Shō Iku
 |
| Shō Iku 尚育王 | |
|---|---|
 Official royal portrait of Shō Iku, painted by Mō Chōki in 1852 | |
| King of the Ryukyu Kingdom | |
| Reign | 1835–1847 |
| Predecessor | Shō Kō |
| Successor | Shō Tai |
| Born | 19 August 1813 |
| Died | 25 October 1847 (aged 34) |
| Spouse | Sashiki Aji-ganashi |
| Concubine | Mafee Aji |
| Issue | See list
|
| Father | Shō Kō |
| Mother | Gushikawa Aji-ganashi |
Shō Iku (尚 育, 1813–1847) was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 1835 to 1847. He was the eldest son of Shō Kō. According to Chūzan Seifu (中山世譜), he was appointed Sessei (摂政) 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 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.
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