southern Okinawa.