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Biography
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.