Shō Shō

Shō Shō (尚昌, Shō Shō, 17 September 1888 – 19 June 1923), was the head of the Shō family, the former Ryūkyūan royal family, and upon his father's death in 1920, he became head of the family and inherited the title of Marquess. Like most members of the kazoku system of peerage, and all heads of the Shō family since the abolition of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, he lived in Tokyo for his whole life. He died in 1923, and was succeeded by his son, Hiroshi Shō.

Life

Shō Shō was the grandson of Shō Tai,^[1] the last king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. He was born to Shō Ten, the last Prince of Nakagusuku of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. He went to Tokyo in 1896 and enrolled in Gakushuin Elementary School, and in 1909, he dropped out of Kyushu High School. At the recommendation of his father he attended Oxford University (accompanied by Masayoshi Kamiyama ). After returning to Japan with his bachelor's degree in 1915, he became an archaeologist. In 1920, he became a Marquess upon the death of his father, and joined the Japanese House of Lords on October 21.^[2] In June 1923, during a trip to China, he developed appendicitis and died on June 19 in Tokyo.^[3] His tomb is located in Ueno, Taito-ward, in Tokyo.

Family

He married Momoko Ogasawara (born January 3, 1896; died February 11, 1950; marriage date unknown), the daughter of Ogasawara Tadashi. On September 18, 1918 his eldest son Hiroshi Shō was born. His eldest daughter was called Fumiko (who later married Koi Ii, a former Mayor of Hikone), and a second daughter was called Kiyoko (who later married Tadahiro Sakai, the former Obama clan family head).

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