Shō Shin
Many monuments, temples, and other structures were also erected during the prosperous reign of Shō Shin. A new palace building was constructed, in Chinese style, and court rituals and ceremonies were dramatically altered and expanded, in emulation of Chinese modes. A pair of tall stone "Dragon Pillars" were placed at the entrance to the palace, patterned not after Chinese, Korean or Japanese models, but after those of Thailand and Cambodia, reflecting, as Kerr points out, the reach and extent of Okinawan trade and the cosmopolitan nature of the capital at this time. The Buddhist temple Enkaku-ji was built in 1492, Sōgen-ji was expanded in 1496, and in 1501, Tamaudun, the royal mausoleum complex, was completed. Shō Shin successfully petitioned the Korean royal court, several times, to send volumes of Buddhist texts; the first metal movable type printing presses in the world had been invented in Korea in the 13th century. In the thirtieth year of his reign, a stele was erected in the grounds of Shuri Castle, listing Eleven Distinctions of the Age enumerated by court officials. A reproduction of this stele, destroyed in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa along with the castle, stands in the castle grounds today.