was . He lost that title upon the abolition of the kingdom and the forced abdication of the king, his father, Shō Tai, in 1879, and later succeeded to the title of in the '' kazoku'' peerage following his father's death in 1901.

Life

Shō Ten was born in Shuri and was from birth crown prince to the Ryukyu Kingdom. He underwent his coming-of-age ceremony in 1878 and was married the same year. In March 1879, his father Shō Tai formally abdicated upon the orders of the Meiji government, which abolished the kingdom, transforming ''Ryukyu domain'' into

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

, with officials appointed from Tokyo to administer the islands.Kerr. p381. The former king was ordered to report to Tokyo, but feigning illness, he temporarily found shelter at his son's palace. Shō was then sent to Tokyo as a hostage and partial appeasement as Ryūkyūan officials searched for ways to delay the former king's departure. Following his father's death and his succession as Marquess and head of the Shō family in 1901, Shō and his family gave up the trappings of traditional Ryukyuan royal court life, costume, court language, and ritual, and adopted those of the Japanese peerage. As Marquess, Shō held a hereditary seat in the House of Peers in the Imperial 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. Shō died on 20 September 1920, in his mansion in Shuri and was entombed six days later in Tamaudun, the royal mausoleum near Shuri 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.

Family

The family head was succeeded by his eldest son

Shō Shō , was the head of the Second Shō dynasty, Shō family, the former Ryukyu Kingdom, Ryukyuan royal family, and upon his father's death in 1920, he became head of the family and inherited the title of Marquess. Like most members of the ''kazoku'' ...

, then by Hiroshi Shō and the current incumbent,

Mamoru Shō is an ethnic Ryukyuan, and the current head of the Shō family, the former Ryūkyūan royal family. Life Mamoru Shō was born in Tokyo on 18 August 1950, the eldest son of Hiroshi Shō. After graduating from Tamagawa University, he obtained ...

. * Father: Shō Tai * Mother: Omomatsurugane, Sashiki Aji-ganashi * Wife: Shoko, Nodake Aji-ganashi * Children: **

(b.1888) ** Nobuko (b. ?) engaged to Nakijin Tomohide ** Sho Kei (b.1889) ** Sho Dan (b.1890) ** Sho Bu (b.1899)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sho, Ten 1864 births 1920 deaths People from Naha Princes of Ryūkyū Second Shō dynasty Kazoku Members of the House of Peers (Japan) People of Meiji-period Japan Pretenders Heirs apparent who never acceded