Shō Tai
| Shō Tai |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
King Shō Tai
|
|||||
| King of Ryukyu | |||||
| Reign | June 8, 1848 – March 11, 1879 | ||||
| Predecessor | Shō Iku | ||||
| Born | August 3, 1843 | ||||
| Died | August 11, 1901 (aged 58) | ||||
| Spouse | Omomatsurugane, Sashiki Aji-ganashi | ||||
| Concubine |
See list
|
||||
| Issue |
See list
|
||||
|
|||||
| Father | Shō Iku | ||||
| Mother | Gentei, Sashiki Aji-ganashi | ||||
| Era dates | |
|---|---|
|
Daoguang Dōkō 道光 Xianfeng Seihō 咸豐 Tongzhi Dōchi 同治 |
Shō Tai (尚泰; August 3, 1843 – August 19, 1901) was the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom (June 8, 1848 – October 10, 1872) and the head of the Ryukyu Domain (October 10, 1872 – March 11, 1879). 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 Ryukyu Domain (later Okinawa Prefecture).
In 1879, the deposed king was forced to relocate to Tokyo. In compensation, he was made a marquis in the Kazoku peerage system.
Shō Tai became King of Ryukyu at the age of six and reigned for nearly 31 years. Developments surrounding pressures from Western powers to open the kingdom up to trade, formal relations, and the free coming and going and settlement of Westerners in the Ryukyu Islands dominated the first decade or two of his reign.
While Westerners had been coming to the Ryukyu Islands for several decades before to Shō Tai's accession in 1848, and were almost always greeted warmly and provided with supplies, it was not until the 1850s that formal policies allowed and encouraged trade and relations with Europeans and Americans. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry made port at Naha several times, both before and immediately after his famous landing at Uraga Harbor in 1853; the Commodore was never permitted to meet with the young King, despite his demands and his forced march to, and entry into, Shuri Castle. He did, however, meet with the royal regent and other high officials of the royal government, eventually yielding the Lew Chew Compact of 1854, along with other agreements, which could be said to parallel the Convention of Kanagawa signed that same year by representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and to represent the "opening" of Ryukyu to trade and relations with the United States. Trade and relations with other Western powers soon followed, backed by Shimazu Nariakira, lord of Satsuma, who saw in the process opportunities to gain wealth and power. Relations with France were particularly strong; a French Mission was established in Naha, which in 1857 formally granted a number of items of field artillery to Shō Tai.
...
Wikipedia