The Ouchi Clan and their Smuggling (11)

     Sakugen Shuryou (1502-1579) was a priest of Myochi-in Temple, a branch temple in Tenryu-ji Temple.  He was a vice-ambassador of the first mission in 1540, and the ambassador of the second one in 1549.  He kept records, and described how they negotiated with Chinese officers, what Japanese delegate members and crews were doing daily, what they experienced while they were sailing north along the Grand Canal, what was the audience with the Emperor in Beijing like, and etc.

     Hereafter, we are going to follow the outline of Sakugen’s story about the mission in 1540.

     Sakugen assumed the vice-ambassadorship of the mission to Ming in 1540, whose ambassador was Koshin Sekitei (1481-1564), in 1537, answering the request by Ouchi Yoshitaka.

     The mission set sail from Naru-shima Island among the Goto Islands on April the 19th, 1539.  On May the 2nd, they encountered Chinese fishers, Wang Qi, Chen Ba, and Zhou Qi, off Wenzhou, communicated with them in writing, and learned, sailing large northward, it would take 5 days to get to Ningbo.  On May the 7th, they arrived off Ningbo, and on the 16th, they were allowed into its outer harbor.  Only then, they were supplied with groceries such as drinking water, chickens, pork, fishes, rice, liquor, and etc.  On the 22nd, they finally got a permission from the Office of Shipping and Trade in the town, left the outer harbor, sailed up along Yong River with Ming’s military ships escorting them, and arrived at Ningbo’s river harbor.

     The mission’s weapons were temporarily impounded in Ningbo while they were staying in China.  On May the 25th, the ambassador, the vice-ambassador, and chief traders were shown to the reception hall.  On June the 8th, the mission’s tributes were inspected by the warden of the Office of Shipping Trade in the region and Ningbo Governor, and landed.