What Were Smuggled to Japan (5)

     Nagasaki had been made up of just remote fishing villages.  However, since the bay was suitable for big ships to be anchored in, Omura Sumitada (1533-1587) decided to open the area for foreign traders in 1570, and started building a port town there.  The first Portuguese ship visited the port as early as in 1571.  From that time on, Fukahori Sumitaka (?-?), who had been adopted by the Fukahori Clan from the Saigo Family in 1565, kept attacking Nagasaki.

     In 1570, Saigo Sumitaka (?-?), Fukahori Sumitaka’s biological brother, attacked Omura Sumitada, and Fukahori Sumitaka attacked Nagasaki Sumikage (1548-1622), who was subordinate to the Omura Clan and was ruling Nagasaki,  in response to his brother’s military operation.  In 1572, Fukahori Sumitaka attacked the Omura Clan with Saigo Sumitaka, Goto Takaakira (1534-1583) and others at Sanjo Castle, and burned down the fortress and church in Nagasaki.  In 1573, he made a night raid on Nagasaki at high tide with 60 boats, and burned churches down.  In 1574, he burned down the fortress, the port town, and Todos os Santos Church.  From 1577 till 1580, he attacked Nagasaki every year.  In 1580, Omura Sumitada, at last, gave up defending Nagasaki, and contributed the town to the Society of Jesus.