Shō Tai (尚 泰; 3 August 1843 – 19 August 1901) was the final King of Ryukyu, initially as hereditary king of the Ryukyu Kingdom from 8 June 1848 until 10 October 1872 and finally as the Japanese appointed Domain King by Emperor Meiji, ultimately leading to his deposition and relocation to Tokyo by the Meiji Government on 11 March 1879.

In May 1885, in compensation, he was made a Kōshaku (侯爵, marquess), the second tier of nobility in the kazoku peerage system. This entitled him to a hereditary seat in the House of Peers as well as a stipend from the government.

Overall, his reign saw the eradication of the dual-loyalty system of the supposedly independent Ryukyuan kingdom in favour of the Japanese rather than that of the Qing dynasty or the Satsuma Domain specifically, and the annexation of Ryukyu into Okinawa Prefecture. His time as sovereign featured greatly increased interactions with travelers from abroad, particularly from Europe and the United States.

The descendants of Shō continue to press their claim as the legitimate rulers of Okinawa.

Shō Tai became King of Ryukyu at the age of six and reigned for nearly 31 years. Developments surrounding pressures from Western powers to open the kingdom up to trade, formal relations, and the free coming and going and settlement of Westerners in the Ryukyu Islands dominated the first decade or two of his reign.

While Westerners had been coming to the Ryukyu Islands for several decades prior to Shō Tai's accession in 1848, and were almost always greeted warmly and provided with supplies, it was not until the 1850s that formal policies allowed and encouraged trade and relations with Europeans and Americans. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made port at Naha several times, both before and immediately after his famous landing at Uraga Harbor in 1853; the Commodore was never permitted to meet with the young King, despite his demands and his forced march to, and entry into, Shuri Castle. He did, however, meet with the royal regent and other high officials of the royal government, eventually yielding the Lew Chew Compact of 1854, along with other agreements, which could be said to parallel the Convention of Kanagawa signed that same year by representatives of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and to represent the "opening" of Ryukyu to trade and relations with the United States. Trade and relations with other Western powers soon followed, backed by Shimazu Nariakira, lord of Satsuma, who saw in the process opportunities to gain wealth and power. Relations with France were particularly strong; a French Mission was established in Naha, which in 1857 formally granted a number of items of field artillery to Shō Tai.

Nariakira died suddenly in 1858. He was succeeded by his half-brother Shimazu Hisamitsu, to whom Shō Tai was obliged to formally swear anew the oath of loyalty to the Shimazu clan that he and his ancestors had sworn since 1611. Hisamitsu reversed his half-brother's policies regarding Ryukyu's interactions with the West; Satsuma's radical opposition to foreign influence was a driving force in the events of the following decade in Japan.

In 1864, after Shō Tai had been on the throne for 16 years, the customary mission was sent to China to formally request investiture from the Chinese Imperial Court. Chinese representatives journeyed to Ryukyu two years later, formally granting on behalf of the Tongzhi Emperor recognition of Shō Tai's authority as king.