The Matsura Clan and their Smuggling (2)

     The Matsura Clan started as the Matsura People, as the Murakami Clan started as the Murakami People.  The Matsura people were sea people, and later became sea samurais, or pirates in short.  In the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, they fought for the Taira Clan.  They fought against the Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 for the Kamakura Shogunate.  Under the Muromachi Shogunate, they worked as escorts for missions to Ming.  In the latter half of the 15th century, one family became more powerful than others, and formed the Matsura Clan.  In the 16th century, the Hirado Family, one of the branch families of the Matsura Clan, became powerful.  When the family was riding the boom, Takanobu (1529-1599) succeeded the headship of the family in 1543.  In 1565, he forced the head family of the Matsura Clan to adopt his third son, practically took over the Matsura Clan, and called himself Matsura Takanobu.  In 1568, his eldest son, Shigenobu (1549-1599), succeeded the headship of the clan.

     The Hirado Family became powerful through trading with foreign countries, or through smuggling from the official point of the view of the central government.

     In 1550, a Portuguese ship first visited Hirado.  From 1553, one or two Portuguese ships came to Hirado annually.  That brought prosperity to Hirado, but Takanobu didn’t like their missionary work.  Under the tension, the captain and 13 other crews of a Portuguese ship were killed in 1561, and Portuguese merchants moved to Nagasaki.

     In 1609, 2 Dutch ships visited Hirado, and opened a trading house, although it moved to Dejima, Nagasaki, in 1641.

     In 1613, an English ship came to Hirado, and set up a trading house, which was closed in 1623 because of their poor trading performance.

     Anyway, Hirado enjoyed its prosperity through trading, or smuggling, with western countries for more than half a century.  But what about trading, or smuggling, with Asian countries?