- Shō Ten
nihongo|Shō Ten|尚典|(
2 September 1864 -20 September 1920 ) was the lastcrown prince of theRyūkyū Kingdom . He lost that title upon the abolition of the kingdom and the abdication of the king, his father,Shō Tai , in 1879, and later succeeded to the title of nihongo|Marquis|侯爵|kōshaku following his father's death in 1901.Following his father's death and his succession as Marquis and head of the Shō family, Shō Ten and his family gave up the trappings of traditional Ryukyuan royal court life, costume, court language, and ritual, and adopted those of the Japanese aristocracy, the "
kazoku ".As Marquis, Shō Ten held a hereditary seat in the
House of Peers in the National Diet. He was joined in representing Okinawa by a Japanese resident appointed to represent the prefecture's wealthiest taxpayers for the first time in 1918 [Kerr, George H. "Okinawa: The History of an Island People". (revised ed.) Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing, 2003. p428.] .The Marquis died on September 20, 1920 in his mansion in
Shuri and was entombed six days later inTamaudun , the royal mausoleum nearShuri Castle , in accordance with traditional Ryukyuan royal funerary rites. He would be the last member of the Shō family to be honored in such a manner [Kerr. p453.] .References
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