The First Uprisings of Japanese Pirates

We can find the term “pirate” in official documents for the first time in 838. As for official documents, I, here, rely on Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku (literally, The True Record of Three Reigns of Japan). Emperor Uda ordered Fujiwara Tokihira, Sugawara Michizane, Okura Yoshiyuki, and Mimune Masahira to compile it, and the history text covers the years from August the 27th, 858 to August the 26th, 887, which corresponds to three imperial reigns: Emperor Seiwa, Emperor Yozei, and Emperor Koko. The compilation was completed in 901. In this essay of mine, years will be shown in the Gregorian calendar, but months and dates in the Japanese historical lunar calendar. On February the 9th, 838, an order was issued to the provincial governors in Kinai Region to severely accuse bandits who openly set fire and killed people. The region surrounds Kyoto, the capital, and includes Yamashiro Province, Yamato Province, Kawachi Province, Settsu Province and Izumi Province. On the next day, February the 10th ( March the 9th in the Gregorian calendar), the provincial governors in Sanyo Region and Nankai Region were ordered to arrest pirates. The order mentioned exactly just pirates excluding bandits, and this is the first appearance of the word “pirate” in official documents in Japan. Two days later, February the 12th, imperial guardsmen were detached around Kyoto to chase and arrest bandits. That implies pirates are only a part of major social unrest, and the central government left it to provincial governors to chase and arrest pirates. After these actions, the central authorities tried to chase and arrest bandits in 849 and in 857, but we can find no order against pirates until 862. Japanese pirates made their major debut on May the 20th, 862. One document says: “These days, pirates frequently form groups, kill and rob travelers of varieties of goods no matter they are government officers or civilians. According to the Bizen provincial government, they were robbed of ‘80 koku’ of tax rice by pirates at last. They were sending the tax rice to Kyoto. They loaded the rice on a boat, and forwarded the boat with pullers tugging it with ropes. They, however, encountered pirates, were robbed of everything, and got 11 of their men killed. The provincial governors of Harima, Bizen, Bicchu, Bingo, Aki, Suo, Nagato, Kii, Awaji, Awa, Sanuki, Iyo, and Tosa were promptly ordered to send their men to chase the pirates.” It is not clear how much rice “80 koku” represented at the time in Japan. In today’s sense, 1 koku = 10 to = 100 sho = 1,000 go, and 1 go of rice weighs about 150 grams. That makes “80 koku” 12 tons. However, metrology differs from a time to another, and from a country to another, say in China. They might have been using a different metrology. I also wonder if they could load 12 tons of rice on a boat in Japan in the 9th century. However, the robbery of that much tax rice must have been such a shocking news that the central government issued an order for chasing and arresting pirates for the first time in the Japanese history. The document also suggests that the number of pirates who had become organized was increasing, and their piracy was becoming more common and persistent. After the year 862, orders for chasing and arresting pirates were issued in 865, in 866, in 867, and in 869 almost in succession. These years is considered to have witnessed the first uprisings of Japanese pirates. On April the 11th, 866, for example, the central government ordered the provincial governors of Settsu, Izumi, Harima, Bizen, Bingo, Aki, Suo, Nagato, Kii, Awaji, Awa, Sanuki, Iyo, and Tosa to chase and arrest pirates, and said, “On May the 20th, 862, and on June the 28th, 865, the documents which tells the provincial governors to chase and arrest pirates were issued. Yet, even today, we hear that groups of pirates are coming about and never stop plundering and looting. This is due to the situation that provincial governors have not worked hard enough to liquidate pirates. If a provincial governor does not investigate and arrest pirates, and leave them committing father atrocities, it will be the governor who will be charged. He cannot be pardoned. The number of those arrested should be reported in a written form.” This document clearly describes that the order issued in 862 was the very start of those for chasing and arresting pirates. It demands to report the number of pirates arrested, and that implies provincial governors had been given authority to decide who were pirates and who were not. We will see how giving this kind of authority actually worked later. The orders issued in 862, in 865, and in 866 didn’t do their works, and the central government issued another in 867, saying, “These years, we have ordered and warned provincial governors to chase and arrest pirates, and to investigate and police wicked and wild people. Yet, we hear ferocious criminals come about, and robberies break out. All the travelers by water and by land are afraid of being attacked. This is really due to the governors’ dereliction of duty to liquidate them. It is legislated to form a joint surety group of 5 households, choose a head of it, and have them watch one another.” The order did not stop here and continued delivering detailed instructions, “In sordid places such as markets, ports, and arterials, maneuvers should be employed, detectives should be placed, bounties should be offered, and pardons should be dangled to leave no place for wicked and wild people to stay.” The contents of this order may imply 2 facts. First, the central government considered vagrancy as a breeding ground of piracy. Second, some provincial governors might have accumulated certain experience on dealing with pirates. The accumulation, in turn, might have made it possible for the central government to share the effective practices. On November the 10th, 867, another instruction was added, and concerned provincial governors were ordered not only to “send their men” but also to “engage captive northern aliens.” In ancient Japan, offering labor was one of the 3 taxes, and the regular army used to be composed of the conscripted manhood. The latter additional instruction, however, allowed those provincial governors to organize captive northern aliens as a kind of foreign mercenary legion besides the regular army. The point is that the provincial governors were allowed to organize semiofficial armies. Let me, however, move north-eastward for a while and explain who captive northern aliens were. In 708, Dewa County was established in Echigo Province, the northernmost province at the time of Japan along the Sea of Japan. The county was, then, promoted to be Dewa Province in 712. Around that time, Dewa Fort was established around at latitude 38 degrees north. In 733, it was reestablished as Akita Castle around at latitude 39 degrees north. Thus, in the 8th century, the ancient Japanese central government invaded northward step by step. In the process, a lot of northern aliens, Emishi, either were captured or surrendered, and some of them were sent to “inland” provinces. It is not clear yet why some of them were sent west-southward into “inland” Japan, but I infer that the policy was operated for economic and military reasons. In ancient time, Japan introduced Chinese and Korean advanced technology by naturalizing those who had evacuated from the continent. This experience might have led the government into the policy of transferring captive northern aliens to every province to introduce their skills to breed horses and to make good use of them especially in battlefields. Northern aliens were said to be better at mounted fights, and their single-edged swords were more effective than double-edged ones which used to be used among inland Japanese soldiers. Emishi’s single-edged swords are said to be prototypes of Japanese medieval swords known as “katana.” In provinces around the Seto Inland Sea, the calculated population of the captive northern aliens were 312 in Harima, 18 in Bizen, 12 in Bicchu, 41 in Sanuki, and 83 in Iyo. The calculation of numbers is based on the livings paid to the aliens by provincial governments, so the numbers should be interpreted households. It is also philologically confirmed that some Emishi were sent to the other provinces in the area too, although we don’t have such documents that will help calculate their numbers. 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 the 5th, 869, in Sanuki Province, 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 societies around the Seto Inland Sea go back to peace as they 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 provincial 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 that 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.” The document arouses some questions. Who were those hobos with guts? Where did they learn how to use arms and maneuver boats in such an archipelago with rapid straits? How had they earned their livings before they were hired as anti-pirate soldiers? The chances are high they had been pirates themselves. What happened then after hiring those ex-pirates as anti-pirate soldiers? Another document dated December the 23rd, 885, shows a typical case. The article says, “Yama Yoshinao and Hata Harusada, both officially hired men in Kamitsumi County, Bizen Province, killed in a fight Sogabe Hidenao, Takerube Akio and others, men in Utari County, Sanuki Province. Sir Minamoto, the lieutenant governor, proclaimed his innocence, so that Yoshinao was hanged as a principal and Harusada received a sentence of three-year penal servitude as an accessory.” This kind of articles suggest violate struggles across provinces became persistent, and even higher-ranked officials sent from the central government could not control those hired for provincial governments. Suffering from heavy taxes, some farmers escaped from their registered land, and became hobos in another province. Some fishers lost their livings and became hobos as powerful families enclosed seashores for salt production and other industrial purposes. Pirate resources were plentiful. Although the first uprises of Japanese pirates seemed to have died down because of the suppression and maneuvers by provincial governments, the ancient societies around the Seto Inland Sea were getting themselves ready to have sea samurais or even pirate lords such as Clan Murakami in medieval Japan.