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The kingdom was already dealing with widespread poverty, drought, and famine at the time; in addition, a number of European ships had come to the islands, bringing Christian missionaries, and sometimes asking for trade, to use Ryûkyû as a coaling station, or other concessions. Shô Tai was 10 years old when [[Commodore Matthew Perry]] arrived in [[1853]]. Perry hoped to secure a [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-US)|treaty]] between Ryûkyû and the US, as a first step towards [[kaikin|"opening"]] Japan. He forced his way into [[Shuri castle]], but met only with the ''sessei'', who took charge of the negotiations with Perry, and protected the young king from having to be involved. ''Sessei'' [[Ozato Chokyo|Ôzato Chôkyô]], along with State Ministers [[Makishi Chochu|Makishi Chôchû]] and others, originally refused to enter into any treaties with the Western powers, but succumbed in the end to the pressures exerted upon them; the Treaty of Amity between Ryûkyû and the United States was signed in [[1854]], with treaties with [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-France)|France]], [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-UK)|England]], and [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-Holland)|the Netherlands]] following soon afterwards.
The kingdom was already dealing with widespread poverty, drought, and famine at the time; in addition, a number of European ships had come to the islands, bringing Christian missionaries, and sometimes asking for trade, to use Ryûkyû as a coaling station, or other concessions. Shô Tai was 10 years old when [[Commodore Matthew Perry]] arrived in [[1853]]. Perry hoped to secure a [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-US)|treaty]] between Ryûkyû and the US, as a first step towards [[kaikin|"opening"]] Japan. He forced his way into [[Shuri castle]], but met only with the ''sessei'', who took charge of the negotiations with Perry, and protected the young king from having to be involved. ''Sessei'' [[Ozato Chokyo|Ôzato Chôkyô]], along with State Ministers [[Makishi Chochu|Makishi Chôchû]] and others, originally refused to enter into any treaties with the Western powers, but succumbed in the end to the pressures exerted upon them; the Treaty of Amity between Ryûkyû and the United States was signed in [[1854]], with treaties with [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-France)|France]], [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-UK)|England]], and [[Treaty of Amity (Ryukyu-Holland)|the Netherlands]] following soon afterwards.
The young king formally came of age with a ''[[genpuku]]'' ceremony held in [[1857]]/2. The following year, on [[1858]]/5/9, he signed, sealed, and submitted a ''[[kishomon|kishômon]]'' swearing his loyalty to the [[Shimazu clan|Shimazu house]].<ref>Asô Shin’ichi 麻生伸一, “Kinsei Ryūkyū no kokuō kishōmon” 「近世琉球の国王起請文」, in ''Ryûkyû shiryôgaku no funade'' 琉球史料学の船出, Tokyo: Bensei shuppan (2017), 175.</ref>
Following a bribery scandal involving top-ranking officials, known as the [[Makishi-Onga Incident]], Shô Tai issued a six-point set of orders (the ''[[kyojo rokkan|kyôjô rokkan]]'') aimed at eliminating corruption amongst the governments' officials.
Following a bribery scandal involving top-ranking officials, known as the [[Makishi-Onga Incident]], Shô Tai issued a six-point set of orders (the ''[[kyojo rokkan|kyôjô rokkan]]'') aimed at eliminating corruption amongst the governments' officials.
