Claim: Ryukyuan music, which can be traced back to 14th century Okinawa Island, can be categorized in four ways.
Evidence: Ryukyuan music (琉球音楽, Ryūkyū ongaku), also called Nanto music (南島歌謡, Nantō kayō), is an umbrella term that encompasses diverse musical traditions of the Amami, Okinawa, Miyako and Yaeyama Islands of southwestern Japan. Another classification of songs of the Southern Islands by Hokama (1995) category magical epic lyric drama In the Ryukyu Kingdom on Okinawa Island, omoro was derived from the kwēna form in the 14th century but rapidly fell into decline at the end of the 16th century.