Shō Iku

Shō Iku (尚 育, 19 August 1813 – 25 October 1847) was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1835 to 1847. He was the eldest son of Shō Kō. According to Chūzan Seifu, he was appointed regent in 1828, in place of his ailing father who was supposedly afflicted by a mental illness. Shō Kō died in 1834, and Shō Iku was installed as the king.

Shō Iku
尚育
Official royal portrait of Shō Iku, painted by Mō Chōki in 1852
King of Ryukyu
Reign1835–1847
PredecessorShō Kō
SuccessorShō Tai
Born(1813-08-19)19 August 1813
Died25 October 1847(1847-10-25) (aged 34)
SpouseSashiki Aji-ganashi
ConcubineMafee Aji
Issue
HouseSecond Shō Dynasty
FatherShō Kō
MotherGushikawa Aji-ganashi

Shō Iku was a Confucian scholar, and had dedicated his life to education. But during his reign, the financial crisis grew more and more serious. When a French ship arrived in Naha in 1844, Ryukyu was forced to trade with France. It was the first contact with Western countries. Théodore-Augustin Forcade, a French priest sent by Paris Foreign Missions Society, came to Ryukyu to spread the Christian Gospel. Bernard Jean Bettelheim, a British Protestant missionary, also arrived in Ryukyu in 1846. Bettelheim established the first foreign hospital on the island at the Naminoue Gokoku-ji Temple.

The king died in 1847, and his second son Shō Tai succeeded him as the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Shō Iku
Second Shō Dynasty
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Shō Kō
King of Ryukyu
1828–1847
Succeeded by
Shō Tai


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