Ie Chochoku
- Born: 1818/8/23
- Died: 1896/1/4
- Titles: 伊江 王子 (Ie ouji / Prince Ie)
- Other Names: 尚健 (Shou Ken)
- Japanese: 朝直 (Chouchoku)
Prince Ie Chôchoku was the fifth son of King Shô Kô of the Ryûkyû Kingdom. He played a prominent role in internal court politics of the kingdom in the 1860s, and led a mission to Tokyo in 1872 to formally pay respects to the Meiji Emperor on behalf of his nephew, King Shô Tai.
Following the death of his father, King Shô Kô, the young Chôchoku (then age 16) was adopted into the house of the anji of Ie, and thus came to be known as Prince Ie.
After the Makishi-Onga Incident of 1859, in which a number of high-ranking officials were accused of conspiring with Satsuma han officials behind the back of the royal court, Prince Ie led the investigation, putting pressure on the pro-Satsuma faction at court.[1]
He traveled to Tokyo in 1872 alongside Giwan Chôho and 35 others, meeting with the Meiji Emperor on 9/14, and being formally told that the kingdom was to be annexed by Japan as Ryûkyû han, and that King Shô Tai was to become "king" of that domain. While in Tokyo, he also attended the formal ceremony for the opening of Japan's first railway, connecting Shinbashi and Yokohama. Following his return to Ryûkyû, Ie was named sessei (prime minister, or regent).
Prince Ie was admitted to the kazoku (Meiji Japan's European-style nobility) in 1890 as a Baron (danshaku). He died six years later, at age 79.
References
- "Ie Chôchoku," Nihon jinmei daijiten, Kodansha 2015.
- ↑ Marco Tinello, "The termination of the Ryukyuan embassies to Edo : an investigation of the bakumatsu period through the lens of a tripartite power relationship and its world," PhD thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia (2014), 395.
