Japanese Silver Attracted Foreign Smugglers (3)

      Zheng Ruoceng (1503-1570) was born at Kunshan, Jiangsu Province.  He finished writing and composing “Chouhai Tubian” (Maritime Strategy and Charts) in 1561.  It was published in 1562 under the support from Hu Zongxian (1512-1565).  Zheng Shungong’s “Riben Yijian” and Zheng Ruoceng’s “Chouhai Tubian” both aimed for eliminating Wokou.  They were respectively supported by Yang Yi and Hu Zongxian, who were both high officers in southern China.  Yet they could not work together.  They seem to have suspected that others were conspiring with Wokou to gain profits.  Even Hu, who replaced Yang, was later suspected of collusion, was purged, and had to kill himself in jail.  Can Hu Jintao (1942-), a direct descendant of Hu Zongxian and Ex-President of People’s Republic of China, survive today’s purges?

     From song Dynasty on, the dominant class in China had been landed gentries.  Once they passed the Imperial examinations, they could make high-ranking officers of the central government.  There, they played power games to get promoted and to maximize their family profits.  They would retire, once one of their sons passed the Imperial examinations.  They would retreat to their own estate, and concentrate on managing their estate to maximize their family profits.

     One way to maximize their family profits was to patronize and protect smugglers against local authorities.  As the ex-officers of the central government, or as a father of the current officers, the gentries were rich and powerful enough to bribe and scare local authorities into overlooking smugglers.

Japanese Silver Attracted Foreign Smugglers (2)

     According to Zheng Shungong, many Fujian people were sailing to Japan as early as in 1534, hearing from Japanese priests that they could gain massive profits from trading with silver.

     Even Annals of the Joseon Dynasty’s entry dated June the 25th in 1544 recorded the fact that Fujian people were sailing to Japan to trade silver.

     In Japan, a Chinese private trading ship, that is, a smuggling ship, was recorded to have reached Suo Province in 1539.  Later, some others got to Jingu-ji Bay in Bungo Province, Hirado in Hizen Province, Tane-ga-shima Island in Osumi Province, Akune in Satsuma Province, Amakusa in Higo Province, Saiki Bay in Bungo Province, and as far as Ise in Ise Province.  Silver obviously attracted Chinese smugglers.

Japanese Silver Attracted Foreign Smugglers (1)

     Zheng Shungong (?-?) was born in Xin’an District, Guangdong Province, China under Ming Dynasty.  He was sent to Japan by Yang Yi (?-?), the military governor of Zhejiang Province, although he was not an official.  He was heading for Kyoto, but reached Bungo Province by accident, and confined to Ryuho-an Temple, a branch temple of Kaizo-ji Temple in Usuki County.  He was sent back to China in 1558, accompanied by the Otomo Clan’s priest, Seiju, who had studied in Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto.  By the time he returned to China, Yang Yi had been replaced by Hu Zongxian (1512-1565), who had sent Chen Keyuan and Jiang Zhou to Japan in 1556.  The two first visited Goto Islands in Japan, and met Wang Zhi and Mao Haifeng, famous Chinese Wokou chiefs who were based in the island.  Chen returned to Ming to report, but Jiang went to Bungo Province, and stayed there.  He sent his priest messenger to Yamaguchi and admonished Ouchi Yoshinaga (?-1557) to crack down on Wokou.  Otomo Yoshishige (1530-1587), who was ruling Bungo Province at the time and was an elder brother of Yoshinaga, might have been dubious of Zheng, or been more familiar with personnel changes in China, or just found Jiang easier to handle.

     Zheng later wrote and compiled a book of 3 volumes, “Riben Yijian” (A Look at Japan), presumably by the end of 1560’s or the beginning of 1570’s.

For Daimyo Smugglers; It All Started with Silver (7)

     What were those two false missions to Joseon going to purchase for their silver?  It was mainly cotton cloth; high-tech products for Japanese people at the time.  Hemp cloth used to be used even among ordinary noble people in Japan, and silk cloth was just super luxurious, while cotton cloth was rather new products.

     Cotton was introduced to China during Tang or Song Dynasties.  It was in 1364 that cotton was brought to Goryeo, Korea, by Mun Igjeon (1329-1398) against the rules under Yuan Dynasty, China.

     After Goryeo, Joseon became a Confucianism society with an agriculture-based national ideology.  Commerce was despised.  Bartering was common, and cotton cloth, hemp cloth, and rice played a role of a kind of currency.   Their agriculture-based economic system was more radical than that under the Edo Shogunate in Japan.

     The Joseon ruling class might have been scared of the shadow of possible mercantilism and commercialism to emerge.  In other words, they really knew well the power of the glitter of precious metals.  The arrival of additional silver stimulated popular greed for silver all the more.  A large amount of silver newly produced in Japan plunged East Asia into the age of great smugglings.

For Daimyo Smugglers; It All Started with Silver (6)

     Anshin (?-?) belonged to Hanchu Sect of Chan Buddhism, or Genju Sect of Zen Buddhism in Japanese.  The founder of the sect was Zhongfeng Mingben (1263-1323), who lived at the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, China.  Several Japanese monks studied and trained under him, and formed Genju Sect back in Japan.  The sect formed a part of Rinka Zen, and were supported by merchants and peasants as well as the lower layers of samurais.  Those people preferred pragmatic benefits to pedantic understanding.  And Genju Sect provided them.

     Koshin Sektei (1481-1564) was a bigger-name Genju-Sect priest.  He was the 12th-generation major pupil of Zhongfeng, and was also the ambassador, or senior envoy, of the mission to Ming in 1539.

     Koshin and Anshin both worked for Shofuku-ji Temple in Hakata at least for a certain period.  Shofuku-ji Temple was founded by Eisai (1141-1215) in 1195, and practically is the oldest Zen temple in Japan.  Genju-an Temple was first built at Maidashi near Hakata in 1336, and was moved into Shofuku-ji’s property in 1646 by Oga Sohaku (1610-1647).  He worked for the Macau branch of his father’s transnational trading for 8 years.  Back in Hakata, he became a businessperson with powerful connections with the Kuroda Clan, who was ruling Chikuzen Province.

For Daimyo Smugglers; It All Started with Silver (5)

     It might have been Shoni Tokihisa (?-1559) that sent the mission with 225 kilograms of silver in 1538.  However, his father, Sukemoto (1491-1536), was defeated by Ouchi Yoshitaka (1507-1551), and was cornered in killing himself in 1536 without the rescue corps from his main vassal, Ryuzoji Iekane (1454-1546).  And Tokihisa himself was in exile at the time, so it could have been Iekane who sent the mission, assuming Shoni’s name.  Iekane had been a vassal of the Shoni Clan, but had secret communication with Yoshitaka, and was overthrowing the Shoni Clan.  Or Hakata merchants just did their jobs in the middle of, or taking advantage of, the confusion.

     In April, 1542, Anshin, a priest who claimed to be an ambassador of the king of Japan, brought about 3 tons of silver to Joseon.  Was it possible?  As Iwami Silver Mine alone produced 38 tons of silver per year at its peak, 3 tons of silver was possible, but an ambassador of the king of Japan was not.  He was a false ambassador made up in Tsushima Island.

For Daimyo Smugglers; It All Started with Silver (4)

     Now that Japan became able to complete whole operations in silver production, some daimyo warlords and merchants started trying to trade with their silver in their hands.

     For example, in 1538, 225 kilograms of silver was brought to Joseon by a mission who claimed to be an envoy from Sir. Shoni.  Who was Shoni then?

     Muto Sukeyori (1160-1228) moved from Musashi Province in Eastern Japan to Kyushu in March, 1195, as a vassal of Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), who opened the Kamakura Shogunate.  Sukeyori was appointed “Dazai shoni” of Dazai-fu in October, 1226.  Dazai-fu used to be an ancient regional government in Kyushu which was also responsible for the diplomacy of Ancient Japan.  The chief executive officer of Dazai-fu was called “Dazai sochi.”  The position later became an honorary post for central aristocrats.  The subordinate but practical executive officer was called “Dazai daini,” which only central noblemen could be appointed to be.  Sometimes, a local subordinate officer, “Dazai shoni,” had the practical executive power of the regional government.  Anybody without a central aristocratic order could be appointed “shoni,” so it was the highest rank in Dazai-fu samurais could normally acquire.  After 1226, the Muto Family called themselves Shoni.

For Daimyo Smugglers; It All Started with Silver (3)

     In 1533 at last, refining silver became possible around Iwami Silver Mine.  Keiju, or Geongjang if he was a Korean, was brought to the mine from Hakata on August the 15th.  He introduced cupellation, which enabled bulk production of silver.

     Once cupellation was introduced into Japan, it quickly spread to other silver mines in the country.  As early as in August of 1542, silver ores were first dug on the south slope of Mt. Shiro-yama in Ikuno, Tajima Province, which later became one of the most well-known silver mines in Japan.  Mine workers and engineers arrived at Ikuno from Iwami Silver Mine, and a gallery was opened.

     At the time, merchants managed silver mines, and daimyos and local samurais put taxes on the management.  Thus, silver was, in one sense, shared between merchants and samurais.  In 1530’s and 40’s, silver used not to be used as domestic currency at first then, and rather flew out abroad in exchange for foreign products.