Building Crosscultural Friendship

Kakuta was transferred to Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School last April. At the very first meeting for newcomers, he was asked to make a staff adviser to the ESS club. His predecessor had been transferred to another prefectural senior high school. Later at another meeting of English teachers there, he was told to “vitalize” (revitalize?) the club. It had just five members and two of them were leaving as they were in their 12th grade. The ESS’s club activities used to be held on Tuesdays. They had been watching DVDs, and talking about their contents. The first idea that hit Kakuta was to add variety to the ESS club activities: 1 Let’s Make Your Blog in English 2 Get Ready for EIKEN Interview Test 3 Enjoy English Conversations Kakuta started talking about his idea with the other staff adviser to the ESS club, who happens to be another newcomer English teacher. Blogs? Technically too difficult for our students to handle. Facebook? Too dangerous a place for our students to wander about. Pen-friends with e-mails? Matching our students with those abroad might be too bothersome. Finally, we came to a conclusion that we should use an aged system: a mailing list. Kakuta started searching for high schools abroad, or ,precisely speaking, for high school English teachers in foreign countries, who might get interested in having their students communicate with Japanese high school students. Kakuta first approached his friends. A Taiwanese friend of his, a geography teacher, instantly introduced him to her colleague English teacher in her high school. Native-English-speaker students might as well not be interested in just talking with Japanese students. Kakuta started looking for counterparts on LinkedIn, an SNS for “professionals”, where it is easier to find people with a certain occupation. Argentina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greek, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco, Nicaragua, Thailand….. By the end of June, he had contacted more than 700 people in no less than 70 countries, and the project was to start tentatively in July and in full scale after summer holidays.

Fujiwara no Sumitomo's Rebellion

     Much damage was being caused frequently by pirates in the Seto Inland Sea during the years of Shohei and Tenkei, or in the early 10th century. Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941), who was in the rank subordinate to the lower seventh place in the noble class hierarchy, was appointed as an aide of the Iyo Province Governor, and was also in charge of the subjugation of pirates. He later became the head of the pirates based in Heburi Island in Iyo Province by the 6th year of Shohei (in 936), and organized 1,000 boats. The latest researches have pointed out, however, that the character of the pirates which Sumitomo was supposed to repress and that of the armed groups with which Sumitomo started rebellion were different.

    The Imperial Court had restructured its organizations and some lower-level personnel had been cut. Those who had been restructured around the Seto Inland Sea used to come from wealthy farmers in the area. They became pirates insisting on their right to “tax” goods being sent to Kyoto. Meanwhile, the armed groups including Sumitomo were intermediate-ranked officials who had been sent to the area because of their mastery of martial arts to repress those pirates and to maintain public order and who settled there later, without going back to Kyoto. The armed groups of Sumitomo and others are said to be those who missed the opportunity to rise the court hierarchy due to their parents' early death, etc., who dropped out of the aristocratic circles of the capital, and who were planning recovery of their lost chances by distinguishing themselves in wars and battles. That is, they were almost in the same position as early generations of samurais in Eastern Japan. However, their deeds' of valor were sometimes seized by the higher-ranked aristocrats in Kyoto, or were the target of exploitation of those who started their new tenure as an attorney governor. Moreover, the fact that Fujiwara Motona, who was Sumitomo's father's cousin, was the governor of Iyo Province from the second year of Shohei to the fifth. Sumitomo was dispatched as an agent of Motona there and took on the duties to send taxes to Kyoto.

    Sumitomo is supposed to have established the networks with the pirates of lower-level ex-personnel originating from the wealthy farmers. In December, the second year of Tenkei (in 939), Sumitomo ordered his man, Fujiwara Fumimoto to attack Fujiwara Sanetaka and Shimada Koremoto, executive officers of Bizen and Harima Provinces accordingly, at Suki Station in Settsu Province. Fumimoto sliced off their noses, took their wives, and killed their children. The report that Taira Masakado (?-940) started his rebellion in Eastern Japan and established himself as a new emperor was brought to Kyoto, and the Imperial Court was astonished and afraid that Masakado and Sumitomo started their rebellions in the East and the West in collusion.

    The Imperial Court appointed Ono Yoshifuru (884-968) a punitive expeditionary agent in Sanyo, and Mianamoto Tsunemoto (?-961) a vice-agent on January 16 in the 3rd year of Tenkei (in 940), but also conferred the rank subordinate to the lower fifth place on Sumitomo to conciliate on January 30. The Imperial Court concentrated its military power to Eastern Japan for the time. Although Sumitomo accepted the conferment, he kept being opportunistic and did not stop his piracy.

    On February 5, Sumitomo attacked the armory in Awaji Province and robbed arms. In those days, arson was frequently caused at many places in Kyoto, and Ono Yoshifuru reported, "Sumitomo’s are rowing their boats up toward Kyoto". The Imperial Court was afraid that Sumitomo’s would attack Kyoto, and arranged soldiers at 14 gates of the capital. It also dispatched Fujiwara Yoshiyuki to Yamazaki, which is at an entrance to Kyoto, on February 22nd to strengthen its defense. Yamazaki was, however, burned down with a mysterious arson on February 26th. Those incidents suggest that Sumitomo's influence has covered not only over the Seto Inland Sea but also reached the armed groups dissatisfied with the Imperial Court’s rules in Settsu Province. The management of Sumitomo’s army also included the aid of Yamashiro Province.

    The situation was very serious against the government, and there was a direct threat to the capital. The report of Masakado's defeat was brought to Kyoto on February 25. Sumitomo returned his boats to Hiburi-jima Island, perhaps being disturbed by this news. Consequently, an official letter from Dazaifu and that from Korea safely reached Kyoto in June, and Minister-of-the-Left, Fujiwara Nakahira, dispatched the messenger to Wu and Yue in July. In spite of the peace, the Imperial Court became positive to the Sumitomo subjugation, because the concentration of their military power to Western Japan became possible after Masakado was perished in Eastern Japan. When the conquest-of-the-East army which had been to the Masakado’ subjugation returned to the capital in May. The Imperial Court concluded in June that Fujiwara Sanetaka attacked Fujiwara Fumimoto, and his punitive order was taken out. The order was provocation against Sumitomo by the Imperial Court whether he would hand over Fumimoto and submit to the Court, or was to be subjugated as its enemy. After the success in subjugating Masakado, the Imperial Court seems to have deepened its confidence in repressing Sumitomo.

    In August, Sumitomo, on the other hand, attacked Iyo and Sanuki Provinces with 400 boats, and committed arson, burned more than 100 military boats of Bizen and Bingo Provinces, and, furthermore, attacked Nagato Province and robbed government properties. In October, Sumitomo defeated the soldiers of Dazaifu, the regional capital in Kyushu, and the punitive expeditionary agent. In November, he attacked and burned the mint bureau in Suo Province. In December, he attacked Hata County, Tosa Province.

    In February, in the 4th year of Tenkei (in 941), Fujiwara Tsunetoshi, one of the leading members of Sumitomo’s armies, however, surrendered to the Imperial Army. The Imperial Army attacked Sumitomo's headquarters in Heburi-jima Island, and broke this. Sumitomo’s army escaped west, attacked and occupied Dazaifu. Although Sumitomo's younger brother, Fujiwara Suminori, tried to invade Yanagawa, he was beaten by the army of Tachibana Kimiyori, an active commander of Dazaifu, at Kamaike.

    The Imperial Army led by Ono Yoshifuru arrived in Kyushu in May. Yoshifuru attacked by the land route, and Okura Harumi attacked by the sea route. Sumitomo burned Dazaifu and met the Imperial Army led by Okura Harumi at Hakata Bay. After the severe battle, the Sumitomo army was routed and about 800 boats were taken by the Imperial Army. Sumitomo rode on a small boat and escaped to Iyo Province. In June, Sumitomo was arrested by Tachibana Toyasu, a guarding agent, when he was hiding in Iyo Province, and died in prison.

Kamagasaki Fieldwork

We gathered in front of the east wicket of JR Shin-Imamiya Station. About 30 of teachers. The gathering was drawing some people's attention. Some young girls were delivering suspicious looks to us. I was going to take a field-work class, one of the elective classes to renew my teacher's license. After a lecture in a building near the station, we started off to the city in the midst of the baking hotness. You can easily find more vending machines, more coin-operated laundries, and even more coin-operated lockers even along the streets once you walk into the Kamagasaki area, the poorest, not one of the poorest but actually the poorest, area in Japan. It's a kind of a wonder that so many stuffs are coin-operated in the poorest area in Japan. The second monotonous feature you find in the town might be rents of apartment rooms. Most of the signs you can find on the front windows of real estate agents or apartment buildings themselves show ¥42,000/a month, the highest rent the Livelihood Protection Law permits. Soft drinks sold by the vending machines in the Kamagasaki area are surprisingly cheap. Especially in the core area, I could find vending machines with ¥50 canned drinks and ¥80 PET bottled ones. In other areas in Japan, if you can find vending machines with ¥100 canned drinks, they are buys. They say that the Kamagasaki area used to center round on day laborers. Flophouses, liquor stalls, and as such. Many day laborers have become on welfare. The area has changed its looks and state themselves. In its core area, so-called poverty industries have come into existence. Its outskirts are looking for other industries.

Kono Clan, a Pirate War Lord

The first entry in written document about Murakami Clans was Nojima Murakami Clan. To-ji Temple’s cashbooks in 1349, the fifth year of Jowa, remain and can read “a gift money for eating and drinking for Nojima”. It implies that Nojima Murakami Clan was guarding the To-ji Temple’s manor against villain forces’ embezzling. In the middle of 15th Century, however, another entry blames Nojima Murakami Clan for their embezzling the manor forcefully as a pirate. Pirate people guarded a manor when they were employed, but were ready to embezzle the manor when not employed. They were that type of medieval samurais on the sea. Murakami Bukichi, a well-known historical figure in the Age of Provincial Wars, became the leader of Murakami Clan, having defeated Murakami Yoshiyasu, his cousin, and Kurushima Michiyasu, who supported Yoshiyasu, with the help of Murakami Takashige, his uncle. After Yoshimasu died of illness, Bukichi negotiated a peace, married Michiyasu’s daughter as a lawful wife, became the leader of all Santo Murakami Clans, and made every possible effort as an important vassal of Kono Michinao. The next appearance was that of In’noshima Murakami Clan. On December 11, 1427, in the 34th year of Oei, Ashikaga Yoshimochi wrote a half-public letter of gratitude to Murakami Bicchu Nyudo (Yoshisuke), who is supposed to belong to the clan. In 1434, in the 6th year of Eikyo, “Murakami, a pirate in Bingo State” was appointed as a guard of ships to Ming Dynasty China on the recommendation of Yamana Clan. This “Murakami” is supposed to be In’noshima Murakami Clan. The indubitable historical document on which Kurushima Murakami Clan first appeared is munefuda (namely ridge plate), a kind of a list of donors of building expenses, of Ohama Yahata Shrine in the fourth year of Taiei, or in 1524. Later Kurushima Michiyasu granted the asylum of Kono Michinao, the then leader of Kono Clan, in Kurushima Island when Kono Clan’s family struggle broke out. Michinao rewarded Michiyasu with the license to use Kono Clan’s family crest. That means Kurushima Murakami Clan came to be treated nominally as a member of Kono Clan. Later even in Edo Period, Kurushima Clan’s leaders used “michi” in their first names. The documents mentioned above show that those three Murakami Clans were active as late as in Muromachi Period, but it surely suggests that they had been active for years before their appearances in the documents. Three Murakami Clans as pirate people placed Kono Clan as their master family. Kono Clan has its roots in Ochi Clan, and share the same ancestor with Ohofuri Clan, Shinto priests of Oyamazumi Shrine, which enshrine the god of the sea. It clearly suggests why and how Kono Clan, as a pirate war lord, kept the top of the pirate society. Pirate people are liable to have a quick eye for gain and to be too realistic to maintain strong relationship of lord and vassal. They are sometimes regarded as something like mercenary soldiers. They were certainly wide awake and were shifting their military alignment with Otomo Clan, to that with Ouchi Clan, Mori Clan, Uragami Clan, Miyoshi Clan and etc. However, although they sometimes conflicted, they were consistently regarding Kono Clan, the guardian of Iyo State, as their lord with no doubt. Their political maneuvers should be understood in this regard. The outstanding pirate lord was definitely Kono Clan, who used to organize Murakami Navies as their vassals. For example, as I described before, Murakami Clan’s meritorious services in the Battle of Kidu-gawa estuary was praised by Ashikaga Yoshiaki through giving a letter of appreciation to Kono Michinao. For another example, Kurushima Murakami Clan, when Michiyasu was the leader, enjoyed power as a main vassal of Kono Michinobu and climbed the power ladder by being treated as if they had been a member of Kono Clan. Even In’noshima Murakami Clan, whose stronghold was In’noshima Island in Bingo State and who enjoyed close relations with Yamana, Ouchi, and Mori Clans, received a letter of appreciation from Kono Norimichi, a guardian of Iyo State.

A Drastic Change in Naval Battles

More than 2 decades after the introduction of guns to Japan, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was facing the pressing need to gain naval supremacy in the Seto Inland Sea to fight against the Mori Clan.  Nobunaga heavily lost to navies of the Mori and Kono Clan in the Battle of Kizu-gawa Estuary in July, 1576.  In June and November, 1578, however, he fought against navies of the Mori Clan and the Saika people again, which ended as his overwhelming victory.  We are going to compare the entries about the two naval battles from the Biography of Lord Nobunaga, which was written by Ota Gyuichi (1527-1613), who had been one of the best arrow shooters of Nobunaga when young and who was very good at writing war tales after he became a secretary.

 

“They stopped our ships, and shot many earthenware explosives to burn the ships down.  We were heavily outnumbered, and lost veteran samurais such as Manabe Sadatomo, Numa Iga, Numa Den’nai.  Western forces won a victory in the battle, shipped military provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple, and sailed their forces back to the western provinces.”

 

“On June 26, in the 6th year of Tensho, our ships sailed out to the Sea of Kumano-ura, sailed to Osaka.  They rowed numerous boats out of Soga, Tan’nowa and as such against our big ships off Tan’nowa.  They shot arrows and guns, and pressed attacks on us from all sides.  Kuki Yoshitaka (1542-1600), who had decorated the 7 ships like mountains, fought restrictively first, waited for the enemy boats to come closer, then fired big guns all at once, and destroyed many of the enemy boats.  Afterward, the enemy boats could hardly find ways to approach our ships, and we could easily sail to Sakai on July 17.

 

“On November 6, more than 600 ships and boats from western provinces advanced to Kizu areas.  Kuki Yoshitaka (1542-1600) intercepted the enemy ships and boats.  They besieged our ships, sailing southward, and fought a sea battle from 8 in the morning till around noon.  Kuki seemed to be having a hard battle at first, but, having many big guns in the 6 ships, waited for the enemy ships and boats to come closer, and fired the guns to the enemy flagship to strike it down.  They became panicked and couldn’t approach ours any more.  Kuki finally drove hundreds of the enemy ships and boats into Kizu Bay, and all the audience praised Kuki Yoshitaka for his military exploits.”

 

The first quotation describes how the naval battle in July, 1576 was fought.  In the battle, the navies of the Mori and Kono Clans, whose de facto main force was the Murakami Clan, surrounded Oda sea forces, threw in many earthenware explosives, and burnt down Oda’s ships and boats.  The tactics to cut off each enemy ship surrounding with small fast boats and to attack with earthenware explosives used to be common in the Seto Inland Sea battles.  An earthenware explosive was a round fire bomb.  The bomb has black powder and iron pieces or lead balls covered with earthenware, and popularly used from the Warring States Period till Shoku-Ho Era.  Later, even small rockets with 3 plumes fired with guns, cannons, or wooden cylinders came to be employed.  The explosive powder in their tips exploded when they stroke ships.

 

Those navies who were killed in the battle, including the Manabe Clan, were samurais in Izumi Province, and had strongholds along Osaka Bay, including Otsu in Izumi Province.  They were severely beaten by the navies of the Mori and Kono Clans, whose de facto main force was the Murakami Clan, who was a champion on the Seto Inland Sea at the time, and could not stop the enemy’s shipping military provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple.

 

After the first battle, Nobunaga ordered the Kuki Clan, pirates in Shima Province, to build armored ships and to sail them to Osaka Bay via the Sea of Kumano-nada.  The latter quotation tells us that, in June, the armored ships encountered the besieging enemy navies from Saiga and Tan’nowa shooting arrows and guns, but defeated them with big guns.  The big guns showed their power in November as well to defeat the navies of the Mori and Kono Clans.

 

Just 2 years witnessed a big change in navy battles; from throwing in earthenware explosives to shooting big guns.  The armored ships were not only armored with iron plates to shield the enemy attacks of shooting arrows and guns.  The Correspondences of the Society of Jesus in Japan also reported that the ships were equipped with 3 cannons.  We may well call them battleships with heavy guns.

 

Kano Mitsunobu (1565-1608), a painter of the Kano school, one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting, painted Nagoya Castle in Hizen on a byobu with 6 panels in detail years later.  The castle was a base to sally forth to the Korean Peninsula.  The byobu represented armored ships as well with two-storied or three-storied donjons on top of them.

 

Those donjons might have been spaces for a commander, and symbols of authority and power. The ships had sails, but were usually driven with oars.  Small-sized armored ships were said to have 50 oars, while big-sizes to have more than 150 oars.  They were equivalent to ships with 75-300 of net tonnage, and were equipped with heavy guns, and were crenelated.

 

The structure of the armored ships suggests that they could not sail so fast.  They went to battles with small fast boats guarding them.  In terms of modern navy battles, an armored ship fought as a battleship, a medium-sized boat as a cruiser, and a small boat as a destroyer.  Navy battles were definitely changing, and surpassing in firepower was playing more decisive roles than maneuverability.

 

On land, Shoku-Ho castles with high stone walls, a donjon and towers were getting in all their glory.  Big ships with a high-rise building on top of them and with a lot of guns to shoot from there at enemy ships and boats are opening a new era on the sea as well.

 

Pirates had accumulated their own tactics as sea fighters, but lacked capital reserves to prepare themselves to face the new era with big ships and firepower.  This is the background why the champion in the Seto Inland Sea changed dramatically from pirates such as the Murakami Clan to warlords under the Toyotomi Clan with the capital strength abundant.

Naval Battles and Guns

The fact that Manabe Clan was given about 600 kg of gunpowder a month suggests that they had considerable number of guns and that they were actually using the guns, and also implies how Nobunaga Navies were organized. These years have witnessed a significant progress of the study over medieval weapons, as they came to be argued from the view point of the political history too. Guns, representative weapons in the Age of Provincial Wars, have been argued over how they were introduced into Japan. There are 3 main types of arguments. The first argument is the most popular belief that guns were introduced by Portuguese who drifted ashore on Tanega-shima Island in the 12th year of Tensho, or in 1543. Against the belief, Mr. Takehisa Udagawa examined remains of guns and related documents, and presented the second argument that guns’ introduction through Tanegas-shima Island is just a case and that Wako brought guns which they had used in Southeast Asia. The third argument was offered by Mr. Shosuke Murai, who had elaborately and extensively researched historical documents. It was Wang Zhi, a major figure among Post-Wako, who were mainly Chinese smugglers, and his Chinese junk that brought Portuguese with guns used in Southeast Asia to Tanega-shima Island. Those arguments are very interesting and suggest there used to be varieties of routes to introduce guns to Ryukyu and even to the coasts of Japanese Sea mediated by Wako. We are going to read a document which tells us, even a quarter century before the famous Nagashino Battle, in which Oda Nobunaga, with his 3000 guns, overpowered then famous Takeda’s cavalry, the usage of guns was introduced in Inland Sea. Bairin Shuryu, a monk in Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto, wrote about a sea battle with guns in his diary on September 19, in the 19th year of Tenmon, or in 1450. Around noon, when they were sailing off Hibi, Bizen (today’s Tamano City, Okayama), their ship was approached by a pirate ship. Negotiations were carried between the two ships, and failed. A battle was started. Pirates shot arrows, and the ship Bairin on board fought back with guns. The pirates ended up with many injured. Guns with a range of about 500 meters had an advantage over arrows with a range of about 380 meters. Especially in naval battles where longer ranges mattered, guns must have been employed swiftly. War lords in Western Japan who organized navies exploited guns eagerly. Otomo Clan’s big gun, Kuni Kuzushi (namely State Destroyer) was a well-known example. Later in naval battles during the Japanese Invasion of Korea, or the Imjin War, cannons and guns were key weapons. Even Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598), a famous Korean navy admiral, was shot to death during the Battle of Noryang, the last naval battle at the end of the war.

A Mobile Base

Manabe Clan in Izumi, a local pirate who was organized into Nobunaga’s Navy, gives us a good example to understand how pirate society in Inland Sea changed. Their surname has its origin in Manabe Island in Oda County, Bichu (in today’s Kasaoka City, Okayama Prefecture). They gained a certain social status in Inland Sea as a vassal of Hosokawa Clan, a guardian of Bichu in Muromachi period. Eventually, they gained ground even in Izumi, and Nii and Uma Counties in Iyo, where there used to be Hosokawa Clan’s branch possessions. Manabe Sadaharu, who was later called Sin’nyu-sai, was the head of the clan during Shokuho Era and a founder of Manabe Clan in Wakayama, one of chief vassals of the Wakayama Clan. He was included in the entries of Meishin-Den (Biographies of Excellent Vassals) of “The History of Nanki Tokugawa”, a collection of the Wakayama Clan’s historical sources. Manabe Sadaharu was recognized as a descendant of Manabe Shiro and Goro brothers, who had shot Kahara Taro and Jiro brothers, popular characters in The Tale of Heike, in The Lord of Manabe Shin’nyu’s Thumbnail Biography. It is also recorded that Sadanari’s 6th ancestor moved from Manabe Island to Tan’nowa in Izumi (to today’s Misaki Town in Osaka Prefecture). Manabe-yama, a place name around a round tumulus with a moat around it, is all that is left to tell where once the clan lived. The document continues, “They established Manabe Checkpoint in Sen-shu, and those ships sailing from Kyushu or Shikoku toward the Capital had to pay sail taxes.” They might have imposed sail taxes at Manabe Checkpoint in Tan’nowa on those ships leaving from Kyushu or Shikoku, probably sailing off the Tosa coast, and passing Kitan Straits. In other words, Manabe Clan was conducting piracy in Kitan Straits. Meanwhile, Hosokawa Clan in Izumi fell and Miyoshi Clan rose, and Manabe Clan followed Miyoshi Clan instead. Manabe Sadayuki, Sadanari’s grandfather, fought for Miyoshi Clan in Shariji Battle in Settsu in July, the 16th year of Tensho, or in 1547, and made the very first thrust among 800 samurais into the enemy lines. In the 11th year of Eiroku, or in 1568, Nobunaga entered Kyoto, and Izumi samurais including Matsuura Clan, an active guardian there, capitulated to him. Nobunaga antagonized Hongan-ji Temple in Osaka, and paid attention to Manabe Clan needing to impose a blockade across Osaka Bay. According to The Biographies of Excellent Vassals, Manabe Sadatomo, Sadanari’s father, was stationed at Otsu Castle in Izumi (in today’s Izumi-Otsu City, Osaka), and guarding mouths of rivers in Osaka. He was given lands about half as much as those of daimyo, salaries for 1,000 men, and 600 kg of monthly gunpowder. According to Biography of Lord Nobunaga, which was written by Ota Gyuichi, one of Nobunaga’s arrow shooters, and is believed to be one of the reliable biographies of Nobunaga, Manabe Sadatomo was deployed along with other Izumi samurais such as Numa Clan at a strategic point in Sumiyoshi in Settsu in May, in the 4th year of Tensho. He was in charge of maritime defense. Manabe Clan was deployed as defense against Hongan-ji Temple, Osaka. According to a document dated June 18 issued by Nobunaga, Sadatomo, together with Numa Den’nai and etc., was ordered to guard in Osaka Bay to cut off supply routes to Hongan-ji Temple, Osaka. Other documents such as Hineno Document at the time, shows Sadatomo was carrying out naval blockades. Sadatomo was killed in the battle at the mouth of Kidu River in July together with Numa Clan and etc. As we have seen above, Manabe Clan moved their base from Manabe Island, Bichu, to Tan’nowa, Izumi, and to Otsu, Izumi. They carried out military actions such as naval blockades under the orders of supreme powers such as guardians, war lords, or national leaders. They also established sea checkpoints and imposed sail taxes. Obviously, they were acting as a typical pirate people in the pirate society in Inland Sea. The point worthy of attention is that they are based on naval transfers, and that they moved their bases according to the changes of the political surroundings in land. That is quite different from the behaviors of land samurais who tended to fight for their lands at the risk of their own lives. Murakami Clans, a champion in Inland Sea, for another example, might not have minded to change their residences because they originally had had plural strongholds in plural states.

The Excavation of Sea Castles

Geiyo Archipelago, lying between the Seas of Hiuchi-nada and Itsuki-nada, used to be Murakami Clan’s strongholds, and their sea castles were densely located there. The studies of sea castles have progressed these years, stimulated with the outcomes of the studies of medieval castles and supported by the accumulation of excavation data of sea castles themselves. The data point out the variations of the castles’ locations and structures, reveal their features to have numerous pits on shore reefs, and show their characteristic relics with imported porcelains etc. The study of the pits on shore reefs is attracting a considerable attention these days. The pits can be found only in the 20 castles in those areas controlled by Nojima Murakami and Kurushima Murakami Clans. The pits can be divided into independent pits, column pits and rank pits. The column pits lined at right angles to the seashores at regular intervals in a single line, while the rank pits run in parallel with the seashores in a row or two. The independent pits and the column pits are supposed to have worked to support mooring posts. However, how the rank pits were used is not specified yet. The castles and fortresses with those pits are distributed along the offshore routes. The sea castles here have 3 characteristic features. First, each castle is small in size, and even main castles can be called fortresses. They had simple structures sometimes even without forts or moats which used to be popular parts with mountain castles in the Age of Provincial Wars. Second, when a small island was fortified, water supplies were secured on the opposite shore. Third, the castles might have been distributed under the consideration of the clan’s networks and sea routes. The conceptualization of the sea castle distribution will be certainly developed with the progress of the study of pirates. Recently, the site of Nojima Castle, which is supposed to be Nojima Murakami Clan’s headquarters, was excavated and researched by Imabari City Educational Board. They found remains of residences and a smithy. The discovery was reported on Asahi (the Ehime edition) and Ehime newspapers published on February 12, 2011 and on February 17, 2011 respectively. Nojima Island today is an uninhabited island about 850 meters around located in the strait between Oshima and Hakatajima Islands in Imabari City. Taizakijima Island, about 260 meters around, is located south to Nojima Island. The width of the waterway between the two islands is about 70 meters at full tide, and about 20 meters at low tide. The whole land of the both islands is Nojima Murakami Clan’s castel, and functioned as their sea castle from the latter half of the 14th Century till 16th Century, during the Period of the Northern and Southern Courts and the Age of Provincial Wars. According to Imabari City Educational Board, two remains of residences were found at South-East Keep in the south of Nojima Island, and at the Third Keep in the west of the island. In South-East Keep, more than 10 remains of pillar pits with a diameter of 40 to 50 centimeters were found about 20 centimeters underground in the area of about 8 meters long from south to north and 4 meters wide from east to west. In Third Keep, a lot of remains of pillar pits and granite foundation stones were found about 40 centimeters underground in the area of about 8 meters long from south to north and 4 meters wide from east to west. They were lined in order in a rectangle in the both cases. A remain of a smithy with a diameter of about 1 meter was found about 30 centimeters underground near Third Keep in the north-west of the island. An unglazed earthen ventilation pipe between the bellows and furnace was found, too. The pipe is with a diameter of about 10 centimeters and length of about 10 centimeters, and is called “haguchi” in Japanese. Pieces of fired scrap iron and earth were found in chunks, iron flakes scattered around in the process of forging were left. They suggest that iron weapons were made and mended in the castle. Among the foundation stones in Third Keep, many pieces of big pots of Bizen Ceramics were excavated. They can be restored into huge pots with a diameter of 50 to 60 centimeters and in the height of about 1 meter. These discoveries are causing us to change the current view of Nojima Castle. Usually, Nojikma Castle has been regarded as a fortress in rapid currents which was utilized in wartime or in an emergency only. People might have lived at Miyakubo in Oshima. It has been handed down that there used to be Miyakubo Castle or Koga-yashiki (Koga Residence) on the hills in Miyakubo. Having water supply, Miyakubo might have worked with Nojima jointly as a castle. However small Nojima Island may be, it had buildings, and many daily earthen vessels were found in the reclaimed ground in its south. Those findings suggest that people spent their daily lives in the island. Moreover, numerous unglazed earthenware small plates in the remains of main buildings, which implies that formal samurai ceremonies similar with those carried out in the castles of war lords might have also been held there. Imported ceramics and Chinese coins were reported to have been excavated in 1938. Nojima Castle can be recognized as an independent castle which functioned by itself. Additional characteristic feature is that many sea castles were placed with sea checkpoints side by side. Many main sea castles along offshore routes, such as Kaminoseki Castle in Suo, In’noshima Murakami Clan’s Mikasaki Castle in Bingo along Aki coastal route, and Nojima Murakami Clan’s Nii-Oshima Castle in Iyo along Iyo coastal route worked as sea checkpoints as well even after “prohibitions against pirates” issued in the 16th year of Tensho, or in 1588. That leads us to suppose there probably had been more sea castles with sea checkpoints affixed.

The Inland Sea Lane

In the latter half of the Age of Provincial Wars, Murakami Clan gained power with their bases on Geiyo Archipelago in the middle of West Inland Sea Area. Murakami Clan is composed of 3 sub-clans; Nojima Murakami, Kurushima Murakami, and In’noshima Murakami. They used to be called Santo Murakami (Three-Islands Murakami) or Santo Murakami Navy. Here, I sometimes call Nojima Murakami, the head sub-clan of the three, just Murakami. Murakami Clan was subordinate to Kono Clan, the Guardian of Iyo, and established a good relationship with Mori Clan. The Clan extended their power over East Inland Sea Area, and assumed control of Shiwaku Islands in Sanuki, Hitsuishi-jima Island and Yo-shima Island in today’s Sakaide City, Hon-jima Island, Ushi-jima Island, and Hiro-shima Island in today’s Marugame City, Takami-shima-Island and Sanagi-shima Island in today’s Tadotsu Town, and etc. all in today’s Kanagawa Prefecture. Shiwaku Islands were located in the center of Bisan Archipelago between the Sea of Harima-nada and the Sea of Hiuchi-nada. They attracted many ships and boats, and provided boatmen to transport travelers and goods. Murakami Clan came to control Shiwaku people, and became a master who organized and controlled local territorial pirates at difficult straits in Inland Sea. Against Murakami Clan’s extending its power, Oda Nobunaga guaranteed Shiwaku ships’ shipping to Sakai in the document by Shwaku Guardhouse dated March 26, 1577, the seventh year of Tensho. The document shows Shiwaku Islands were placed under the influence of Oda Nobunaga. Until around 1584, the 12th year of Tensho, however, Murakami Clan committed themselves to the islands. The islands seem to have been under the influence of the both sides actually. The Inland Sea has The Sea of Harima-nada, Bisan Archipelago, the Sea of Hiuchi-nada, Geiyo Archipelago, the Sea of Itsuki-nada, Boyo Archipelago, the Sea of Iyo-nada, and the Sea of Suo-nada from east to west. It has “nada” (a rough sea with strong winds and waves, and with rapid currents, where sailing is difficult) and archipelagos alternately. Between nada, there are straits with big ranges of tides. The islands near those straits were located with important ports, and with sea castles of pirates as well. Nojima Castle, Nojima Murakai Clan’s main castle and stronghold, for example, controlled Hanaguri Strait, Kojin Strait, Funaori Sterait. Those are rapid straits with 10-not (about 19 km/h) currents whirling at fastest. Kurushima Strait has as rapid as 12-not current at the rising tide, which causes famous Hachiman-uzu, or Hachiman Vortex. Ships needed local pilots, and were easily captured from Kurushima Castle, Kurushima Murakai Clan’s main castle and stronghold. These two areas have many marine accidents even today, and are known as dangerous sea areas with poor views, with narrow widths to sail, and with rapid currents. Inland Sea Lane used to be thought to have started during Edo Period, but, today, it can date back to before the Age of Provincial Wars. The lane used to have 2 coastal routes and 3 offshore routes. Aki coastal route sailed along Sanyo coast, and Iyo coastal route along Shikoku coast. The offshore routes sailed from the west through the Sea of Itsuki-nada, Hanaguri Strait, Yuge Strait, and the Sea of Bingo-nada; through The Sea of Itsuki-nada, Funaori Strait, Miyako Strait, the Sea of Hiuchi-nada, and the Sea of Bingo-nada; through the Sea of Itsuki-nada, Kurushima Strait, and the Sea of Bingo-nada.

East and West

We often take the Inland Sea as one region, but the region didn’t have one history in the Age of Provincial Wars. There had been two historical trends. One was a trend around Kinai region, while the other is a trend in a region which had a close relation with the Northern and the Eastern areas in Kyushu. We can divide the Inland Sea region into 2 sub-regions. The western borderlands of the first region are Bicchu in today’s Chugoku district and Nii County in Iyo in today’s Shikoku district. The second region lies west to the borderlands. The first region is called East Inland Sea Area, and the second is called West Inland Sea Area, respectively. The East Inland Sea Area has two large seaports, Hyogo (in today’s Kobe City) in Settsu and Sakai (in today’s Sakai City) in Izumi, which are most well-known Japanese seaports in the world. Hosokawa clan, which produced Shogunate aides, wielded power in those two seaports, and enjoyed close relationships with the cities. Ships and boats from the two ports go through the Kitan Strait or the Akashi Strait first. Around those straits, there used to be powerful pirates on the watch for those vessels. Around the Kitan Strait, the Manabe Clan and the Tan’nowa Clan in Izumi and the Kan Clan in Awaji were well-known, and, around the Akashi Strait, Ishii Clan in today’s Akashi was famous. In the West Inland Sea Area, Onomichi in Bingo and Itsukushima in Aki used to be famous as ports of call, and Tomo-no-ura, or the Tomo Inlet, (in today’s Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture) in Bingo were especially important since it was prosperous as a junction between the East and West Inland Sea Areas. The port is located at the rear end of an inlet at the southern tip of the peninsular which juts out into the Sea of Hiuchi-nada. It is a good port between a hill and Taiga Island, a tied-island which is attached to the hill with a sandbar. The inlet is serene and a port town had been located from the ancient time there. A sea current runs into the Bungo Channel eastward into the Sea of Iyo-nada according to the tide. Another sea current runs into the Kitan Channel westward into the Sea of Harima-nada according to another tide. The Tomo Inlet is located at the meeting point of the two sea current, and ships and boats utilizing the currents used to gather here waiting for a next current. It used to be a node of distribution network in Western Japan, and attracted information quickly as well. Tomo-no-ura used to be a port town deeply related to Muromachi Shogunate, or Ashikaga Clan. For example, at the very start of the shogunate, Ashikaga Takauji, its founder, stopped at Komatsu-dera Temple here on his way to strike back to Kyoto from Kyushu. Ashikaga Tadafuyu, Takauji’s son, came down here to Ogajima Castle as a governor of Chugoku district. Down during the Age of Provincial Wars, the 10th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiki (later renamed Yoshitane) was removed and expelled by Hosokawa Masamoto, but returned back to Kyoto from Yamaguchi to be re-appointed as a shogunate under the support of Ouchi Yoshioki. He called at the port on his way back to Kyoto. The 15th shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiaki exiled himself here, appointed Mori Clan as a vice-shogunate, opened “Tomo Shogunate” as a base of anti-Nobunaga forces, and ordered war lords in Western Japan to work for his return to Kyoto. These examples tell us that Tomo-no-ura used to attract national attention at the beginning of Muromachi Era and at the end of the Age of Provincial Wars.

A Simple History of Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School

Senyo Senior High School’s start as a pre-modern school dates back to Sakai Central Jokoba in 1874. It used to be a kind of a vocational school for girls. On the base of the pre-modern school, Sakai Municipal Sakai Girls’ School was established in 1888 under the modern education system of the Meiji Government. The ownership of the school was transferred to Osaka Prefecture in1912, and, accordingly, the school’s name became Osaka Prefectural Sakai Girls’ High School. After World War II, it became coeducational under the newly installed education system, and changed its name to Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School. Senyo Senior High School is located in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It currently has 29 classes with about 1160 students aged 16-18, and is widely recognized as the second best prefectural senior high school in and around the Sakai City area.

The Invitation to "Let's Make Friends in 100 Countries!"

After a series of conversations with my colleague teachers, students' parents, and the management, I am to set up a mailing list on the server of Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School to support students' transnational communication with other high school students who live and study in other countries with different cultures. If any high school teacher in my network would like to have their students join the list, please send me a message whose subject should be "Friends Abroad" and body should include her/his mail address, country's name, and school's name and URL. The description and rules of the mailing list, friends-abroad-ml@senyo.osaka***.ed.jp, will be sent to applicant teachers within a couple of weeks, and the mailing list will be activated within a couple of months. Thank you.

The First Step toward the "Let's make friends in 100 countries!" Project

This school year, which starts in April, 2012 and ends in March, 2013 in Japan, I coach the English Club in Osaka Prefectural Senyo Senior High School. I'm trying to have my student members express themselves in English and post their writings on Facebook. I hope my students can communicate with those in other countries with different cultures. I also wish I could organize a project something like “Let's make friends in 100 countries!” on Facebook someday.

The Six Continents and Five Seas Project for Youth (2)

“But the essence of man is no abstraction inherent in each single individual. In reality, it is the ensemble of the social relations.” (Karl Marx, http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm) If the essence of a student develops as the ensemble of her/his social relations, she/he will be able to develop her/his geographically wider view by acquiring friends on the Six Continents and in the Seven (Five in reality?) Seas on Facebook. Individually. Socially, once students have dense the-Six-Continents-and-the-Seven-Seas networks, there will be autocatalytic evolution. Until then, second-language teachers are supposed to catalyze students to gain the-Six-Continents-and-the-Seven-Seas networks.

The Six Continents and Seven Seas Project for Youth

“And if those rules were then changed even slightly, they might produce a radically different plant, thus illustrating how easy it is for evolution to make large leaps in outward appearances by making only tiny changes in the course of development.” (M. Mitchell Waldrop, “Complexity”, 1992, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York, p.280) As only a tiny difference in DNA leads to a large differentiation, the youth's adding foreign friends abroad on Facebook intentionally or on purpose may change “the structure and evolution of social networks in real time.” (ibid., p.363)

My Farewell Greeting in Sumiyoshi Senior High School

Ladies and gentlemen, as I leave Sumiyoshi High School, here I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my colleague English teachers first, for their understanding and cooperation during these 4 years. Thank you. Secondly, I would like to leave some advice to our dear students. Sumiyoshi High School has varieties of unique English classes both for Science Course students and those in International Course. In these classes, you can enhance your presentation ability in English. In today's world, English proficiency is a must. When I was net-surfing, I found a copy which said, “No English; no jobs.” Absolutely. Finding a job without English proficiency is getting harder and harder today. So, you have to study English for your career's sake. But mastering English is not only for your interest, but it also serves to the world. Even today, many people still “communicate” with their weapons. Bulletes are their words, and rocket bombs are their essays. As the matter of course, more and more bullets and rocket bombs are killing more and more people in the course of this kind of "communication." We should stop this kind of “communication” right away, and start communicating with LANGUAGE. When we communicate with language, however harsh their words may sound, and however unreasonable their contents may read, nobody will die of it. Thus, we have to try to communicate with language instead of fighting. In the last graduation ceremony, one student said, “Our dream is deeply rooted in Sumiyoshi's dream.” Absolutely. Your develop meant as a human is deeply rooted in Sumiyoshi Senior High School. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” It is certain that you are making a part of Sumiyoshi, but Sumiyoshi is making you, too. With this in your mind, with the gratitude to Sumiyoshi in your mind, please study hard, and you can do anything. Thank you.

Land Battles & Naval Battles

What did Toyotomi Hideyoshi (here I sometimes use the surname even when I mention him before he was awarded the surname the Imperial Court in the 14th year of Tensho, 1586) think of the pirates society which even influence the movements of the war lords in Western Japan? He was born in Owari (a part of today’s Aichi Prefecture), and experienced only the societies in Eastern Japan. That must have limited his ability to organize pirates in the Inland Sea. They fought land battles in Eastern Japan essentially, while navies were indispensable in Western Japan. In the West, castles used to be located by rivers, lakes, or the sea. Even when he managed to capture a castle in a day battle, he lost the castle to his enemy pirates’ night attack in some cases. I pay attention to Buke Mandai Santo Kaizoku-ke Ikusa Nikki (The Diary of Militant Generations of Pirate Families in Three Islands), which was written by Mishina Heiemon, a vassal of Ogasawara Tadasane, the lord of Kokura Domain in Buzen in the third year of Kanbun, 1663. The book describes the navy, Kawanouchi People, who were led by Kodama Narikata, a vassal of Mori Clan, from the Age of Provincial Wars till Shoku-Ho Period (the abbreviation of Oda and Toyotomi Period). The book has as many as 50 articles of Kawachi Keigo Oboegaki (Kawanouchi’s Memoranda of Guarding), one of the articles is a rule in marching: 1. When Mori Army marches on land, Kawauchi People should sail on the sea. We divide a fleet of 250 into 5 groups. Following the schedule, and adapting our progress to that of the army, we sail for 12-20km. According to the order, we have contacts with the army. As army progresses 20km a day while navy progresses 60km a day, we have three days of time. When the nave and the army have contacts, the army use fire on a hill which faces the sea. And then we send a boat to get information. This is a detailed rule in Mori Army/Navy that the army and the navy should progress simultaneously. The simultaneous progress of the army and the navy could be dated back to the Age of Provincial Wars, and that seems unique in the Inland Sea Area. Not to mention Hideyoshi, even his lord Oda Nobunaga didn’t have his own naval organization, which could be called Owari Navy. Nobunaga forced Kuki Clan, a pirate war lord in Shima, to obey him, but Hideyoshi had no authority to command them to fight in the Inland Sea. He had to maneuver pirates in the Inland Sea by his own.

The Survival of Pirate War Lords

Hideyoshi came into contact with the Inland Sea Pirate Society as late as 1577, the fifth year of Tensho, when he was ordered to conquer Harima by his lord Oda Nopbunaga. Since then, he kept being committed in the area. He made series of expeditions to Western countries, and attacked Saika in Kii, Shikoku, and Kyushu between the thirteenth and the fifteenth year of Tensho (1585-1587). Farther more, he made dispatched troops to Korea between the twentieth year of Tensho and the third year of Keicho (1592-1598). Through those military operations, he deeply committed himself to the Pirate Society from the time he was a chief servant of Oda Clan till his death after ruling Japan. These days, popular views on Toyotomi regime have tendence to see Hideyoshi’s unification as the result of regional integration by war lords. Even in high schools, they learn that regional torrents toward the integration and unification opened up the road to the national unification by Hideyoshi and enabled him to maneuver the unification sometimes even without military operations. I have been against the view for years. I would rather like to pay attention to the way pirate war lords, such as Kono Clan and Mori Clan, made critical decisions to face the unprecedented crises after years of combats and diplomatic negotiations against Hideyoshi. The pirate war lords who respected authority in Muromatchi period, such as Ashikaga Shogunate and guardian lords in each country. Hideyoshi, meanwhile, advocated to take over Nobunaga’s reform. The both sides had such different outlook on the nation. History is always woven with those kinds of rivalries. The national unification Hideyoshi pursued after taking over Nobunaga’s lines involved developing capable bureaucrats with the new sense of values in the new era, and excluding the incapable bloodline elites from Muromachi period. That was the same with the process of assuming control over the Inland Sea Pirates Society. I am arguing as follows: First, to describe the Inland Sea Pirates Society from various points of view. Second, to reveal the fact how shrewdly and cannily Hideyoshi maneuvered the vassals of pirate war lords mainly during Nobunaga’s last years. Third, to follow the process of the power shift from Kono Clan to Mori Clan in the Inland Sea Pirates Society during and after the end of the Age of Provincial Wars. Forth, to point out the relationship between Toyotomi Regime’s so-called “prohibitions against pirates”, which were ordered several times covering larger territories each time, and Kono Clan’s extinction and Mori Clan’s succeeding reorganization of Murakami Clans. Fifth, to see the birth of the early modern nation from the maritime point of view by paying attention to Ieyasu’s establishing surveillance network against pirates.

Pirate War Lords during the Age of Provincial Wars

I pay attention to Kono Clan, especially Kono Michinao (? – 1587), who was the last head of the clan. Kono Clan was a major pirate war lord, but sank into obscurity in the history in the shadow of Mori Clan, one of the most powerful war lords. Let me introduce Kono Clan’s profile. Some of successive heads of the clan at the time were invalid or short-lived (Michinao, for example, is said to have died at the age of 24), and the clan was having power games for its headship. As a result, even local scholars have regarded the clan as a minor small and weak war lord. However, after all, Kono Clan was a medieval distinguished family who ruled Iyo. Kono Clan’s hongan (the surname’s place) was Kono, Kazahaya Couty, Iyo Country (today’s Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture). The clan produced Kono Michinobu, who played an important role in Gen-Pei Battle (battles between Minamoto Clan and Taira Clan), and who also was a grandfather of Ippen Chishin, a founder of the Ji Sect; also Kono Michiari, who was reputed as a brave during the attack by Yuan Dynasty; and etc. In Chugoku and Shikoku areas, Kono Clan was the only guardian lord who could maintain their territory even after Ouchi Clan in Suo was ruined. Moreover, in the end of the Age of Provincial Wars, Kono Clan organized powerful pirate clans such as Murakami Clan and Kurushima Clan as senior vassals, ruled Iyo country, and had power over the Inland Sea areas. Kono Clan’s distinguished character can be proved with the fact that they were given such high-ranking honors. For instance, the heads of Kono Clan during the Age of Provincial Wars were allowed to use the yakata title. The title was permitted to those such as Ashikaga Clan, who were treated as highly as guardian lords, clans who had been guardian clans for generations and who could attain important positions in the shogunate, and clans who rendered distinguished service to the shogunate. They also joined in shoban-shu, a member of suite or retinue, a second-high position next to shogun aide who can attend a banquet in shogun’s palace and who can accompany shogun when he visited other families. They were also given a public position, sakyo-no-daibu, equal to sishiki-ke who provided a chief officer in judicature /prosecution/police. Recent studies have shed light on the fact that Muromachi Shogunate’s honoring hierarchy deeply penetrated into local samurai societies, and was meaningful for war lords in justifying their authority in the Age of Provincial Wars. Kono Clan’s social status and authority were very high compared with those of Chosokabe Clan, who were at war with Kono Clan. Let me introduce Kono Clan in Mino, today’s Gifu. Inaba Yoshimichi, who had another name Iyo-no-kami Ittetsu and whose son, Sadamichi made the first lord of Usuki Domain in Bungo (a part of today’s Oita); Hitotsuyanagi Naosue (the lord of Karuminishi Castle in Mino) and Hitotsuyanagi Naomori (the first lord of Saijo Domain in Iyo); and some other powerful lords of manors in Mino were in search of their roots in Kono Clan, a noble family. Recently, Kono Clan in Kai (today’s Yamanishi) was brought to light, who were descendants of Kono Clan’s branch family, Yoshu Family, moved to Kai, served Takeda Clan, and made a direct retainer of Tokugawa Shogun. As our studies progress, the expansion of the clan will be revealed. Recent excavations show that Kono Clan’s main castle, Yuduki-jo Castle, was an advanced castle on a low hill surrounded in a plain with massive-scale inner moat, outer moat, and earthen ramparts. I was shocked when I made a field trip to Yuduki-jo Castle to find the remnants of its large-scale citadel excavated and repaired, and to observe a large quantity of relics including high-quality imported ceramics with a markedly international character. I realized that the image of Kono Clan, which had been built hitherto on surviving texts, and which is hence much biased, should be eradicated. It is also important that Yuduki-jo Castle’s surrounding areas attracted travelers and pilgrims nationwide. Its castle town, Dogo, has a nationwide famous hot spring, and has many well-known religious institutions, such as Ishite-ji Temple, which is connected to Kono Clan and the 51st of the 88 Kwannon Temples in Shikoku; Hogon-ji Temple, where Ippen Shonin, the founder of Ji-shu Sect of Buddhism, was born; and Isaniwa Shrine, which is one of the oldest shrines that were listed in a law enforced in 967, and which was removed due to the construction of Yuduki-jo Castle.

Cannot See the Wood for the Trees

The area of study on the history of pirates has accumulated a number of profound researches after Meiji Era. These years, Amino Yoshihiko argued “Sea Faring People,” and Katsumata Shizuo alleged “Samurai without their Lord.” Their arguments were widely noticed, but, after them, it seems that researches have been heavily inclined toward those to investigate specific conditions. For instance, inquiring into the difference between the sea world and the land world is rather unproductive. In the Inland Sea, the sea and the land are tightly connected, and some pirates worked as local magistrates. The sea was a highway anyone could use. The Inland Sea is a main artery, and the surrounding coastal areas of Chugoku and Shikoku should be recognized as a closely related region. I am going to describe the activities of pirates in this region. Of course, there used to be active pirates in Kyushu, Kumano, Shima, Chita, and etc., and some war lords organized pirates as their navy in those regions, other than in the Inland Sea. Here I concentrate on the pirate society in the Inland Sea because when Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and/or Ieyasu, war lord heroes, were going to unify the nation, organizing the pirates in the Inland Sea became of critical importance. Pirates integrated the coastal areas along the Inland Sea reducing frictions there. As the large part of the Western Inland Sea is included in Iyo, influential pirates such as Murakami clan regarded Kono clan, Iyo’s guardian, as their lord, and they were regarded as such even Mori Motonari wrote, “This time we send troops to Iyo in return, because Mori Takamoto and all of us were saved by Kurushima clan.” (Mori clan’s archives) He recognized that his clan’s victory over Sue clan in the Battle of Itsuku-shima Island in the 24th year of Tenbun, in 1555, owed to Kurushima clan’s support, who was one of the main vassals of Kono clan. That was why Mori clan sent troops to Iyo to help Kono clan in return. Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki smashed Nobunaga’s navy in the Battle of Kidu-gawa estuary, and successfully sent in provisions into Osaka Hongan-ji Temple in the 4th year of Tensho (in 1576). He gave thanks to Kono Michinao for Murakami Clan’s participating in the battle. Kono Clan used to be regarded as the top of pirates’ hierarchy during the Age of Provincial Wars. That kind of recognition was still seen even during Tensho years. The history of pirates has been studied by investigating the conditions of powerful pirate clans, such as Murakami Clan, during the Age of Provincial Wars, when their were most active. I it more important that Kono Clan and their distant relative, Mori Clan (practically Kobayakawa Takakage) were the pirates war lords, or public authorities who ruled the Inland Sea at the end of the Age of Provincial Wars. To make contrast with those war lords in East Japan who mainly fight land battles, I use the concept “pirate war lord”. The reason is that those pirate war lords were maintaining their domains by securing the mastery of the sea exploiting their pirates’ high maneuverability and well-honed mercenary wits. For instance, Kono Michinao could defend their country against the relentless attack by Chosokabe Motochika, a war lord in Tosa, thanks to their navy’s superiority. Would-be national leaders who were conquering West countries were inevitably to organize their own navy. For example, Kuki Yoshitaka entered wars under Nobunaga: first against Ise-Nagashima Uprising by the True Pure Land sect in the second year of Tensho (in 1574), second in another battle of Kidu-gawa estuary in the 6th year of Tensho (in 1578), third against the Hanakuma Castle in Settsu in the 8th year of Tensho (in 1580), and etc. He established himself as a pirate war lord serving under Nobunaga. Under Toyotomi regime, Kono Clan was ruined, and Murakami Clan was moved to Kyushu. Toyotomi’s war lords occupied Iyo and Awaji, and organized local pirates as their navies, which were sent to Korea. Those war lords included Todo Takatora, Kato Yoshiaki, and Wakisaka Yasuharu. At this stage of pirates’ history, utilizing big battle ships with cannons and lots of matchlock guns, which used to be called atake-bune in Japanese, and financing the armaments have become more indispensable than each pirate’s combat power. The end of pirates lords’ high days, when they sailed their sekibune or kohaya (Japanese small boats) tactically to enemy ships and burned them down with horoku-bi-ya, a kind of incendiary shells, had come. Some vassals of Murakami Clan left service to the clan, and served Toyotomi’s clans. However, Kuki Clan, with their building techniques of bottle ships, atake-bune, was taken into national leaders’ confidence. Some historians call Murakani Takeyoshi “a war lord on the sea”, “a pirate war lord”, or even “a unified regime on the sea”, who extended his power even over the East Inland Sea, but that is overestimation. Although Murakami Clan enjoyed independency, they placed themselves as Kono Clan’s senior vassal. They didn’t dream of acquiring a status to work under shogun or national leader’s direct orders. Preceding studies have analyzed each pirate, but didn’t research pirates’ power politics in coastal areas of Chugoku and Shikoku influenced by the behaviors of pirate war lords. They couldn’t see the wood for the trees.

Complexity in Education (3)

Educational scene is a complex mixture of positive and negative feedbacks, as each teacher tries to align her/his spin in parallel with certain of her/his neghbors and opposite to all the rest. Each teacher will always have to endure a certain amount of frustration at having to align with neighbors that she/he doesn't want to be aligned with, but, by the same token, there are a vast number of ways to arrange the spins so that the frustration is reasonably tolerable for everyone---a situation describe as “local equilibrium.”

Complexity in Education (2)

I have earned my own right in my own guts to think what I want to think. Having gone through language school, having become a teacher, having home-room-teachered more than 900 students, having interviewed their parents, having held 8 commencements, having conducted almost all kinds of division duties, having coached playing tennis, having taken care of other sports clubs, having accompanied players to many games and matches, having taken part in various trainings, and having learned how to give various types of lessons, this, that, and the other things, I have earned my own right to do what I want to do. I now trust myself as an educationist.

Complexity in Education

How can we make an education an autocatalytic set, so that the the education grows steadily? The answer may lie in the existence of a catalyst. The key understanding to reach the answer is an education's collective behavior. They need certain kind of metabolism to form a more complex compounds of the set, that is to grow or develop. When there are plural autocatalystic sets, which set(s) will flourish? Flourishing sets should be those which are more robust to environmental changes or those contain more efficient catalysts and more elaborate reactions or those contain complex and sophisticated members. And above all, they need member supply. Though cramming-oriented usually lack complex and sophisticated members, they are robust, after all, and have plenty of member supply. They might gain some elaborate reactions with a couple of more efficient catalysts. As educational innovations result from new combinations of old technologies, the number of possible innovations will go up very rapidly as more and more technologies become available. Once they get beyond a certain threshold of complexity they can expect a kind of phase transition, but below that level of complexity they find education dependent upon just just a few major industries, and their education tend to be fragile and stagnant. In that case, it wouldn't matter how much investment got poured into the education. But if an education ever manages to diversify and increase its complexity above the critical point, then they can undergo an explosive increase in growth and innovation.

What Pirates Are

I saw the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. As it was popular, the cinema was full of children with their parents. I thought, however, few of them knew the essential difference between those pirates on the screen and those who used to be called Wokou (Japanese pirates in 13-16 centuries). Japanese pirates boarded on smaller fast boats, which used to be called sekibune, hayafune, or kohaya in Japanese those days, rather than on Tall ships. In addition, above all, they were not the objects of punishment like those on the screens who were chased by governments’ fleets, arrested, and hung. I’d like to note 2 public characters the Japanese pirates had on this issue. 1) They controlled various checkpoints in important ports, which used to be called fudaura in Japanese, along the sea, rivers, and lakes. They collected some taxes, such as sekiyaku (checkpoint fees), uwanoriryo (on-board fees), and as such. 2) They were navies who handle war boats skillfully, and sometimes took part in armies of feudal lords or war lords. In this sense, they are called sui-gun (navy) technically in Japanese. As for 1), pirates put up some checkpoints forcibly in the medieval period, but they were sanctioned overtly in their society. Levying checkpoint fees and on-board fees were claimed rightfully. The matter, however, impressed sea travelers absurdly since the pirates the travelers happened to encounter in the sea called themselves seki or sekimori, checkpoints or keepers of the checkpoints, and demanded fees forcibly. There were several kinds of fees checkpoints levied. Hobetsusen, a sail tax, was imposed according to how big each ship was. Dabetsusen, a freight tax, was imposed on goods. Uwanoriryo, an on-board fee, was imposed as a piloting fee. Uwanori, to board on, means to hire a pirate to board on a ship, and that saved the ship from being attacked by his fellow pirates. In the 27th year of Oei, in 1420, a Korean ambassador, Song Huikyeong, came to Japan as a return call for an envoy sent by the then shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimochi. He kept a diary, Roshodo Nihon Koroku, and wrote, “We hired Tozoku, pirates in the East Inland Sea, near Kamogari (today’s Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture) so as not to be attacked by Saizoku, pirates in the West Inland Sea.” That clearly shows they had uwanori system already at the time. As time comes down, the system became an official one in the Inland Sea, which was utilized even by war lords. As for 2), I’d like to emphasize one point. The word pirates sounds as if they had acted in a free and hard-boiled manner as mercenaries on the sea. They were, on the contrary, respectable warriors on the sea, who rallied round to answer the call-outs by shogun Ashikaga or war lords to get a fief or a local magistrate job. In that sense, they should never be regarded as unlawful people.

Crowdsourcing and Students' International Communication

Crowdsourcing might be an efficient and productive procedure to start and maintain a certain type of international communication among high school students. International communication among high school students needs international communication among high school teachers as its precondition. As those teachers are hardly organized internationally, an organized procedure to start communication is very difficult, unless we are to depend on those international entities such as UNICEF or UNESCO. Crowdsourcing procedure starts with “an open call” from someone, in this case, some teacher. As far as teachers are networked, and if the open call is relevant and interesting enough, the call will create a certain stir among teachers, and consequently among students. The question is who will throw an open call first. The answer is “Nobody knows.” We have varieties of cultures. Our interests may be generated or controlled by varieties of bureaucracies we have. Each of us should throw a call, and someone will throw a fluke.

"Third World America" or Third World in America?

I have read through Third World America (Arianna Huffington), which describes the details of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in the American society. The gap is widening, the author argues, because of the massive loss of the middle class there. The gap is deepening because of the fall of their middle class into poverty. The situation the fallen middle class face there, is devastating. The first 4 chapters, accordingly, sound very pessimistic and grave. A businessman was, for example, laid off. He joined “a number of LinkedIn groups”, used Twitter, “which he discovered can be a powerful jobsearching tool,” and did countless other digital efforts only to be “still looking for a job.” In the 5th chapter, however,the tone changes dramatically. The author talks positively about legislatures and community NPOs to suggest solutions. Here, even those digital efforts read promising. I wonder, if they can work, why they haven't worked. The contrast between the pesimism in the 4 chapters and the optimism in the last one seems to me to imply the depth of crisis itself. After World War II, western developed countries came to import various second-industry goods from developing countries then. As a result, some developing countries, including Japan for example, have become or ar becoming developed countries. During the process, those western countries “exported” second-industry jobs in other words. The export has led to the large-scale loss of their middle class, especially after the fail of their third industry. Is America becoming Third World? I don't think so. By exporting their middle class jobs, they have imported not only low-wage jobs, but also unemployment and underemployment. That is, they have imported Third World in return. Today, as the result of globalization, every developed country is going to have its Third World in itself. If we should narrow the gap between haves and have-nots, we should materialize the policy worldwide, avoiding conflicts among global have-nots.

Those with their cellular phones in their hand on trains are trying to “pull even.”

“Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, found that there is a direct connection between the duration of a person's commute and their sense of social isolation. By his calculations, every ten minutes of commuting results in 10 precent fewer social connections.” (Arianna Huffington, Third World America, p.104) I commute for one hour each way. That means I have 120% “fewer social connections.” “A study by Swiss economists at the University of Zurich discovered that commuters with a one-hour commute each way need to earn 40 percent more than noncommuters just to pull even with the noncommuters' level of satisfaction with their lives.” (ibid., p.104)

International Communication Education

Communication needs an expressionist on one end and audience on the other, since monologue cannot be called communication. Expressionists send their messages out. If nobody else audits the message, there is no communication but monologue. If audience audit the message, there comes communication for the first time. Thus, if communication is to exist, there should be both an expressionist and her/his audience. International Communication is, of course, a kind of communication, and thus needs expressionists and audience. International Communication Education, a crucial part of International Education, is, therefore, an education which develop both expressionists and audience across borders. Let me examine how International Communication takes place. Expressionists express their ideas or their facts they have found usually in their second languages. Here we need an education to develop expressionist-ship in our students. Audience, off course, audit what expressionists have expressed usually in their second languages, but, to audit, the audience have to find the expressions. That is, they have to subscribe to the expressions. Therefore, we have to develop audience-ship, which includes subscriber-ship, in our students. By developing both transnational expressionist-ship and transnational audience-ship in our students, we can have transnational communication. Plural transnational communications will finally make up International Communication.