Sho Wa

• Born: 1745
• Died: 1811
• Titles: 読谷山王子 (Yomitanzan ôji / O: Yuntanzan wuuji)
• Other Names: 朝恒 (Chôkô), 朝憲 (Chôken)
• Japanese: 向 和 (Shô Wa)

Shô Wa, also known as Yuntanzan Chôkô, was the second son of King Shô Kei of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, and half-brother to King Shô Boku. At age 20, he served as Lead Envoy (seishi) on the 1764 Ryukyuan embassy to Edo.

He was later named sessei.

In 1773/6, alongside Crown Prince Shô Tetsu, Prince Yomitan led a mission to Kagoshima in congratulations for Keihime, daughter of Lord Shimazu Shigehide. In 1777, he changed his nanori (given name) from Chôkô to Chôken.

References

• "Ryûkyû shi Mitarai minato-zume tomozuna" 琉球使御手洗湊詰纜, in Yutaka-machi Mitarai monjo 豊町御手洗文書 (1764), transcribed in Shirarezaru Ryûkyû shisetsu 知られざる琉球使節, Fukuyama-shi Tomonoura rekishi minzoku shiryôkan (2006), 135.
• Miyagi Eishô 宮城栄昌, Ryûkyû shisha no Edo nobori 琉球使者の江戸上り, Tokyo: Daiichi Shobô (1982), 43.
• Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Megumi, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô 31 (2006), 227.