King ofRyūkyū
琉球国王
Royal Crest
Crown of the King of Ryūkyū
Details
Style	Your Majesty (主上,王上,聖上) Ushū (御主) Miomae-ganashi (美御前加那志,Okinawan:nmē-ganashī, used by royal family) Shūri-ten-ganashi (首里天加那志,Okinawan:shui-tin-ganashī, used in Okinawa Island) Uchinaa-ganashi (沖縄加那志, used in outlying islands)
First monarch	Shunten (traditional narrative)
Last monarch	Shō Tai
Formation	1187 (traditional date)
Abolition	March 17, 1879
Residence	Shuri Castle
Pretender	Mamoru Shō

King of Ryūkyū^[1][2] (琉球国王^[3][4][5][6],Ryūkyū koku-ō), also known asKing of Lew Chew,^[7]King of Chūzan (中山王^[8][9],Chūzan-ō), or more officiallyRyūkyū Kingdom's King of Chūzan (琉球国中山王^[8],Ryūkyū-koku Chūzan-ō), was thetitle held by several lineages inOkinawa Island from 1372 until themonarchy's dissolution in 1879.

According to the traditional official Okinawan narrative, the legendary rulerShunten, who supposedly ascended to the throne in 1187, was first to hold the title. Additionally, the notion of a single-line of succession has been maintained despite the Crown clearly recognising several unrelated lineages acceding. However, the monarchy effectively started in 1372 whenSattogreeted a Chinese envoy from the newly establishedMing dynasty, although his sonBunei was the first to be officially recognized as the King ofChūzan.

Shō Tai was the final sovereign ruler ofRyukyu until hisdemotion in 1872 by thegovernment ofMeiji Japan to the title ofDomain King (琉球藩王,Ryūkyū-han-ō) and his forced abdication in 1879. He was inducted into thekazoku with the rank ofmarquess (侯爵,Kōshaku), earning him a hereditary seat in theHouse of Peers, which his son later inherited.^[10][11][12] It is curious that Shō, a monarch, was given a rank lesser than that of some Japanesekuge anddaimyo, such as thepeasant turnedprime ministerItō Hirobumi who received the rank of prince (公爵,Kōshaku) in recognition for his achievements in theMeiji Restoration.

Mamoru Shō is the currentpretender to the Okinawan throne.

The earliest known form of the narrative dates to the reign of KingShō Shin of theSecond Shō dynasty. A stone monument dated 1522 makes reference to "three dynasties of Shunten's, Eiso's and Satto's". His son KingShō Sei expressed the line of succession in a slightly more elaborate form. TheKatanohana Inscription (1543) reads: "Shō Sei, King of Chūzan of the Great State of Ryūkyū, ascended to the throne as the 21st king since Sonton [Shunten]" (大りうきう国中山王尚清ハ、そんとんよりこのかた二十一代の御くらひをつきめしよわちへ). Similarly, another stone monument dated 1597 states thatShō Nei is the 24th king since Sonton [Shunten] (しやうねいハそんとんよりこのかた二十四たいのわうの御くらゐ...). The numbers of kings mentioned in these monuments agree with those of the official history books compiled much later although it is not clear whether the individual members were fixed at this stage.^[13]

Historian Dana Masayuki relates the notion of the line of succession to Buddhist temples whereancestral tablets of the deceased kings were stored. According to theChūzan Seifu, Manju-ji stored the ancestral tablets of Satto, Bunei, Shishō andShō Hashi, while the tablets ofShō Taikyū andShō Toku were atTenkai-ji.Shō En, the founder of the Second Shō dynasty, establishedTennō-ji and designated it as the family mausoleum. It is not certain which temples were dedicated to the missing kings of theFirst Shō dynasty,Shō Chū,Shō Shitatsu, andShō Kinpuku. Nevertheless, each king performed "ancestral" worship for deceased kings from different dynasties in the presence of a Chinese envoy, presumably because they deceived the Chinese into thinking that the throne was normally succeeded from the father to the son.^[14]

According to theRyūkyū-koku yuraiki (1713), Ryūfuku-ji in Urasoe, in addition to the above-mentioned temples, served as the royal mausoleum. This temple stored inkstone tablets representing the deceased kings from Shunten to Shō Hashi. According to theChūzan Seifu, Ryūfuku-ji was originally founded by Eiso under the name of Gokuraku-ji and was re-established by Shō En. Dana Masayuki surmises that Gokuraku-ji used to serve not only as the family mausoleum of the Eiso dynasty but as the state mausoleum tracing the royal line back to Shunten. The apparent conflict between Manju-ji and Gokuraku-ji is resolved if Manju-ji is seen as a representation of the state in relation to China while Gokuraku-ji was the manifestation of Okinawa's own narrative.^[14]

Shō Shin establishedEnkaku-ji and transferred the function of the family mausoleum from Tennō-ji to Enkaku-ji. Shō Shin founded another temple namedSōgen-ji and decided to use it as thestate mausoleum while the function of Enkaku-ji was clarified as the mausoleum of the Second Shō dynasty. He moved all ancestral tablets, starting from Shunten, to Sōgen-ji and thereby visualized the single line of succession based on Okinawa's own narrative.^[14]

Minamoto no Tametomo (1139–1170), the uncle of theKamakura shogunate's founderMinamoto no Yoritomo, has been consistently treated as the father of Shunten since the earliest official history book, theChūzan Seikan (1650). The earliest known association of Tametomo with Ryūkyū can be found in a letter written by a Zen monk in Kyoto namedGesshū Jukei (1470–1533) with a request by Kakuō Chisen, another Zen monk serving to Ryūkyū's Tennō-ji. According to a tale which Gesshū attributed to Kakuō, Tametomo moved to Ryūkyū, used demons as servants, and became the founder of the state, which theMinamoto clan had ruled since then. The reference to demons may reflect the centuries-old Japanese Buddhist perception of Ryūkyū as the land of man-eating demons, as seen in, for example, theHyōtō Ryūkyū-koku ki (1244). Although at this stage, Tametomo was not explicitly associated with Shunten, the tale apparently circulated in the network of Zen Buddhists connecting Kyoto to Okinawa. A similar tale was recorded in theRyūkyū Shintō-ki (1606) byJōdo-shū monkTaichū, who visited Ryūkyū from 1603 to 1606. This indicates that by that time, the tale of Tametomo had been known to non-Zen Buddhists. In light of these, the apparent innovation of theChūzan Seikan (1650) was the explicit association of Tametomo with Shunten.^[15]

The tale of Tametomo had a profound impact on Ryūkyū's self-perception. In 1691, for example, the king ordered all the male members of the royal family to use the kanjiChō (朝) as the first of their two-character given names, presumably to indicate an affinity to Minamoto no Tametomo (源為朝).^[15]

Another innovation of theChūzan Seikan (1650) was the association of the foundation myth with the royal line. The foundation myth concerning the goddessAmamikyu itself was recorded in theRyūkyū Shintō-ki (1606). However, theChūzan Seikan was the first to make reference to theTenson-shi (天孫氏), who supposedly descended from the goddess.^[14]

Without showing a clear genealogy, the official history books connect the Tenson dynasty remotely to the Eiso dynasty. Eiso's mother dreamed that the sun intruded into her bosom, giving amiraculous birth to Eiso, but Eiso's foster father was said to have descended from the Tenson dynasty. Similarly, Satto was said to have been mothered by aswan maiden. Shō En was believed to have descended from Gihon of the Shunten dynasty (i.e., the second Shō family originated from the Minamoto clan), or some other king. It is not clear why theChūzan Seikan did not provide a special link to the First Shō dynasty.^[14]

The founder of the Tenson dynasty^[16] was a descendant ofAmamikyu (阿摩美久; the goddess of creation). The 25 generations of the Tenson dynasty ruled the land for 17,802 years, but their names are unknown.

The Shunten dynasty lasted from AD 1187 to AD 1259.^[17]In 1186, the 25th ruler's throne was usurped byRiyū.Minamoto no Tametomo's sonShunten overthrew Riyū the next year, becoming the king.

The Eiso dynasty lasted from AD 1260 to AD 1349.^[16] In 1259,Gihon, who was the last king of the Shunten dynasty, abdicated his throne. Fathered by the sun,Eiso succeeded him. During the reign of Tamagusuku, the state was divided into three polities. The King of Nanzan (Sannan) and theKing of Hokuzan (Sanhoku) came to compete with the King of Chūzan.

The Satto dynasty lasted from AD 1350 to AD 1405.^[16] Satto, the son of a peasant and aswan maiden, replaced Seii as the King of Chūzan. Satto started a tributary relation to the Ming emperor.

The First Shō dynasty lasted from AD 1429 to AD 1469.^[19]Shō Hashi, the virtual founder of theFirst Shō dynasty, overthrewBunei in 1406. He installed his father,Shō Shishō, as the nominal King of Chūzan. Shō Hashi annihilated the King of Hokuzan (Sanhoku) in 1416. In 1421, after the death of his father, Shō Hashi became the King of Chūzan. He overthrew the King of Nanzan (Sannan) until 1429, unifying the island. The surname Shō (尚) was given by the Ming emperor.^[20]

The Second Shō dynasty lasted from AD 1470 to AD 1879.^[19] WhenShō Toku, the last king of theFirst Shō dynasty, died in 1469, courtiers launched acoup d'état and electedShō En as king. He became the founder of theSecond Shō dynasty. The kingdom was at its peak during the reign of his son,Shō Shin. In 1609, theSatsuma Domainconquered the Ryukyu Kingdom. From then on, Ryūkyū was a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain, while the king was ordered to keep its tributary relation with China. The kingdom became adomain ofJapan in 1872. In 1879,Japan replacedRyukyu Domain withOkinawa Prefecture, formally annexing the islands. KingShō Tai was dethroned and later given the title ofmarquis.

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