Mamoru Shō

is an ethnic Ryukyuan businessman who is the current head of the Shō family, the former Ryukyuan royal family. He lives in Ise City, Mie Prefecture.

Life Mamoru Shō was born in Tokyo on 18 August 1950, the eldest son of Hiroshi Shō. After graduating from Tamagawa University, he obtained an MBA from Samford University.

He is the great-great-grandson of Shō Tai, the last king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and became the Shō family head upon the death of his father on 30 August 1996. In May 2019, he established the Ryukyu History and Culture Inheritance Promotion Association and currently serves as its representative director. He has also donated a number of family documents and artefacts to Naha City for preservation.

Family Shō formally adopted a married couple, Takayuki and Maki, into his family, following a Japanese custom known as fūfu yōshi. Shō has a biological son named Takeshi, whom he has declined to appoint as his heir apparent, instead endorsing Takayuki and Maki. Maki serves as the current acting Kikoe-ōgimi.

Father: Hiroshi Shō

Descent from Kings of Ryukyu

^The further ancestry of Second Shō dynasty is still in dispute by historians as of today. However, according to the kingdom’s official history record, Sai On’s edition of Chūzan Seifu, the family were descended of Gihon, who was the third and the last king of Shunten dynasty that was founded by its first king, Shunten, who was mythologically a son of Minamoto no Tametomo from the Kawachi branch of the Seiwa Genji clan through his marriage with a sister of the Aji of Ōzato, which made the dynasty's lineage went back further to the Imperial House of Japan via Emperor Seiwa. However this still considered by most historians as a fabrication to justify the ruling claim during the invasion by Satsuma Domain.

Shō Shoku (?-1434) Shō En (1415-1476), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Shin (1465-1527), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Sei (1497-1555), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Gen (1528-1572), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Kyū (1560-1620), Prince of Kin Shō Hō (1590-1640), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Shitsu (1629-1668), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Tei (1645-1709), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Jun (1660-1707), Prince of Nakagusuku Shō Eki (1678-1712), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Kei (1700-1752), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Boku (1739-1794), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Tetsu (1759-1788), Prince of Nakagusuku Shō Kō (1787-1834), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Iku (1813-1847), King of Ryukyu Kingdom Shō Tai (1843-1901), King of Ryukyu Kingdom and Ryukyu Domain, Marquess of Shō Family Shō Ten (1864-1920), Prince of Nakagusuku, Marquess of Shō Family Shō Shō (1888-1923), Marquess of Shō Family Shō Hiroshi (1918-1997), Marquess of Shō Family Shō Mamoru (1950-)