The Sagara Clan and their Smuggling (4)

     Let me show one example of the Sagara Clan’s trade with Ryukyu.

     On May the 26th, 1542, Engakuji Zenso, a priest diplomat of Ryukyu Kingdom, wrote a letter to Sagara Yoshishige (1489-1546).  According to the letter, Yoshishige had sent a commercial ship to Ryukyu, and had paid various tributes to the king.  The kingdom addressed their thanks to Yoshishige for the rare tributes, charged the sea captain with passing the letter to Yoshishige, and presented back about 70 kilograms of sugar in requital.

     Interestingly enough, the kingdom admitted the ship to be an official ship of the Higo Province, although the Sagara Clan themselves were not the guardian samurai of the province.  Official ships of provinces were excused from paying tariffs.  The fact they recognized the ship as a Japanese official one implies that Yoshishige did not hire Chinese commercial ships, which called at ports in Japan often in those days, but had his own ship.  He quite possibly used Ichiki-maru.

     As things went so well with Ryukyu, it wasn’t so difficult for them to sail westward to Ningbo for about 800 kilometers, after having learned some lessons.  Actually, Sagara Haruhiro (1513-1555), an adopted son of Yoshishige, built another Ichiki-maru in 1554, 3 years after the collapse of the Ouchi Clan.  The ship launching ceremony was held on February the 23rd in the same year.