Chūzan in the context of "Ryukyuan mon"

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 the title held by several lineages in Okinawa Island from 1372 until the monarchy's dissolution in 1879.

According to the traditional official Okinawan narrative, the legendary ruler Shunten, who supposedly ascended to the throne in 1187, was first to hold the title. Additionally, the notion of a single-line of succession has been maintained despite the Crown clearly recognising several unrelated lineages acceding. However, the monarchy 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.

Shō Shin (尚真, Okinawan:shoo shin; 1465 – 13 January 1527; r. 1477–1527) was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third ruler of the second Shō dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dynasty, by Yosoidon, Shō En's second wife, often referred to as the queen mother. He succeeded his uncle, Shō Sen'i, who was forced to abdicate in his favor.

Hokuzan (北山; Kunigami: Fukuuzan), also known as Sanhoku (山北, Okinawan:Sanfuku) before the 18th century, located in the north of Okinawa Island, was one of three independent political entities which controlled Okinawa in the 14th century during Sanzan period. The political entity was identified as a tiny country, a kingdom, or a principality by modern historians, however the ruler of Hokuzan was in fact not "kings" at all, but petty lords with their own retainers owing their direct service, and their own estates.

Okinawa, previously controlled by a number of local chieftains or lords, loosely bound by a paramount chieftain or king of the entire island, split into these three more solidly defined kingdoms within a few years after 1314; the Sanzan period thus began, and would end roughly one hundred years later, when Chūzan's King Shō Hashi conquered Hokuzan in 1416 and Nanzan in 1429.