In 1425, the court of the Xuande Emperor gave a lacquered plaque reading 「中山」 Chūzan to Okinawa's king Shō Hashi. In 1428 it was framed over the Chūzanmon (中山門) gate outside Shuri Castle for all to see, as shown in this photo. However, in 1908 the gate was demolished, and I can't find anything that talks about what happened to the plaque, only that the Shureimon (守礼門) gate was renovated in 1959 to the same dimensions that the Chūzan Gate had been.
Since this was such a historically significant artifact, I have trouble imagining it was simply thrown away… Is it in a museum somewhere? Was it destroyed in the Battle of Okinawa in WWII, or perhaps in the fire at Shuri Castle in 2019?
by matt_aegrin