Shō Shin
Each "magiri" had several villages, sometimes referred to as "shima", which represented an administrative unit similar to the "mura", or village, in feudal Japan. Each "magiri" had five to ten villages. Ryukyuan commoners were registered to a particular village, and movement to or from the administrative areas was generally not permitted. Under the system of Shō Shin the central government at Shuri assigned each village a "noro" priestess to carry out the religious functions of the settlement.