Shō Chū
king of Ryukyu kingdom
Shō Chū (1391–1444) was a king of the First Shō dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The son of King Shō Hashi, he was appointed to oversee the subdued polity Hokuzan in 1422. He ascended to the throne after Hashi's death in 1439 and ruled until his death. Very little is known about him or his reign, and he is attested mainly through trade and tributary records. He was buried alongside his father after his death in 1444 and was succeeded by his son Shō Shitatsu.
Biography
Shō Chū was born in 1391 as the second eldest son of Shō Hashi, an Okinawan nobleman who overthrew King Bunei of Chūzan in 1407 and installed his father Shishō as king, founding the First Shō dynasty. Hashi took the throne himself after Shishō's death in 1422, and was described in the official histories of the Ryukyu Kingdom as the purported unifier of Okinawa. However, his degree of control over the island is likely exaggerated.
In 1422, Shō Chū was appointed as the overseer of the subdued polity of Hokuzan, administering from the gusuku (fortress) of Nakijin, gaining the title "Prince of Nakijin". Like the other members of the First Shō dynasty, the names of his mother and consorts are not listed within the 18th century genealogy and history Chūzan Seifu.
The public source identifies “Shō Chū” as king of Ryukyu kingdom. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around king, Ryukyu and kingdom.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1060301. The first chronological checks are 1391, 1444, 1422 and 1439.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shō Chū” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.