Shō Gen

Shō Gen (尚元) (1528 - 1572) was king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom from 1556-1572. A mute, the king required considerable support from the "Sanshikan" (Council of Three), the chief council of royal advisors. His reign marked the beginning of the Council's demonstration of significantly greater effectiveness and efficiency than previously.

Shō Gen received his official investiture from the Ming Court in 1562, and received emissaries from the Shimazu clan of the Japanese province of Satsuma in 1570 and 1572. The Shimazu wished to establish some control over the Ryukyus, making them either a tributary or a vassal state. The kingdom resisted the Shimazu overtures, and a small punitive mission launched by the Shimazu created a small skirmish on the island of Amami Ōshima in 1571.

He was the second son of King Shō Sei, who he succeeded, and was succeeded in turn by his second son, Shō Ei.

References

*Kerr, George (1958). "Okinawa: The History of an Island People". Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
*Smits, Gregory (1999). "Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics." Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.