Sho Nei
Encyclopedia
was king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom
(modern-day Okinawa Prefecture
, Japan
) from 1587–1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryūkyū
and was the first king of Ryūkyū to be a vassal to the Shimazu clan
of Satsuma, a Japanese feudal domain.
Shō Nei was the great-grandson of Shō Shin
(尚真, r. 1477–1526) and the adopted son-in-law of Shō Ei (尚永, r. 1573-1586).
planned an invasion of Korea. Through messengers from Satsuma, he ordered that the kingdom contribute warriors to the invasion efforts, and was refused; he also commanded that Ryukyu temporarily suspend its official missions to China. The mission traveled to Beijing
anyway, on business relating to Shō Nei's formal investiture, and related Hideyoshi's plans to Chinese Court officials there. A short while later, Shō Nei sent a missive to Hideyoshi, as was customary upon the installation of a new ruler. He formally congratulated Hideyoshi on having taken over Japan, and on bringing peace and prosperity to the realm, and sent along with the missive a gift of Ming
Chinese lacquerware. The letter referred to Ryukyu as a "small and humble island kingdom[which] , because of its great distance and because of lack of funds, has not rendered due reverence to you." Shimazu Yoshihisa
, lord of Satsuma, then suggested that Ryukyu be allowed to supply food and other supplies instead of manpower. Hideyoshi accepted this proposal, but Shō Nei ignored it, and sent no supplies.
Following Hideyoshi's death in 1598, and Tokugawa Ieyasu
's subsequent rise to power, Shō Nei was asked by Satsuma to formally submit to the new shogunate, a request which was also ignored.
Satsuma invaded Ryukyu in the beginning of 1609, and Shō Nei surrendered on the fifth day of the fourth lunar month
. Shō Nei was taken, along with a number of his officials, to Sunpu to meet with the retired Shogun
Tokugawa Ieyasu
, then to Edo
for a formal audience with Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada
, and then to Kagoshima, where he was forced to formally surrender and to declare a number of oaths to the Shimazu clan. At Edo, the shogun stated that Shō Nei should be allowed to remain in power due to the long history of his line's rule over the islands.
This marked the first time the ruler of a foreign country had come to Japan, and Shimazu Tadatsune
, the lord of Satsuma, made sure to take advantage of the political value of the occasion for himself. His successors would continue to make use of their status as the only daimyō to have a foreign king as a vassal to secure for themselves greater political privileges, stipends, and court ranking. In 1611, two years after the invasion, the king returned to his castle at Shuri once Tadatsune and his advisors were satisfied that he would uphold the oaths he had sworn.
Though Satsuma initially exercised a strong hand in declaring policy in Ryukyu, and purging the royal government of those perceived as disloyal to Satsuma, by 1616 this approach came to an end. "Japanization" measures were reversed, at the request of Satsuma, and Shō Nei was once more formally granted primacy over his kingdom. For the remainder of his reign, Shō Nei would continue to bear all the trappings of royal authority, and exercised great power over his domain within the frameworks set by Satsuma.
Upon his death, Shō Nei was buried not in the royal mausoleum at Shuri, but rather at Urasoe Castle
. Popular belief says this is because he felt that by succumbing to Satsuma's invasion, he had deeply dishonored himself before his ancestors, and was unfit to be buried with them. However, Shō Nei was originally from Urasoe
, so a more mundane explanation may be the truer one.
and other stipulations, would govern Ryūkyū's domestic situation and foreign relations for over 250 years.
Shō Nei and the members of his Council of Three
were also required to swear that the kingdom had long been a dependency of Satsuma (a falsehood), and that they acknowledged that their failure in recent years to live up to their obligations to Satsuma had brought this invasion, a punitive measure, upon themselves. The oath went on to acknowledge the benevolence of Satsuma in allowing the king and his councillors to return to their kingdom, and to continue to rule. Shō Nei swore to pass on these oaths to his descendants, further ensuring the relative permanence of the vassal-lord relationship into which Ryūkyū had been entered with Satsuma.
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...
(modern-day Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawa Prefecture
is one of Japan's southern prefectures. It consists of hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands in a chain over long, which extends southwest from Kyūshū to Taiwan. Okinawa's capital, Naha, is located in the southern part of Okinawa Island...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) from 1587–1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryūkyū
Invasion of Ryukyu
The invasion of Ryukyu by forces of the Japanese feudal domain of Satsuma took place in 1609, and marked the beginning of the Ryūkyū Kingdom's status as a vassal state under Satsuma...
and was the first king of Ryūkyū to be a vassal to the Shimazu clan
Shimazu clan
The were the daimyō of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan.The Shimazu were identified as one of the tozama or outsider daimyō clans in contrast with the fudai or insider clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan,The Shimazu were...
of Satsuma, a Japanese feudal domain.
Shō Nei was the great-grandson of Shō Shin
Sho Shin
' was a king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, the third of the line of the Second Shō Dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dynasty, by Yosoidon, Shō En's second wife,...
(尚真, r. 1477–1526) and the adopted son-in-law of Shō Ei (尚永, r. 1573-1586).
Biography
Early in Shō Nei's reign, Japanese warlord Toyotomi HideyoshiToyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
planned an invasion of Korea. Through messengers from Satsuma, he ordered that the kingdom contribute warriors to the invasion efforts, and was refused; he also commanded that Ryukyu temporarily suspend its official missions to China. The mission traveled to Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
anyway, on business relating to Shō Nei's formal investiture, and related Hideyoshi's plans to Chinese Court officials there. A short while later, Shō Nei sent a missive to Hideyoshi, as was customary upon the installation of a new ruler. He formally congratulated Hideyoshi on having taken over Japan, and on bringing peace and prosperity to the realm, and sent along with the missive a gift of Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Chinese lacquerware. The letter referred to Ryukyu as a "small and humble island kingdom
Shimazu Yoshihisa
was a daimyo of Satsuma Province and the eldest son of Shimazu Takahisa. His mother was a daughter of Nyurai'in Shigesato , Yukimado . Shimazu Yoshihiro and Shimazu Toshihisa are his brothers....
, lord of Satsuma, then suggested that Ryukyu be allowed to supply food and other supplies instead of manpower. Hideyoshi accepted this proposal, but Shō Nei ignored it, and sent no supplies.
Following Hideyoshi's death in 1598, and Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
's subsequent rise to power, Shō Nei was asked by Satsuma to formally submit to the new shogunate, a request which was also ignored.
Satsuma invaded Ryukyu in the beginning of 1609, and Shō Nei surrendered on the fifth day of the fourth lunar month
Lunar month
In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two identical syzygies . There are many variations. In Middle-Eastern and European traditions, the month starts when the young crescent moon becomes first visible at evening after conjunction with the Sun one or two days before that evening...
. Shō Nei was taken, along with a number of his officials, to Sunpu to meet with the retired Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
, then to Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
for a formal audience with Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...
, and then to Kagoshima, where he was forced to formally surrender and to declare a number of oaths to the Shimazu clan. At Edo, the shogun stated that Shō Nei should be allowed to remain in power due to the long history of his line's rule over the islands.
This marked the first time the ruler of a foreign country had come to Japan, and Shimazu Tadatsune
Shimazu Tadatsune
was a tozama daimyo of Satsuma, the first to hold it as a formal fief under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the first Japanese to rule over the Ryūkyū Kingdom...
, the lord of Satsuma, made sure to take advantage of the political value of the occasion for himself. His successors would continue to make use of their status as the only daimyō to have a foreign king as a vassal to secure for themselves greater political privileges, stipends, and court ranking. In 1611, two years after the invasion, the king returned to his castle at Shuri once Tadatsune and his advisors were satisfied that he would uphold the oaths he had sworn.
Though Satsuma initially exercised a strong hand in declaring policy in Ryukyu, and purging the royal government of those perceived as disloyal to Satsuma, by 1616 this approach came to an end. "Japanization" measures were reversed, at the request of Satsuma, and Shō Nei was once more formally granted primacy over his kingdom. For the remainder of his reign, Shō Nei would continue to bear all the trappings of royal authority, and exercised great power over his domain within the frameworks set by Satsuma.
Upon his death, Shō Nei was buried not in the royal mausoleum at Shuri, but rather at Urasoe Castle
Urasoe Castle
was an Okinawan castle, or gusuku, which served as the capital of the medieval Okinawan principality of Chūzan prior to the unification of the island into the Ryūkyū Kingdom, and the moving of the capital to Shuri....
. Popular belief says this is because he felt that by succumbing to Satsuma's invasion, he had deeply dishonored himself before his ancestors, and was unfit to be buried with them. However, Shō Nei was originally from Urasoe
Urasoe, Okinawa
is a city located in Okinawa, Japan. The neighboring municipalities are Naha to the south, Ginowan to the north, and Nishihara to the east.Urasoe was the original capital of the Okinawan kingdom of Chūzan for several centuries until it was supplanted by Shuri in the late 14th or early 15th century...
, so a more mundane explanation may be the truer one.
The Oaths Sworn
Shō Nei was forced to swear a number of oaths during his time in Kagoshima, as he and his kingdom were formally made vassals to the Shimazu clan. The so-called Fifteen Injunctions (掟十五ヶ条, Okite jūgo-ka-jō) were among the most major, and primarily involved political and diplomatic matters. These stated, among other stipulations, that Ryūkyū would not engage in trade or diplomatic relations with foreign states without the consent of Satsuma. These policies, along with maritime restrictionsSakoku
was the foreign relations policy of Japan under which no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633–39 and remained in effect until...
and other stipulations, would govern Ryūkyū's domestic situation and foreign relations for over 250 years.
Shō Nei and the members of his Council of Three
Sanshikan
The Sanshikan , or Council of Three, was a government body of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, which originally developed out of a council of regents.It emerged in 1556, when the young Shō Gen, who was mute, ascended to the throne of Ryūkyū...
were also required to swear that the kingdom had long been a dependency of Satsuma (a falsehood), and that they acknowledged that their failure in recent years to live up to their obligations to Satsuma had brought this invasion, a punitive measure, upon themselves. The oath went on to acknowledge the benevolence of Satsuma in allowing the king and his councillors to return to their kingdom, and to continue to rule. Shō Nei swore to pass on these oaths to his descendants, further ensuring the relative permanence of the vassal-lord relationship into which Ryūkyū had been entered with Satsuma.
See also
- List of monarchs of Ryukyu Islands
- Imperial Chinese missions to Ryūkyū KingdomImperial Chinese missions to Ryūkyū KingdomImperial Chinese missions to the Ryūkyū Kingdom were diplomatic missions which were intermittently sent by the Yuan, Ming and Qing emperors to Shuri, Okinawa in the Ryūkyū Islands...