:Shō Sen'i

Shō Sen'i was the younger brother of the Okinawan lord Kanemaru. The 1650 chronicle {{nihongo|||Chūzan Seikan|Reflections on Chūzan}} states that Sen'i left his parents at age five and was raised by Kanemaru.{{sfn|Smits|2024|pp=246–252}}{{sfn|Smits|2019|p=|pp=128–129}} In 1469, following the death of King Shō Toku, Kanemaru was appointed to the throne of Chūzan by a group of officials and took the name Shō En, founding the Second Shō dynasty of the Ryukyu Kingdom.{{sfn|Smits|2024|p=246}} Shō En's birthplace was officially the small island of Izena, north of Okinawa. He reportedly fled to Okinawa after a dispute with his neighbors over water rights, and became a local lord. The official histories of the Ryukyu Kingdom name En and Sen'i's father as Shō Shoku, but nothing is concretely known about him.{{Sfn|Smits|2019|p=143}}{{Sfn|Smits|2024|pp=246–247}} Using evidence from the 16th century Omoro Sōshi {{Nihongo|2=おもろさうし}}, a compilation of Ryukyuan songs, the historian Gregory Smits has argued that the Second Shō dynasty's original base was instead the village of Uchima in Nishihara, Okinawa, with origins in Nakijin, and likely deeper family roots in the northern islands of the Ryukyus and Japan.{{sfn|Smits|2024|pp=4, 246–252}}{{Sfn|Smits|2019|pp=125–126}}

At the age of 41, during En's reign, Sen'i was appointed the lord of Goeku, probably the king Shō Taikyū's original power base. Due to its close associations with Taikyū, this was likely a show of political favor towards Sen'i and a sign that he was the expected heir to the throne. The 18th century {{nihongo|||Chūzan Seifu|Genealogy of Chūzan}} instead states that En's son Shō Shin was his designated successor, but that the kingdom's officials had chosen Sen'i in his place after his death due to Shin's young age.{{sfn|Smits|2019|p=|pp=128–129}}

File:Mausoleum of Sho Sen'i 01.JPG]]

The official histories state that Sen'i's coronation failed to adhere to the proper rituals, cursing his reign. The high priestesses were said to have faced towards the west instead of the east during his enthronement ceremony, causing all in attendance (including Sen'i) to feel their spirits chill and mouth dry. After reigning for six months, he stated that he had incurred the "wrath of heaven" due to improper rulership, and resigned in favor of his nephew Shō Shin, after which he returned to Goeku.{{sfn|Smits|2000|pp=89–90}}{{Sfn|Kerr|2000|p=104}} Less than a month later, Sen'i died.{{Sfn|Smits|2019|p=129}}

Historians such as Smits and {{Interlanguage link|Takara Kurayoshi|jp|高良倉吉}} have attributed the myth to a coup launched against Sen'i in the name of Shō Shin (who was thirteen during the events) by his mother Ogiyaka, who seized the throne for her son and killed Sen'i.{{sfn|Smits|2019|p=89–90, 128}}{{sfn|Smits|2024|pp=254–255}} For the following twenty years, extremely limited information is recorded from Chūzan beyond the regular trade and tribute correspondence. This may be due to interdynastic warfare and violence among the ruling dynasty in the wake of the coup.{{sfn|Smits|2024|pp=254–255}} Sen'i was posthumously granted the divine name Nishi-nu-Yununushi ({{lang|ja|西之世主}}).{{sfn|Ikemiya|2005}} His reign is detailed in a chapter of the Chūzan Seikan. Such a chapter does not exist for his successor Shō Shin, likely due to the large amount of military and political conflict under his rule.{{sfn|Smits|2019|p=127}} Sen'i was the only Ryukyuan leader since the time of the 14th-century king Satto whose name was not recorded in the Ming dynasty annals.{{sfn|Pearson|2013|p=236}}

Shō Shin took Sen'i's daughter Kyojin as his first wife. With her, they had a son named Shō Ikō (1494–1540). An inscription at Tamaudun, Shin's royal mausoleum, specifies eight people whose descendants shall be interred at the site, including Shin's third through seventh sons. This served to sideline Shin's first two sons, the descendants of Sen'i.{{Sfn|Smits|2019|p=|pp=132, 139, 144}} Shō Nei, a direct descendant of Ikō and Sen'i, ascended to the throne in 1589, sparking continued factional conflict and a major rebellion against his reign in 1592; it is unknown how his descent from Sen'i influenced his royal legitimacy.{{Sfn|Smits|2019|pp=143–144}}

{{reflist}}

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• {{cite thesis| url = https://u-ryukyu.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2002217| script-title= ja:琉球国王の神号と『おもろさうし』 |language=Japanese|last=Ikemiya|first=Masaharu|trans-journal=Collection of Japanese Oriental Culture Studies|trans-title=The Divine Names of the Kings of Ryukyu and the Omoro Sōshi|journal=日本東洋文化論集|publisher=University of the Ryukyus|location=Nishihara|date=2005|number=11|pages=1–27}}
• {{cite book|first=George H.|last=Kerr|author-link=George H. Kerr|date=2000|orig-date=1958|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|location=Rutland|url=https://archive.org/details/okinawahistoryof0000kerr|isbn=9780804820875|title=Okinawa: The History of an Island People}}
• {{cite book|first=Richard|last=Pearson|date=2013|title=Ancient Ryukyu: An Archaeological Study of Island Communities|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|location=Honolulu|jstor=j.ctt6wqnq6 |isbn=9780824837129 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wqnq6|author-link=Richard J. Pearson}}
• {{cite journal|first=Gregory|last=Smits|author-link=Gregory Smits|title=Ambiguous Boundaries: Redefining Royal Authority in the Kingdom of Ryukyu|date=2000|volume=60|issue=1|journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies|doi=10.2307/2652701|jstor=2652701|pages=89–123}}
• {{cite book|first=Gregory|last=Smits|title=Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvsrfmz|doi=10.2307/j.ctvsrfmz|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|location=Honolulu|date=2019|jstor=j.ctvsrfmz |isbn=9780824877095|author-link=Gregory Smits}}
• {{cite book|first=Gregory|last=Smits|title=Early Ryukyuan History: A New Model|date=2024|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.8441682|doi=10.2307/jj.8441682|location=Honolulu|author-link=Gregory Smits|isbn=9780824898205}}

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{{S-bef|before=Shō En}}

{{S-ttl|title=King of Chūzan (and Ryukyu)|years=1477}}

{{S-aft|after=Shō Shin}}

{{s-end}}

{{Kings of Chūzan}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sho, Sen'i}}

Category:Second Shō dynasty

Category:Kings of Ryūkyū

Category:Monarchs who abdicated

Category:1477 deaths