Sai On

Sai On (蔡温)(1682–1761), also known as Gushi-chan Bunjaku (具志頭文若, lit. Bunjaku, head of Gushi) was a scholar-bureaucrat official of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, serving as regent, instructor, and advisor to King Shō Kei. He is renowned for the many reforms he initiated and oversaw, and is among the most famous figures in Okinawan history.

Life and career

Sai On was born in Kumemura, the village within the major port city of Naha which served as the chief center of classical Chinese learning in Okinawa, and the source of the vast majority of the scholar-bureaucrats who were raised to serve in the administration of the kingdom. His father had likewise been a scholar-bureaucrat of Kumemura, educated in the Confucian classics, and had served on several tribute missions to China. At the age of 27, Sai On traveled to Guangzhou in China, where he studied economics, geography, and political administration alongside the more traditional Chinese classics.