Taromai

Taromai (他鲁毎), alternatively spelled as Tarumoi or Tarumī, was a local ruler of Okinawa Island who claimed to be the successor of King Ōōso. In 1415, he contacted the Chinese emperor, asserting his lineage but without clearly defining his relationship with Ōōso. This claim was unusual because Okinawans typically presented succession as orderly from father to son. Historian Dana Masayuki suspects this narrative may have been a cover for Taromai's potential usurpation of power. Taromai's last recorded contact with China was in 1429, after which no information about his disappearance or the fate of the Sannan kingship is available in Chinese records. The King of Chūzan continued to send tributary missions, leading the Chinese to speculate that Chūzan had removed the Kings of Sannan and Sanhoku. In contrast to other Okinawan rulers' names, which often seemed artificial to Chinese observers, Taromai's name appears to be a genuine Okinawan given name (Taru-mi). Historian Wada Hisanori suggests that Shō Hashi, the unifier of Okinawa, had already controlled Sannan before Taromai. According to this hypothesis, Taromai was likely Shō Hashi's eldest son, while Ōōso may have been either a pseudonym for Shō Hashi or a puppet ruler. Later Okinawan texts identified the King of Sannan as the Aji (local ruler) of Ōzato but did not clarify how many rulers had held that title. Taromai was considered the last known King of Sannan, with the unnamed Aji of Ōzato who was defeated by Shō Hashi likely being identified as him. The Chūzan Seikan (1650) ...