was a prince of the Ryūkyū Kingdom

Ryukyu Kingdom

The Ryūkyū Kingdom was an independent kingdom which ruled most of the Ryukyu Islands from the 15th century to the 19th century. The Kings of Ryūkyū unified Okinawa Island and extended the kingdom to the Amami Islands in modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture, and the Sakishima Islands near Taiwan...

, the fourth son of King Shō Tai

Sho Tai

was the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom . His reign saw greatly increased interactions with travelers from abroad, particularly from Europe and the United States, as well as the eventual end of the kingdom and its annexation by Japan as Okinawa Prefecture.In 1879, the deposed king was forced to...

, the last king of the kingdom. He played a major role in founding many 20th century institutions in Okinawa, including the Ryūkyū Shimpō

Ryūkyū Shimpō

The ' was the first Okinawan newspaper. It was founded in 1893 by Shō Jun, a former prince of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and is still in publication today....

 newspaper, the Bank of Okinawa, the Taishō Gekijō theater, and a canning factory, and was a major figure in both the Japanese political and investment worlds of his time.

Following the abolition of the kingdom in 1879, Shō Jun, along with the rest of the Ryukyuan royal family, was made a noble in the new Japanese kazoku

Kazoku

The was the hereditary peerage of the Empire of Japan that existed between 1869 and 1947.-Origins:Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the ancient court nobility of Kyoto regained some of its lost status...

system of peerage

Peerage

The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...

. His father, King Shō Tai, was made ; after his death in 1901, Shō Jun's eldest brother Shō Ten

Sho Ten

was the last crown prince of the Ryūkyū 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 in the kazoku peerage following his father's death in 1901.- Biography :Shō Ten was born in Shuri...

 inherited the title. After the end of the formal mourning period, the Shō family gave up the trappings, rituals, and formal costume of Ryukyuan royalty and adopted the lifestyle and customs of the Japanese aristocracy.

Shō Jun was elected to the House of Peers of the Imperial Diet

Diet of Japan

The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...

 in 1904, and served two terms. After resigning his government post, he took over the administration of the Shō family's finances and other formal affairs.

In his later years, he managed the Tōbaru Plantation in Shuri, and created a tropical botanical garden on Gogayama in Nakijin

Nakijin, Okinawa

is a village located in Kunigami District, Okinawa, Japan.As of 2003, the village has an estimated population of 9,529 and a population density of 239.00 persons per km²...

. He became known as a man of culture and refinement in many fields of interest and as a calligrapher

Japanese calligraphy

is a form of calligraphy, or artistic writing, of the Japanese language. For a long time, the most esteemed calligrapher in Japan had been Wang Xizhi, a Chinese calligrapher in the 4th century but after the invention of Hiragana and Katakana, the Japanese unique syllabaries, the distinctive...

 as well.

Shō Jun was killed in the Battle of Okinawa

Battle of Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...

in 1945.