Sulfur, One of the Most Important Smuggled Goods (2)

     Let me show a couple of other examples of trading sulfur.  In 1465, the Otomo and Shimazu Clans offered 24 tons of sulfur for the mission to Ming in 1468.  The managers of the Muromachi Shogunate received the sulfur at Moji and Hakata.  6 tons of the sulfur was to be offered to Chenghua Emperor (1447-1487, reigning 1464-1487), and the other 18tons was to be sold in Ming.

     For the mission to Ming in 1484, Ashikaga Yoshihisa (1465-1489, reigning 1473-1489) wrote a letter to Otomo Masachika (1444-1496), ordering to offer sulfur as usual, and, as a messenger, dispatched Chen Zutian (?-?), a great grandchild of Chen Zongjing (1322-1395), a doctor under the Yuan Dynasty who came into exile in Chikuzen Province, Japan, after the collapse of the dynasty in 1368.  Each generation head of the Chen Family called themselves Chen Wuiro.  A Japanese sweet, uiro, was named after them.