Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (12) ——The Rise of Sea People (3)——

Kumano sea people entered Jisho-Juei War (1180-1185) on the Minamoto side, one of the two major military noble clans at the time. The war broke out at the end of Ancient Japan and led to the fall of Taira Clan, the other major military noble clan. The sea people had started their organized “labor” much earlier, and appeared on the sea between Kii Province and Shikoku Island as pirates, stretching their action even into the eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea. Kumano sea people were militarily active even 2 centuries after the war. They not only sent Wakiya Yoshisuke (1307-1342), a western general of Southern Court, to Iyo Province in 1342, where and when he died at the age of 38, with the support by the sea people of Nushima Island in Awaji Province and those of Kojima Island in Bizen Province, but also shipped Prince Kanenaga (?-1383) to Kyushu Island in the same year, teaming up with Kutsuna Clan in Iyo Province. Kanenaga was another western general of Southern Court, and died at the age of 55 or 56 in Kyushu. Kumano sea people actually went into battle for themselves, mobilizing other sea people as well. In 1347, for example, they formed a navy of thousands, invaded deep into Kagoshima Bay, and attacked Tofuku-ji Castle, which Shimazu Clan, who belonged to Northern Court, had captured in 1341. By a curious coincidence, Tofuku-ji Castle had been built in 1053 by Haseba Nagasumi, who claimed to be the fourth descendant from Fujiwara Sumitomo, the first pirate king in Japan.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (11) ——The Rise of Sea People (2)——

Kumano sea people were composed of Koyama Family, Shiozaki Family, Taiji Family, and other families, each of which was based in a certain bay along the southeastern coast of the Kii Peninsula. Yet, they were more or less unified under Kumano Betto. Kumano used to be sacred mountains. Later, three shrines came to be formed in the mountains, and the three came to be recognized as one network of shrines. Kumano Betto was a managerial position which was established as early as in the 9th century and lasted till the 14th century. They practically governed the area under an honorary post, Kumano Kengyo, who usually stayed in the Heian-kyo Capital. Betto not only managed religious establishments and priests, but ran the shrines’ fiefs, and also kept law and order in the area. All the sea people in Kumano were, accordingly, glued together under Kumano Betto’s politico-economic, as well as religious, influence.

Saturday, July 04, 2015

Japanese Pirates’ Medieval Times (10) ——The Rise of Sea People (1)——

In 1340, Ashikaga Takauji, a general who supported Northern Court, ordered Taiji and Shiozaki Clans, who were both based at Kumano in Kii Province, to guard trading boats which sailed between Kaminoseki in Suo Province, the westernmost port of the Seto Inland Sea, and Amagasaki in Settsu Province, the easternmost port. In return, he allowed them to levy guarding charges at Hyogo Island, about 1 mile west of Amagasaki. This was the first appearance of the concept “guarding charge” in a written historical document. In 1342, when Kobayakawa Clan started to move south, Wakiya Yoshisuke, Nitta Yoshisada’s younger brother, was sent to Iyo Province as a western general of Southern Court, and he went west, supported by sea people of Kumano, those of Awaji Province, and those of Kojima in Bizen Province. Both Northern and Southern Courts tried to win over sea people, and the sea people had a good sense of balance.