Shō Toku

Shō Toku (c. 1440–1469) was the final king of the First Shō dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom, ruling from 1461 until his death. Ostensibly the son of the prior king Shō Taikyū, he may have taken power through force. He is portrayed as a cruel and violent ruler in the later official histories of the kingdom, forcing ministers into hiding and subduing the island of Kikaijima through a costly and brutal military campaign. He was a patron of the Japanese deity Hachiman, adopting his symbol as a royal crest, taking the divine name "Hachiman-no-Aji" ('Lord Hachiman'), and building the Asato-Hachimangū shrine to him near Naha after his conquests. He established the Buddhist temple of Jintoku-ji and acquired a collection of Korean sutras. Toku's devotion to Hachiman, alongside characteristic legends focused around his reign, may have indicated that he was associated with wokou pirates.

Toku died from unknown causes in 1469; some sources suggest a coup d'etat against his reign, including one legend that states he drowned himself after learning he was overthrown while engaged in a romantic affair on a nearby island. He was succeeded by Kanemaru, Shō Taikyū's former treasurer, who took the throne and assumed the name Shō En, inaugurating Second Shō dynasty. Toku's family was killed by En's soldiers, and the site of their burial was revered as a holy place over the following centuries.