Changes

Naha became the busiest port on the island at this time, bringing wealth and prestige to Chûzan over its neighboring kingdoms, and enhancing already heightened tensions. The lords of both Hokuzan and Nanzan died around the same time as Bunei's father Satto, and since China never recognized more than one king (or prince, in the Chinese view) of Okinawa, all three clamored to be officially [[investiture|invested]] by the Chinese Imperial Court as the sole ruler of all of Okinawa. However, due to the recent chaos in [[Nanjing]], which was taken by force by Zhu Di, installing himself as the [[Yongle Emperor]], Bunei's request lay unanswered for eleven years. A missive was finally sent in [[1406]]; Bunei was formally invested by a mission led by Shí Zhōng (時中) in the same year that [[Ououso]] of [[Nanzan]] also received investiture.<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 36.</ref>

Naha became the busiest port on the island at this time, bringing wealth and prestige to Chûzan over its neighboring kingdoms, and enhancing already heightened tensions. The lords of both Hokuzan and Nanzan died around the same time as Bunei's father Satto, and since China never recognized more than one king (or prince, in the Chinese view) of Okinawa, all three clamored to be officially [[investiture|invested]] by the Chinese Imperial Court as the sole ruler of all of Okinawa. However, due to the recent chaos in [[Nanjing]], which was taken by force by Zhu Di, installing himself as the [[Yongle Emperor]], Bunei's request lay unanswered for eleven years. A missive was finally sent in [[1406]]; Bunei was formally invested by a mission led by Shí Zhōng (時中) in the same year that [[Ououso]] of [[Nanzan]] also received investiture.<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 36.</ref>

Meanwhile, a local lord (''[[anji]]'') named Hashi led a small rebellion in 1402, and brought down the lord of Azato district, near the site of the Chûzan palace at [[Urasoe]]. It is not clear exactly what discussions took place inside the royal court, or what actions were considered, but nothing was done for five years. In 1406, less than one year after Bunei was officially recognized as king ("prince") of Chûzan by China, Hashi led a larger rebellion, ousting Bunei and establishing [[Sho Shisho|Shô Shishô]], Hashi's father, as King of Chûzan. Though records do not indicate the details of Bunei's fate, it is likely that he either died at the hands of the rebels, or escaped to some distant island to live out the rest of his days in relative solitude.

Meanwhile, a local lord (''[[anji]]'') named Hashi led a small rebellion in 1402, and brought down the lord of Azato district, near the site of the Chûzan palace at [[Urasoe]]. It is not clear exactly what discussions took place inside the royal court, or what actions were considered, but nothing was done for five years. In 1406, less than one year after Bunei was officially recognized as king ("prince") of Chûzan by China, Hashi led a larger rebellion, ousting Bunei and establishing [[Sho Shisho|Shô Shishô]], Hashi's father, as King of Chûzan. According to the ''[[Kyuyo|Kyûyô]]'' - compiled in the 18th c. by officials in service to the [[Sho Dynasty|Shô dynasty]] - Shô Shishô and Hashi had both enjoyed reputations in [[Sashiki gusuku|Sashiki]] as upright rulers, and Bunei meanwhile had cruelly ignored the suffering of the people; the true politics behind Hashi's overthrow of Bunei remain unclear. [[Gregory Smits]] suggests the Ming court may have influenced or engineered this change of rulership, whether because of distaste for Bunei or political preference for Shô Hashi, or because of a desire to end the pattern of multiple different Ryukyuan rulers vying for status as authorized tribute traders, replacing this with a single, unified, "kingdom" which would serve as the solitary recognized Ryukyuan diplomatic and trade partner.<ref>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 111.</ref> Though records do not indicate the details of Bunei's fate, it is likely that he either died at the hands of the rebels, or escaped to some distant island to live out the rest of his days in relative solitude.

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