The Ouchi Clan and their Smuggling (9)

     In the 10th mission to Ming, which left Japan in 1451 and reached Beijing in 1453, Ouchi Norihiro (1420-1465) colluded with the Hakata merchants.  Hakata used to be the outer harbor of Dazai-fu, the Kyushu regional government which had civil, military, and diplomatic functions.  In the course of the subjugation of Northern Kyushu by the Ouchi Clan, the Hakata town was burned down, and the new governor, the Ouchi Clan, and the Hakata merchants were much in need of the reconstruction money.  Norihiro and the merchants owned officially Mission Ship No.7, and also practically No.4, which was nominally managed in the name of Shibukawa Norinao (1422-1479), a Kyushu Tandai, a Kyushu regional guardian samurai corresponding to Dazai-fu.

     The 11th mission to Ming, which arrived at Beijing in 1468, had 3 ships.  Mission Ship No.1 was owned by the shogunate, No.2 by the Hosokawa Clan, and No.3 by the Ouchi Clan.  Although No.1 was owned in the name of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490), the eighth shogun, Ouchi Masahiro (1446-1495), who had succeeded Norihiro, practically managed to raise the money for the equipment expenses of the ship.  The Ouchi Clan overwhelmed the Hosokawa Clan by 2-1.  The overwhelming ownership provoked a sense of crisis among central powerful families and big temples, and the Hosokawa Clan succeeded in ousting the Ouchi Clan from the next 3 missions to Ming: the 12th, which arrived at Beijing in 1477; the 13th, in 1484; and the 14th, in 1495.

     And then Ouchi Yoshioki (1477-1528) succeeded Masahiro in 1495.  By that time, the 10th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshitane (1466-1523) had been exiled by Hosokawa Masamoto (1466-1507) and was replaced with Yoshizumi (1480-1511).  After Masamoto was assassinated by one of his adopted sons, Yoshitane returned to shogun in 1511 with Yoshioki’s military support.