Haniji

Haniji (died 1395) was the founder and first king of Hokuzan, the northernmost of the three Ryukyu kingdoms, which he broke away from a Chūzan weakened under King Tamagusuku.

Songs preserved in the Omoro Sōshi relate that Haniji destroyed the lord of Nakijin, a cousin's son, and took Nakijin Castle; then in 1322 he threw off Tamagusuku's rule and called himself king of Hokuzan. He held northern Okinawa and its neighbouring islands, and in 1383 he sent tribute to the Ming court of China.

The Chūzan Seifu gives his son Min as his successor. A reign of nearly seventy years leads some scholars to think Haniji was several rulers of the same name in succession, since repeating a name across generations was common in Ryukyu.