King of Ryukyu

King of Ryūkyū (琉球国王, Ryūkyū koku-ō), also known as King of Lew Chew, King of Chūzan (中山王, Chūzan-ō), or more officially Ryūkyū Kingdom's King of Chūzan (琉球国中山王, Ryūkyū-koku Chūzan-ō), was a title held by several lineages from Okinawa Island until 1879. It effectively started in 1372 when Satto greeted a Chinese envoy from the newly established Ming dynasty although his son Bunei was the first to be officially recognized as the King of Chūzan. However, the official Okinawan narrative traces the line of succession further back to the legendary ruler Shunten, who supposedly ascended to the throne in 1187. Another peculiar feature of the official Okinawan narrative is the notion of the single line of succession, instead of Chinese-style dynastic changes, even though they clearly recognized that several unrelated lineages had taken over the position.