Shō Gen (尚元, 1528–1572) was king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1556 to 1572. He was called "Gen, the mute." The king required considerable support from the Sanshikan (Council of Three), the chief council of royal advisors. His reign marked the beginning of the council's demonstration of significantly greater effectiveness and efficiency than previously.

Shō Gen received his official investiture from the Ming Court in 1562, and received emissaries from the Shimazu clan of the Japanese province of Satsuma in 1570 and 1572. The Shimazu wished to establish some control over the Ryukyus, making them either a tributary or a vassal state. The kingdom resisted the Shimazu overtures, and a small punitive mission launched by the Shimazu created a small skirmish on the island of Amami Ōshima in 1571, although the Ryukyuans defeated them.

He was the second son of King Shō Sei, who he succeeded, and was succeeded in turn by his second son, Shō Ei.

Kerr, George H. (1965). Okinawa, the History of an Island People. Rutland, Vermont: C.E. Tuttle Co. OCLC 39242121
Smits, Gregory. (1999). Visions of Ryukyu: Identity and Ideology in Early-Modern Thought and Politics, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-824-82037-4; OCLC 39633631
Suganuma, Unryu. (2000). Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations: Irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824821593; ISBN 9780824824938; OCLC 170955369

v t e Ryūkyū Kingdom's King of Chūzan
Shunten dynasty	Shunten Shunbajunki Gihon
Eiso dynasty	Eiso Taisei Eiji Tamagusuku Seii
Satto dynasty	Satto Bunei
First Shō dynasty	Shō Shishō Shō Hashi Shō Chū Shō Shitatsu Shō Kinpuku Shō Taikyū Shō Toku
Second Shō dynasty	Shō En Shō Sen'i Shō Shin Shō Sei Shō Gen Shō Ei Shō Nei Shō Hō Shō Ken Shō Shitsu Shō Tei Shō Eki Shō Kei Shō Boku Shō On Shō Sei Shō Kō Shō Iku Shō Tai
King of Ryukyu Ryukyu Kingdom Ryukyu Domain

Shō Gen

See also