These tablets were temporarily rearranged into a standard Chinese arrangement (with the reigns simply alternating left and right, extending outwards from the earliest kings at the center, to the latest at the edges) whenever [[Chinese investiture envoys]] visited the islands. They were then placed back into the Ryukyuan order after the envoys had left.<ref>[[Gregory Smits]], "Ryukyu and its Geo-cultural Context," presentation at [http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan symposium], University of Hawaii at Manoa, 10 Feb 2013.</ref> | These tablets were temporarily rearranged into a standard Chinese arrangement (with the reigns simply alternating left and right, extending outwards from the earliest kings at the center, to the latest at the edges) whenever [[Chinese investiture envoys]] visited the islands. They were then placed back into the Ryukyuan order after the envoys had left.<ref>[[Gregory Smits]], "Ryukyu and its Geo-cultural Context," presentation at [http://www.hawaii.edu/asiaref/japan/event2013/Index.htm#symposium Interpreting Parades and Processions of Edo Japan symposium], University of Hawaii at Manoa, 10 Feb 2013.</ref> |