The Transformation of Pirates at the End of the Ancient Japan (2)

Who were those who tried to control water transportation along the Seto Inland Sea instead of just attacking boats and warehouses? Unluckily enough, it was not sea people themselves but local powerful families whom salt makers wanted to sue in a Chinese poem on the poor composed by Sugawara Michizane that led the transformation process of piracy at the end of Ancient Japan. Each of these local powerful families had its own estate and combatant followers. They often “donated” their estate to a central noble clan or a big temple to ask for their legal and/or unlawful protection against a provincial government or other local powerful families. Some of the powerful families stationed their relatives in the Heian-kyo Capital to ingratiate themselves with central nobles and to get some more useful information. Some were working to keep the peace over their county, and became samurais later in Japanese history. As Fujiwara Yasunori suggested, those powerful families did piracy rather to get richer than as a result of poverty or social unrest. In the 12th century, at the end of Ancient Japan, Taira Clan, a central military noble clan, which used to be despised by central civil noble clans, got interested in exploiting the water transportation along the Seto Inland Sea, especially in monopolizing the trade with Song, the first dynasty who unified China after Tang, and tried placing the sea under their sphere of influence. For Taira Clan, those who didn’t acquiesce to their demands and orders were pirates. For the locals, however, Taira Clan must have been pirates. Taira Clan overawed local powerful families along the Seto Inland Sea with their own force. That means they shut the door to the Ancient Japan Establishment, and prepared the country to open up another door to its medieval times, when those who could control local powerful families or samurais came to enjoy the hegemony and supremacy in Japan.

The Transformation of Pirates at the End of the Ancient Japan (1)

The sea had islands and peninsulas. It had shoals and currents. It had morning and evening clams with different winds between them, as well as seasonal winds. The sea was a route for some people to transport goods; while it was a life place for those who fished, dived, and gathered marine products. Those who lived around the sea, sea people let me call them, might have designs on those goods in their bad times. In the 9th and 10th centuries, when the control by the central government weakened, some members of powerful clans and families led those sea people and did piracy as a part of their power games. Conflicts between a provincial governor, who represented the central government in the province, and county chiefs, who were members of local powerful families, sometimes brought about attacks on the provincial office, and the attacks were defined as piracy by the central government. Fujiwara Sumitomo, the first pirate king, was one example of those leaders. They robbed boats of the goods. They looted tax rice from bonded warehouses. As a result, they interfered the transportation to the Heian-kyo Capita. In the 11th century, after the failure of Fujiwara Sumitomo’s Rebellion, however, they realized they could benefit more from controlling water transportation rather than from simply interfering it.

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (10) —The Tenth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To a woodman winter comes faster He can’t tell when to retire And always carries heavy lumber Clouds and rocks he heads bitterly And returns to a poor hut with a small window Beaten down, he can hardly support his family His wife and children often starve and fall sick

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (9) —The Ninth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To salt makers winter comes faster Boiling sea water is easy for them to handle Smoking themselves, however, is what they should dare Dry weather lowers salt prices Dry climate, however, supports their trade Wishing to sue violent powerful families at heart They often just bow to officials at sea ports

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (8) —The Eighth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To fishermen winter comes faster Not able to harvest crops on land They age alone on a lonely boat Dreading fish lines may snap They put bait to scarcely support their life Selling fishes to cover taxes They’re always concerned about winds and skies

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (7) —The Seventh of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To hired rowers winter comes faster They don’t know how to farm And are hired as a day laborer They have little land to farm And row only to be poorer They don’t mind winds and waves But only hope to be hired everyday

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (6) —The Sixth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To horse drivers winter comes faster Days go by without eating Years are spent sending passengers Thin clothes let winds cause colds Quitting jobs just makes them poorer Skinny horses unwillingly make a journey The drivers themselves often get whipped

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (5) —The Fifth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To herb gardeners winter comes faster They tell good seeds from bad seeds That is their taxes as laborers They know when to gather herbs Yet can’t cure themselves of their sick poverty If the herbs lack a blade or a root They can hardly stand lashes

To Whom Winter Comes Faster? (4) —The Forth of 10 Chinese Poems on the Poor composed in the winter of 886 by Sugawara Michizane, the then Sanuki Province Governor—

To whom winter comes faster? To an orphan man winter comes faster He only hears about his father and mother Yet he can’t escape paying taxes and laboring Scanty clothes are too thin for winter Poor food can hardly support a day Every time he suffers from winds and frosts He thinks of his parents at night endlessly