Manabu Oshiro, the chief of the Research and Training Section of the National Theater, Okinawa since 2006, attributes the creation of kumiodori, a form of drama unique to Okinawa, to the friendly relationship that the Ryukyu Kingdom maintained with China for over 400 years spanning the 15th to the 19th century. As far back as 1372, Chinese ambassadors visited the Ryukyu Islands — present-day Okinawa — with edicts from the Chinese emperor. For following visits, banquets would be held for the Chinese guests at Shuri Castle (in the present-day city of Naha), where officers were appointed to produce court dances, including group dances called kumiodori.

The Okinawan dramatic form was influenced by noh, kyogen (comic plays), kabuki, traditional puppet shows and, ultimately, elements of Chinese drama. Performances are divided into scenes that progress with intoned lines, songs and dances to the accompaniment of the sanshin (the Okinawan shamisen), koto, Chinese fiddle, flute and drum. Kumiodori developed remarkably during the 18th century, through the efforts of two officers in charge of dance performances, Tamagusuku Chokun (1684-1734) and Tasato Chochoku (1703-73).

Based on local legends, "Nido Tekiuchi" ("The Revenge of the Two Boys") and "Shushin Kaneiri" ("Entering a Bronze Bell with Obsession"), the first two plays created by Chokun, were presented at a royal banquet in the fall of 1719 to entertain a Chinese ambassador and his retinue. Born into the privileged class, Chokun learned while young the basics of the native theater, and during his lifetime, went five times to the Satsuma Domain (a center of power in Kagoshima for the Tokugawa Shogunate) and twice to Edo (present-day Tokyo).