The Ancient Japanese Good-Family Clans and Piracy (4-2) ——The Fall of Silla Connections (2)——

On September the 7th, 831, the central government issued an order to Dazai-fu, a special regional bureau in Kyushu which handled foreign affairs, over trading with Silla people. They worried that “benighted common people” preferred foreign goods to domestic products and bade to purchase them to raise their prices. Dazai-fu was supposed to select good foreign products first, and then to let common people purchase the rest freely under the supervision of Dazai-fu. However, Funya Miyatamaro conducted one of his private (contraband?) trading with Jang Bogo at the end of the year 840 or the beginning of the year 841, and paid to Jang in advance. According to Shoku Nihon Koki, Jang was assassinated in 841, and Funya failed to get goods he had paid for. After Jowa Incident, Funya Akitsu, the Director General of the Crown Prince Household Agency, was captured, implicated with the Crown Prince Tsunesada, and was sent to Izumo Province. Whether rulings on Funya Akitsu and Funya Miyatamaro were conspiracies by Fujiwara Clan or not, Funya Clan was losing their footing in the ancient Japanese aristocracy. The entry dated December the 29th, 843, in Shoku Nihon Koki writes about Miyatamaro’s case; “Funya Miyatamaro’s treason deserves a death penalty, but will be commuted into exile to Izu Province. Among his 2 sons, Tadamoto, with a government post, should be exiled to Sado Province, and Yasutsune, without a government post, should be sent to Tosa Province. Among his 2 butlers, Wanibe Fukunaga should be exiled to Echigo Province, and Maki Maro to Izumo Province. Shinei, a priest who got implicated, should be exiled to the same place as Maki Maro. Yako Ujio, an informer, will be especially conferred a lowest rank of nobility and be appointed as a lowest officer in Chikuzen Province. It started from his information.” Funya Miyatamaro was, holding arms in his residences in the Heian-kyo Capital and Namba Port, accused of having contrived treason. His possession of those residences along with his office in Chikuzen Province suggests that he had built a network between the Heian-kyo Capital, via Namba Port and the Seto Inland Sea, and Hakata Port. The network might have extended to Silla and beyond through Jang Bogo’s own network. He might have disregarded Dazai-fu’s prior claim and control on imported goods. Above all, his connection with Jang Bogo, a Silla trader with political influence, and with the Crown Prince Tsunesada through his kindred, Akitsu, must have been a menace for Fujiwara Yoshifusa, whose sister, Junsi, was the Emperor Ninmyo’s wife. Yoshifusa might have made the best of the Empror’s love for his son, the Prince Michiyasu, who eventually became the Crown Prince after Jowa Incident. Funya Clan might have had their young members and butlers stationed along the Seto Inland Sea as parts of their marine transport network. What did they, a good-family clan’s subordinate members, do after the fall of Funya Clan? Piracy?