Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (2) ——The Trials and Errors by the Kamakura Shogunate (1)——

Even after the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate in 1185, central noble clans such as Saionji, a branch clan of Fujiwara’s, kept attempting to profit from the sea people around the Seto Inland Sea as a provincial governor or as a lord of manors. Meanwhile, the sea people had to face new land forces, the shogunate itself (or Hojo Clan particularly, who dominated the shogunate as regents) and the eastern samurais sent by the shogunate. Hojo Clan showed a great interest in the Seto Inland Sea areas, and consistently attempted to suppress pirates there. The suppression, however, was hardly effectual. That was partly because those who were supposed to suppress pirates, namely provincial commander samurais and manorial steward samurais, were colluding with pirates. The commander and steward samurais were groping for the way to control sea people, and the shogunate could hardly perceive what were happening at the bottom of the societies around the Seto Inland Sea.