was king of the

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

from 1795 to 1802. He made a great contribution to the education of Ryukyu during his reign.

Life

Shō On was the eldest grandson of the former king, Shō Boku. His father

Shō Tetsu was a Crown Prince of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, the eldest son of King Shō Boku. He died in 1788 before being able to succeed to the throne of the kingdom, and was entombed in the royal mausoleum of Tamaudun. King Shō On and King Shō Kō ( ...

died when Shō Boku was still alive, so he became the

Heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

of the kingdom. After Shō Boku's death, Shō On was installed as the king. However, Shō On was only 11 years old, his teacher Sai Seishō (蔡世昌) became the Kokushi (国師), serving as the king's regent. The

Kokugaku was an academic movement, a school of Japanese philology and philosophy originating during the Edo period. scholars worked to refocus Japanese scholarship away from the then-dominant study of Chinese, Confucian, and Buddhist texts in favor of ...

(国学) was established as the National Academy of the Ryukyu Kingdom in

Shuri Castle is a Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' castle in Shuri, Okinawa, Shuri, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Between 1429 and 1879, it was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom, before becoming largely neglected. In 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa, it was ...

on 1798. Four schools were also founded in the countryside, even farmers could receive education. But the idea of equal education was not accepted by the

Kumemura was an Okinawan community of scholars, bureaucrats, and diplomats in the port city of Naha near the royal capital of Shuri, which was a center of culture and learning during the time of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The people of Kumemura, traditionally ...

people, so they launched a rebellion against the reform, and Sai Seishō died in the incident. The rebellion was quickly put down, and some education privileges of Kumemura people were abolished. Shō On died when he was only 18 years old. His successor was his only child, the infant Shō Sei, who died 1 year later. Shō On's younger brother

Shō Kō (14 July 1787 – 5 July 1834) was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, who held the throne from 1804 to 1828, when he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Shō Iku. This was only the second time in the history of the kingdom that a king abdicate ...

succeeded.

References

*『中山世譜・尚温王』 *田名真之「蔡世昌」（『沖縄大百科事典』（沖縄タイムス社、1983年）） *中山盛茂「高島親方（蔡世昌）（『琉球史事典』（琉球文教出版、1969年）） {{DEFAULTSORT:Sho On Second Shō dynasty Kings of Ryūkyū 1784 births 1802 deaths