Japanese Pirates in the Beginning of the Heian Period [1-3]

Rice and regional goods, such as salt, were indispensable for people’s daily life, but bulky. Weren’t there anything more valuable and handy? There could have been! In 866, some Tang people, Chinese people in today’s sense, were reported to have come all the way to Kyoto with no pass issued in Dazai-fu. There could have been more Tang people with passes. They used to be called trading visitors. What were they trading then? It is worthwhile to notice that in 874, a document tells us, Okami Mii, an officer in Iyo, and Taji Yasue, another officer in Bungo, were officially sent to Tang to purchase incense and medicine there. Another document tells us that at least Taji came back to Japan on board Tang trader’s ship in 877. Diplomatic relations with Shinra had been broken off in 779, and Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty had been stopped in 810. Yet, noblemen’s need for advanced and sophisticated foreign-imported goods was neither broken off nor stopped. The end of official exchange of ministers might have rather encouraged private trading.