Eiji (Ryukyu)

Eiji (英慈, 1268–1314) was a chief[1] of the Ryūkyū Islands.[2] Born as the second son of King Taisei, his mother’s name was unknown.

He was the third ruler in the Eisō lineage of monarchs; that is, his grandfather was King Eiso and his father was King Taisei.[3] The five years of Eiji's reign at Shuri were uneventful, but after his death, the island was split into three polities.

Eiji was the father of Tamagusuku, who would become the first monarch of the polity of Chūzan in central Okinawa.[4]

See also

• Ryūkyū Kingdom
• List of monarchs of Ryukyu Islands

Notes

1. Kerr, George. (2000). Okinawa: The History of an Island People, p. 52 , p. 52, at Google Books; although the paramount leaders of Okinawa beginning with Shunten (c. 1166 – c. 1237) are commonly identified as "kings," Kerr observes that "it is misleading to attribute full-fledged 'kingship' to an Okinawan chief in these early centuries... distinctly individual leadership exercised through force of personality or preeminent skill in arms or political shrewdness was only slowly replaced by formal institutions of government — laws and ceremonies — supported and strengthened by a developing respect for the royal office."
2. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). Japan Encyclopedia, p. 172, p. 172, at Google Books; excerpt, Eisō [with a macron] was "king of the Ryūkyū Islands in the thirteenth century."
3. Kerr, p. 51., p. 51, at Google Books
4. Kerr, p. 59., p. 59, at Google Books

References

• Kerr, George H. (1965). Okinawa, the History of an Island People. Rutland, Vermont: C.E. Tuttle Co. OCLC 39242121
• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301

Preceded by Taisei	Chief of Ryūkyū Islands 1309–1314	Succeeded by Tamagusuku