Shō Nei

Shō Nei 尚寧王
Shō Nei, painted by Shō Genko (1748–1841) in 1796.
King of the Ryukyu Kingdom
Reign	1589–1620
Predecessor	Shō Ei
Successor	Shō Hō
Born	1564
Died	1620
Burial	Urasoe Yōdore, Urasoe, Okinawa
Spouse	Aoriyae Aji-ganashi
Concubine	Nishi no Aji Adaniya Ōaji-shirare
House	House of Shō
Father	Shō I, Prince Yonashiro Chōken
Mother	Shuriōkimi Aji-ganashi

Shō Nei (尚寧^?, 1564–1620) was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa Prefecture, Japan) from 1587–1620. He reigned during the 1609 invasion of Ryukyu and was the first king of Ryukyu 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).

Early in Shō Nei's reign, Japanese warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi 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.