Changes

===Independence===

===Independence===

Despite its tiny land area, the kingdom came to play a crucial role in regional trade networks as a transshipping point. Much of the tribute goods paid by the kingdom to China came originally from Southeast Asia. Hundreds of Ryukyuan vessels, operating on behalf of the royal government, traversed the seas, making port in China, Korea, Japan, and at least eight different ports across Southeast Asia, engaging not only in trade but also in diplomatic exchanges. Goods from Japan consisted primarily of precious metals and objects of fine art; the kingdom acquired primarily medicinal herbs, ceramics, and textiles from Korea and China. These were then exchanged in Southeast Asian ports for a variety of spices, aromatic woods, skins, ivory, and other animal products, and sugar.

Despite its tiny land area, the kingdom came to play a crucial role in regional trade networks as a transshipping point. Much of the tribute goods paid by the kingdom to China came originally from Southeast Asia. Hundreds of Ryukyuan vessels, many of them acquired from the Ming, but operating on behalf of the Ryukyuan royal government, traversed the seas, making port in China, Korea, Japan, and at least eight different ports across Southeast Asia, engaging not only in trade but also in diplomatic exchanges.<ref>Records show a number of instances of Ryûkyû requesting seagoing vessels from Ming, explicitly for the purpose of facilitating maritime trade activities. Some scholars have suggested this indicates that Ryukyuan vessels were themselves not capable of traversing such vast distances safely or effectively. Chan, Ying Kit. “A Bridge between Myriad Lands: The Ryukyu Kingdom and Ming China (1372-1526).” MA Thesis, National University of Singapore, 2010, 58n147. http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/20602.</ref> Goods from Japan consisted primarily of precious metals and objects of fine art; the kingdom acquired primarily medicinal herbs, ceramics, and textiles from Korea and China. These were then exchanged in Southeast Asian ports for a variety of spices, aromatic woods, skins, ivory, and other animal products, and sugar.

Most sources indicate that, while the majority of the Ryukyuan peasantry were illiterate and led very simple lives, they always had enough to subsist on. The great wealth acquired by the royal government, government officials, aristocrats, and merchants did not spill over into conspicuous prosperity for all, but neither did the government truly oppress or impoverish the peasantry.

Most sources indicate that, while the majority of the Ryukyuan peasantry were illiterate and led very simple lives, they always had enough to subsist on. The great wealth acquired by the royal government, government officials, aristocrats, and merchants did not spill over into conspicuous prosperity for all, but neither did the government truly oppress or impoverish the peasantry.

Shô Hashi relocated the capital from [[Urasoe]] to [[Shuri]], nearer to the scholar-bureaucrat center of [[Kumemura]], and the port of [[Naha]], and expanded the ''[[gusuku]]'' (castle) there into a royal palace on the Chinese model. There, he worked to construct a notion of kingship based on the Chinese model, in which the king's rule was seen as legitimate not because of military might, but based on his virtuous character, and on a perception of the king as the benevolent ruler whose virtue united and sustained the kingdom. This discursive project, of constructing in Ryûkyû a Confucian kingdom, was continued by Hashi's successors, and may be said to have reached its full realization under King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]], in the first decades of the 16th century.<ref>Chan, Ying Kit. “A Bridge between Myriad Lands: The Ryukyu Kingdom and Ming China (1372-1526).” MA Thesis, National University of Singapore, 2010, 29. http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/20602.</ref>

Shô Hashi relocated the capital from [[Urasoe]] to [[Shuri]], nearer to the scholar-bureaucrat center of [[Kumemura]], and the port of [[Naha]], and expanded the ''[[gusuku]]'' (castle) there into a royal palace on the Chinese model. There, he worked to construct a notion of kingship based on the Chinese model, in which the king's rule was seen as legitimate not because of military might, but based on his virtuous character, and on a perception of the king as the benevolent ruler whose virtue united and sustained the kingdom. This discursive project, of constructing in Ryûkyû a Confucian kingdom, was continued by Hashi's successors, and may be said to have reached its full realization under King [[Sho Shin|Shô Shin]], in the first decades of the 16th century.<ref>Chan, 29.</ref>

The bureaucratic and governmental structures of the kingdom, based on those of Chûzan, developed and solidified over the course of the 15th century, following, in many ways, a Chinese model. A complex bureaucracy ran the kingdom, the heads of each branch known collectively as the [[Council of Fifteen]]. The king was of course at the top of the hierarchy, his chief advisor known as the ''[[sessei]]''. After [[1556]], when the mute [[Sho Gen|Shô Gen]] ascended the throne, a council of regents or advisors known as the ''[[Sanshikan]]'' emerged and gradually came to wield significant power, eventually eclipsing the ''sessei''.

The bureaucratic and governmental structures of the kingdom, based on those of Chûzan, developed and solidified over the course of the 15th century, following, in many ways, a Chinese model. A complex bureaucracy ran the kingdom, the heads of each branch known collectively as the [[Council of Fifteen]]. The king was of course at the top of the hierarchy, his chief advisor known as the ''[[sessei]]''. After [[1556]], when the mute [[Sho Gen|Shô Gen]] ascended the throne, a council of regents or advisors known as the ''[[Sanshikan]]'' emerged and gradually came to wield significant power, eventually eclipsing the ''sessei''.