儒學傳入琉球有兩種路徑：十三世紀到十七世紀間，精通儒學的日本僧侶抵達琉球，不僅引進並廣傳佛教，同時更傳入漢字文化並加以發揚光大。十七世紀薩摩軍入侵琉球，薩摩儒者來訪並傳入文之點訓讀法，與既存在的僧門學問相結合後，普及於琉球士族等各階層中。自此，琉球官員均須學習漢語練習、漢詩寫作及官方應用文書寫等課程。 與此同時，自從明太祖派遣招撫使赴琉球，並賜閩人三十六姓定居琉球，琉球也派遣中山王赴明，正式開啟中琉雙方持續約五百年的互動關係：中國多次派遣冊封使、朝貢船及從學人士赴琉，而琉球亦派遣學生前往國子監求學，民間前往福州就學的勤學人數更數倍之。

There were two ways through which Confucianism came into the Ryukyus. The first one was the coming of the Japanese Buddhist monks in the period between between the 13th and the 17th centuries. Thoroughly versed in Buddhism, the Japanese monks also carried Chinese culture into the Ryukyus. The second was the arrival of the Satsuma (薩摩) Confucian scholars who introduced into the Ryukyus the punctuation method for reading the Chinese books. Since then, all the Ryukyu officials had to learn the Chinese language, poetry and the writing of the official letters.