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.