What Were Smuggled to Japan (7)

     The Noshima Murakami Clan’s silver and carpets were of little effect, or might not have benn sufficient enough.  They had to leave their base, Noshima Island in Iyo Province along the Seto Inland Sea, and move to Kafuri, Chikuzen Province.

     Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) forced pirates along the Seto Inland Sea and around Nagasaki into submission, gained naval supremacy on the waters between Kyoto and the East China Sea, and controlled the water transportation there.  He established the claim on imported silk to purchase it first.

     An entry dated December, 1480, of Daijo-in Temple’s notebooks wrote, “Nothing is more profitable for trading ships to China than silk.  You can purchase the amount of copper a horse can carry for 10 thousand copper coins in Bizen Province or Bicchu Province.  If you exchange the copper with silk at Ningbo in China, you can sell the silk for 40 to 50 thousand coins.”  Another entry dated April, 1495, of the notebooks wrote, “3 big ships are to come back to Japan this year.  Sakai merchants loaded each ship with goods worth 10 million copper coins.  those goods will sell for 30 to 40 million coins.  A profit of tens of thousands of coins in total!”  Kuzuha Sainin (1395-1486) was even reported to have said, “As I buy 600 grams of silk in China for 250 coins, I can sell the silk for 50 thousand coins.  A profit of 20 times.”  Sainin’s father was said to come from “Tenjiku” (Indai, Java, or Arabia) while his mother was from Kuzuha, Kawachi Province.  Considering the international smuggling networks he had had, a profit of 20 times might not have been exaggeration.