Japanese Pirates in the Beginning of the Heian Period [2-6]

As orders had been repeatedly issued since 862, detailed instructions had been added. The orders and instructions might have worked. After 869, pirate-related articles cannot be found for about a decade. On July 5, 869, in Sanuki, two men and two women were arrested as pirates. An imperial order was issued to execute the men observing laws, while the women were let off exceptionally. The first uprisings of Japanese pirates subsided that way. Did the society around the Seto Inland Sea area go back to peace as it used to be before the pirate disturbances? To answer the question, we should carefully examine the following document dated October the 10th, 883. “An imperial order was given to Bizen Province to spare 20,000 bunches of the governor’s official rice for loans, and to have their interest applied to the pays for 224 anti-pirate soldiers. Previously, the governor had reported the province had many peninsulas and islands where pirates could gather, that neither the officials nor civilians could easily face them down, that the pirates often killed people or looted them of fortune, and that many travelers were harmed. The governor continued to request the permission to select 224 jobless men with guts, to build quarters for them at strategic points, to supply arms and boats to them, and to have them defend in emergency. His request to apply loan interest to the pays was granted.”