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.