The Seiden is the heart of Shuri Castle.

While built to resemble a palace of the Chinese Forbidden City, the Japanese Karahafu adorned the face of the building. This is both a symbol of the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom as well as its individuality. Take for example, the red-tiled roof. There is also the “dragon pillar.” The dragon pillar is the image of a dragon which can be found to the side of the main stairs in the temple. The dragon is not wound around anything, but rather upright and vertical, which is not something you often see in other countries.

The dragon is also the symbol of the imperial family, which is why you can see it here and there around the Seiden. Since the dragon is also considered the god of water, there are also dragons above the roof to protect against fire. The depictions of clouds are meant to bring rain. Shurijo Castle was victim to many fires in the past, and these were intended to act as protective charms.

Ryukyu was in a sticky situation. However, it was under these circumstances that the Ryukyuan culture truly came into fruition. While sitting in the middle of the tensions between Japan and China, they incorporated aspects of both cultures into their own.

Let’s take a closer look at this period in time.

While under the control of the Satsuma regime, Ryukyu maintained its status as a retainer of China, continuing to trade under their influence. At the same time, though previously trade occurred between China and Ryukyu once every two years, China arbitrarily decided that they wanted to change this to once every 10 years.

With such a tremendous blow to income by the loss of trade, there was no way to avoid the encroaching economic collapse. Ryukyu pleaded with China to someway, somehow switch back to once every two years. Finally after much persistence, China decided to give permission to return to the two year system…But in reality, each time the officials from Ryukyu went to plead with China, these trades were still going on in secret. This strategy was most likely thought of in the Seiden or Hokuden

They also participated in “Edo Agari.” Every ten years, the Daimyo lords of Japan were to parade to the capital city of Edo (modern day Tokyo) to greet the Shogun. Led by the Ryukyuan prince, over 100 elite members of the Kingdom would make this journey. The would cross the inland sea to Satsuma province (now a part of modern day Kyushu) and take the overland journey towards Edo. This trip would take 1 year to complete. The Satsuma regime asked that they wore clothes that appeared to be more Chinese, and to the isolated nation of Japan, the Ryukyuan’s appeared to be from a foreign country. In the trendy Edo, they achieved a level of popularity enough to put Ryukyu in a guidebook. It was said that during these trips, the people of Ryukyu learned arts like Kabuki and Noh and brought them back home to their people.