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Foreign ships appeared with increasing frequency in Okinawan waters during the reign of Shoko-O. Such sights indicated the beginning of the end of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The poem written by Shoko-O appears to reflect his anxiety over the turbulent changing social conditions of his time.

Since olden times in the Ryukyu Kingdom, Okinawans have adhered to the spiritual ritual of washing the bones of departed family members and airing out the O-hakka (family tomb) three and seven years after a death. In the case of Makabe Choken, we know that the date, October, 1829, indicating one of the dates his bones were washed, is inscribed on the vessel which contains his remains. Since the washing of bones is a custom performed three and seven years after one’s death, one might safely conclude that Makabe died in either 1823 or 1827. Living until the age of fifty-five, it is further reasoned that he was born in either 1769 or 1773. If these calculations are correct, then it would seem that Makabe lived about two centuries ago.