Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (16) ——Fair and Even Cuts for and among Pirates (1)——

     The powerful sea families in the Western Seto Inland Sea, who would later compose Murakami Clan, were not only looking for a solution to the pirate dilemmas by forming a network among pirates, but also groping their way to rake off fair and even profits from trading ships.  The way should look fair to the authorities, if not to the trading ships, and should seem somewhat even among pirates. In 1340, Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358), the first shogun of Muromachi Shogunate, ordered Kumano sea people to guard trading boats which sailed between Kaminoseki in Suo Province, one of the westernmost ports of the Seto Inland Sea, and Amagasaki in Settsu Province, one of the easternmost ones. In return, he allowed them to levy guarding charges at Hyogo Island, about 1 mile west of Amagasaki. This made a good example for charging fair cuts; “guarding charge”. By the end of the Warring State Period in the 16th century, Murakami Clan came to put up and control various checkpoints in important ports, which used to be called fudaura in Japanese, and straits along the Western Seto Inland Sea. They collected some taxes, such as sekiyaku (checkpoint fees), uwanori-ryo (on-board fees), and as such. They called themselves seki or sekimori themselves, checkpoints or keepers of the checkpoints, and demanded fees forcibly and rightfully. However absurd it looked to sea travelers, that was sanctioned overtly in the medieval sea societies, and, above all, they had enough military power and maritime skillfulness over passing and making good use of sea rapids to impose the situation on the travelers. There were several kinds of checkpoint fees they levied: Ho-betsu-sen, a sail tax, was imposed according to how big each ship was. Da-betsu-sen, a freight tax, was imposed on goods. Uwanori-ryo, an on-board fee, was imposed as a piloting fee. Uwanori, to board on, means to hire a pirate to board on a ship, and that saved the ship from being attacked by his fellow pirates. Now, they found a solution to pirate dilemmas, and the very existence of other pirates became the foundation to claim guarding charges. Their networking worked.