The Ancient Japanese Good-Family Clans and Piracy

The Ancient Japanese Good-Family Clans and Piracy

1. Otenmon Conspiracy

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa (804-872.9.2) and his younger brother, Yoshimi (813/817-867.10.10), were working at central government side by side from 857, when Yoshifusa was promoted to be Daijo Daijin (premier), and Yoshimi Wu Daijin (vice-premier second to Sa Daijin), until the Otenmon Conspiracy (or also translated as the Otenmon Incident).

     It is very questionable and mysterious who conspired with whom against who before and during the incident(s).  However, according to Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku the incident started in this way:

     On March the 10th, Oten-mon Gate went up in flames.  On the 22nd, great purification prayers were held in front of Kaisho-mon Gate, and the Great Heart Sutra was recited in Sufuku-ji Temple.  On July the 6th, an imperial delegate was sent to Ise Shrine, and oblations were offered to shrines in Nankai-do Region.

     On August the 3rd, 866, out of the blue, Oyake Taketori, a substitute for the-rank-and-file officer in Bicchu Province, notified that Tomo Yoshio, the third vice-premier, and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.  On the 29th, a daughter of Oyake Taketori was murdered, and Ikue Tsuneyama, Tomo Yoshio’s attendant, was tortured as a suspect.  On the 30th, Tomo Kiyonawa was tortured as an instigator.  On September the 22nd, Tomo Yoshio, Tomo Nakatsune, Ki Toyoshiro, Tomo Akizane, and Tomo Kiyotsuna were convicted of arson, and sentenced to banishment.  Ki Natsui, Tomo Kawao, Tomo Natsukage, Tomo Huyumitsu, Ki Harumichi, Tomo Takayoshi, Ki Takeki, and Tomo Harunori were convicted of implication, and also sentenced to exile.  On October the 25th, Ikue Tsuneyama and Urabe Tanushi confessed having assaulted Oyake Taketori and having killed his daughter.

     Riho Oki (Prince Shigeakira’s Diary) and Okagami Uragaki (The Collection of Notes on Okagami), however, tell us another story.  It transpired like this:

     Fujiwara Yoshimi, the premier’s younger brother, consulted with Tomo Yoshio to oust Minamoto Makoto.  They told Fujiwara Mototsune, Fujiwara Yoshifusa’s adopted son, to come, and instructed that it was Minamoto Makoto who set Oten-mon Gate on fire.  Mototsune was surprised to hear that, and asked them if Yoshifusa knew the story, but Yoshimi answered no.  Mototsune reported the story to Yoshifusa in haste.

     Yoshifusa responded that Sa Daijin had rendered meritorious service to the Emperor, and that it was unreasonable to be accused of the crime when it was uncertain whether the story was true, and then reported to Emperor Seiwa, “It was I who should be punished first if Sa Daijin were to be punished.”  As the Emperor did not know the story, he was greatly surprised.

     Eventually on August the 3rd, 866, Oyake Taketori notified that Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to the gate.

     It’s not clear who conspired with whom against who in Otenmon Conspiracy.  In Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki’s story, pecking order No.3 and No.4 tried to oust No.2, maybe to get promoted, but failed.  Maybe, it was pecking No.2 who tried to…..  We have a few more clues:

     Fujiwara Yoshifusa, pecking order No.1, had been seriously ill from the end of the year 864 to September 865.  Fujiwara Mototsune, Yoshifusa’s adopted son, was yet to be in his thirties.  Who would be Fujiwara Clan’s leader if Yoshifusa were to die?

     At the end of the year 864, there was also a whistle-blowing that Minamoto Makoto was planning to revolt with his younger brothers, Toru and Tsutomu.  Tomo Yoshio attacked Minamoto Clan counting on the letter.  Who on earth composed the letter?

     At the time of Otenmon Conspiracy, Oyake Taketori was working for Bicchu Province.  He had been a low-ranked officer in Wu Hyoe Fu, a kind of the office of the guards.  Minamoto Tsutomu supervised the office of the guards before he was later promoted to be the vice-governor in Bicchu Province in January, 866.  What a coincidence!

     In the spring of the year 866, Tomo Yoshio surrounded Minamoto Makoto’s mansion house, claiming that he was just sending messengers.

     On August the 3rd, 866, as you already know, Oyake Taketori notified that Tomo Yoshio and his son, Nakatsune, had set fire to Oten-mon Gate.  On the 29th, Oyake Taketori’s daughter was murdered by Ikue Tsuneyama.

     Even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who, there is an important lesson to be learned through those incidents; blood will have blood.

     Whether you believe in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku, which is usually regarded to be more reliable than other documents, or in Riho Oki and Okagami Uragaki, or even if we can’t tell who conspired with whom against who in the incidents, we can clearly see the outcomes.

     Who was the biggest winner after all the conspiratorial incidents?  Fujiwara Mototsune was.  He successfully became the premier after Yoshifusa’s death, going over Yoshimi’s head, who had actually died before Yoshifusa’s death, though.  Yoshifusa and Mototsune opened a Fujiwara regency regime.

     Who was the biggest loser then?  Tomo Clan were.  They were almost exterminated.  Who was the second biggest loser?  Ki Clan were.  They were diminished.

     Tomo Clan used to guard the imperial palace’s gates in ancient times.  Ki Clan became powerful, involved in sending soldiers to Korea Peninsula also in antiquated times.  Both clans used to have their footing on Shikoku Island areas along the Seto Inland Sea, and used to enjoy sea traffic authority in the Seto Inland Sea.  As a result, some of the fishermen who had been closed out from seashores enclosed by good-family clans and big temples were organized under the both clans as salters or rowers.

     It is interesting that Otenmon Conspiracy broke out during the first uprisings of the Japanese pirates, and that the piracy ceased within a few years.  The young good-family members who were condemned by Fujiwara Yasunori for leading piracy might have belonged to Tomo and Ki Clans.    They might have been as violent and cruel as Tomo Yoshio.  Thanks to “good” governors such as Yasunori, the piracy was put under control, but, after half a century, another young good-family member, Fujiwara Sumitomo, emerged to be a pirate king this time, learning a lesson from the first uprisings.

2.  The Enclosure and the Salt Production around the Seto Inland Sea

     From the first half of the 8th century to the latter half of the 9th century, central noble clans and temples enclosed the sea, islands and seashores, and urged large-scale salt production around the Seto Inland Sea.  As a result, registered farmers and fishermen were locked out of seashores, and became hobos.

     In some enclosure cases, the central clans and temples enclosed the sea, islands and seashores to tap into rice fields.  Daian-ji Temple, for example, enclosed 1.5 square kilometers of land in Kmitsumichi, Mino and Tsudaka Counties, Bicchu Province.  Todai-ji Temple enclosed Inano-sho in Kawabe County, Settsu Province.

     In the other cases, they enclosed the sea, islands and seashores to produce salt on a large scale.  Horyu-ji Temple, for instance, enclosed 2 beaches in Inami and Shikama Counties, Harima Province.  Gango-ji Temple enclosed Yakishio and Shioya in Asaguchi County, Bicchu Province.  Saidai-ji Temple enclosed Shiogiyama in Harima Province and Shioyama in Samukawa County, Sanuki Province.  Todai-ji Temple enclosed Shioyama in Ako County, Harima Province, where, as early as in the middle of the 8th century, Tomo Inukai (?-762.10.30), the then Harima Province governor,  appointed Hata Oko as a deputy and tried to build salt pans.  We can tell by the place-names that they were producing salt there.  The Japanese phrase “shio” means salt.

     It seems that the occupation of the salt pans in Ako was transferred from Tomo Clan to Todai-ji Temple either violently or by mutual consent, sometime in the latter half of the 8th century.  What fate did Hata Clan face then?  Were they employed by Todai-ji Temple to run the salt pans?  Or did they just get pitched out of the salt industry?  In the latter case, by Fujiwara Yasunori’s classification, leading piracy might have been their unavoidable choice.

     The presence of salt pans in the 8th century is supported by other documents.  Nihon Koki, for example,  has an entry dated November the 14th, 799, which tells us:

     Bizen Province said, “People in Kojima County have made their living by producing salt, and prepared for Cho and Yo taxes with the salt.  The mountains, the wilds, the seashores, and the islands there have been for common use as a rule.  Powerful clans and families have come to disturb and deprive the people.  The more prosperous the powerful become, the more distressed the poor turn.  We beg things to be replaced.”

     The Emperor ordered, “It is against the public benefit that the powerful intimidate the poor.  It must be stopped and never be allowed to happen.”

     Two of the wooden labels excavated out of the Heijo-kyo vestige support what Nihon Koki’s entry dated November the 14th, 799 tell us: salt used to be payed as taxes around the Seto Inland Sea.  The two dated to have been written sometime between 735 and 747.

     One reads, “Bizen Province, Kojima County, Kamo Village, Kamonao Kimimaro, Cho salt, 54 liters.”

     The other reads, “Bizen Province, Kojima County, Kamo Village, Miyamuraji Otokimi, Cho salt, 18 liters.”

     The two wooden labels tell us that salt production was not confined to domestic kitchen use.

     The entry dated May the 19th, 844, of Shoku Nihon Koki shows us another example of the relation between a good-family clans and salt production.

     Awaji Province said, “More than 3,000 fishermen and others came from another province with a central noble family’s official document.  They gathered on beaches and coves, violated local people, and cut down trees.  They gather like clouds, vanish like mist, and never stop violating.  Furthermore, our official residences and stables are all by the seaside, crowd together like scales, and have a threat of fires.  It is difficult to destroy them.  We have worked hard to stop them, but our province is not powerful enough.  We request the central government to ban them altogether with an official administrative document.”

     As the “fishermen” were felling trees and the provincial officers feared fires,  there’s strong possibility that the “fishermen” were producing salt.  The entry suggests that officers of such a small province as Awaji were fearful of central noble families, and, practically, could do nothing.

     Another interesting implication of the entry is the distinctions between violent fishermen and pirates, who were both on board.  The phrase “pirates” had already appeared in an official document for the first time as early as in 388.  It seems provincial officers could not prove violent fishermen to be pirates unless they robbed provincial governments of tax rice.

3.  “Goko” or Belligerent Hire

     The central government issued an order March the 27th, 867, saying, “In sordid places such as markets, ports, and arterials, maneuvers should be employed, detectives should be placed, bounties should be offered, and pardons should be dangled to leave no place for wicked and wild people to stay.”

     Why in “markets, ports, and arterials”?  Why not on remote islands?  The start of ancient Japanese piracy had something to do with the rise of marine transport along the Seto Inland Sea.

     In 756, the central government decided that the tax rice from Sanyo-do and Nankai-do Regions  be sent to the capital by rowboat, and had provincial governments build dockyards and ports along the Seto Inland Sea.  As the marine transport was improved and institutionalized, more and more boats and rowers were needed.

     At the same time, as we have already seen, the enclosure of seashores along the Seto Inland Sea was progressing.  The closed-out fishermen were inevitably to be organized as salt-production laborers or rowers.  However, as it was ancient times, scrambles over transportation did not raise their salaries, if any, but worked to “go-ko” in Japanese, or literally “belligerent hire” over them.

     When government servants attached to a government department A were employed by another government department B, the employment was called “wa-ko”, literally contract hire.  When neighborhood people were employed by a government department, the employment was called “wa-ko” too. 

     Basically, “wa-ko” was the employ on compact between an employer and an employee with, sometimes but unnecessarily, better pay.  If “wa-ko” was forcibly practiced by someone like central noble families or temples, the employment was called “go-ko, belligerent hire.

     “Goko” was prohibited with premier orders three times, in 835, 849, and 867.

     In October, 835, as extorting gangsters had belligerently hired transporters, carts and horses, and had tormented people, the belligerent hire was prohibited.  If the belligerent hire should be practiced by someone related with Saga-in Temple or Junna-in Temple, their names would be reported to the temples’ deacons.  If the belligerent hire should be practiced by government officers or noble families’ chamberlains, they would be punished on the spot.

     In September, 849, the prohibition of belligerent hire was announced again.  Yet, even in 867, government officers and noble families’ chamberlains were still forcibly hiring people in Yamazaki and Otsu, so belligerent hire was entirely prohibited.

     Saga-in Temple, today’s Daikaku-ji Temple, was originally built as villa for the retirement of Emperor Saga(785-842, reigned 809-823).  Junna-in Temple used to be villa for the retirement of Emperor Junna(786-840, ringed 823-833).  Those temples, or the two emperors after their retirement, were possessing incipient manors, and their rice and et al. must have been carried to the capital.

     On February the 19th, 838, the central government ordered the provincial governors in Sanyo-do and Nankai-do Regions to arrest and crack down on pirates.

     5 days later in the same year, on February the 15th, Emperor Ninmyo ordered that the 4 servants of Sai-in (the emperor’s younger sister) should be given official certificates as the lower-ranking officials of 2 princes (the emperor’s younger brothers) and Junna-in (the former emperor, the emperor’s uncle) were given.  The 20 servants of Saga-in (the late emperor but one, the emperor’s father) should be treated in the same way.

     The 2 orders should be interpreted to have gone hand in hand.  Provincial governors and local officers were, I mean, supposed to distinguish lawful hire and unlawful one, based on whether central noble families’ envois have official certificates or not.  Without an official certificate, envois were regarded as practicing belligerent hire, or, at worst, as pirates.

4.  The Fall of Silla Connections

     Jowa Incident broke out in July, 842.  I don’t describe its details here, but, consequently, the Crown Prince Tsunesada (the second eldest son of the Emperor Junna) was dethroned, Tomo Kowamine was banished to Oki Island, and Tachibana Hayanari died in Totomi on his way to Izu Peninsula, his place of exile.

     In August, the Prince Michiyasu (the Emperor Ninmyo’s son and Fujiwara Yoshifusa’s nephew) became the Crown Prince.

     Just after the ruling on Jowa Incident, on August the 15th, the premier issued an order over the incoming of Silla people.  The central government meant to be afraid, or just was by way of being afraid, that Silla people were spying under the veil of trading, and decided no to allow them to stay in Koro-kan officially nor to let them inhabit Japan.

     On September the 7th, 831, the central government issued an order to Dazai-fu, a special regional bureau in Kyushu which handled foreign affairs, over trading with Silla people.  They worried that “benighted common people” preferred foreign goods to domestic products and bade to purchase them to raise their prices.  Dazai-fu was supposed to select good foreign products first, and then to let common people purchase the rest freely under the supervision of Dazai-fu.

     However, Funya Miyatamaro conducted one of his private (contraband?) trading with Jang Bogo at the end of the year 840 or the beginning of the year 841, and paid to Jang in advance.  According to Shoku Nihon Koki, Jang was assassinated in 841, and Funya failed to get goods he had paid for.

     After Jowa Incident, Funya Akitsu, the Director General of the Crown Prince Household Agency, was captured, implicated with the Crown Prince Tsunesada, and was sent to Izumo Province.  Whether rulings on Funya Akitsu and Funya Miyatamaro were conspiracies by Fujiwara Clan or not, Funya Clan was losing their footing in the ancient Japanese aristocracy.

     The entry dated December the 29th, 843, in Shoku Nihon Koki writes about Miyatamaro’s case;  “Funya Miyatamaro’s treason deserves a death penalty, but will be commuted into exile to Izu Province.  Among his 2 sons, Tadamoto, with a government post, should be exiled to Sado Province, and Yasutsune, without a government post, should be sent to Tosa Province.  Among his 2 butlers, Wanibe Fukunaga should be exiled to Echigo Province, and Maki Maro to Izumo Province.  Shinei, a priest who got implicated, should be exiled to the same place as Maki Maro.  Yako Ujio, an informer, will be especially conferred the lowest rank of nobility and be appointed as one of the lowest officer in Chikuzen Province.  It started from his information.”

     Funya Miyatamaro was, holding arms in his residences in the Heian-kyo Capital and Namba Port, accused of having contrived treason.  His possession of those residences along with his office in Chikuzen Province suggests that he had built a network between the Heian-kyo Capital, via Namba Port and the Seto Inland Sea, and Hakata Port.  The network might have extended to Silla and beyond through Jang Bogo’s own network.  He might have disregarded Dazai-fu’s prior claim and control on imported goods.  Above all, his connection with Jang Bogo, a Silla trader with political influence, and with the Crown Prince Tsunesada through his kindred, Akitsu, must have been a menace for Fujiwara Yoshifusa, whose sister, Junsi, was the Emperor Ninmyo’s wife.  Yoshifusa might have made the best of the Empror’s love for his son, the Prince Michiyasu, who eventually became the Crown Prince after the Jowa Incident.

     Funya Clan might have had their young members and butlers stationed along the Seto Inland Sea as parts of their marine transport network.  What did they, a good-family clan’s subordinate members, do after the fall of Funya Clan?  Piracy?

5.  The Rise of Tang Connections

     When Ennin (794-864) made his study trip to Tang from 838 to 847, support from Silla people, including those who were related with Jang Bogo, was enormous.  For example, Ennin was helped by Silla people living in Chishan to keep staying in Tang, half-illegally though.  He stayed in Chishan Fahua Temple, which had been founded by Jang Bogo.  Ennin had trouble coming back to Japan too, but, someway or the other, got into Silla trader’s ship.

     His tribulations and adventures were richly introduced and analyzed by Dr. Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (1910-1990).  You can rarely find that much information in English literature on Ancient Japan.

     However, when Enchin (814-891) visited Tang from 853 to 858, he was largely supported by Tang traders and Fujiwara Clan.  How transitory history is!

     Enchin (814-891) went to Tang with Tang traders, Wan Chao and Li Yanxiao, in 853, and came back to Japan with Li Yanxiao in 858.  When he built two buddhism buildings at Gouging Temple in Yue Province, Tang, Fujiwara Yoshimi sent 30 Tael of gold, and Yue traders, such as Shan Jingquan and Liu Shixian, also contributed to the construction.

6.  The Further Purge of Silla Connections

     Ochi Sadahara set his hand to an official document offered to Enchin on his study trip to Tang.  Sadaharu later became an Oki Province governor.

     Fujiwara Motorimaro was sent to Izumo-dera Temple in the Northern Hiean-Kyo Capital by Fujiwara Yoshimi on December the 28th, 858.  Enchin was staying in the temple after returning from Tang.  Osakabe Makujira, Enchin’s relative and Dazai-fu official, had visited Enchin officially on the 27th.

     They were all seasoned specialists of diplomacy and foreign trading.  That means they had had connections with Silla.  Did their transfer from Silla connections to Tang connections, or their new commitment to Tang connections, secure their position?

     Oki Province was an island province, which was about 50 km North off Izumo Province.  They both belong to Shimane Prefecture today.  The Tsushima Current washes northeastward the northern seashores of mainland Japan, while the Mamiya Current flows southwestward along the southern seashores of Primorsky and the western seashores of the Korean Peninsula, both parts of the Asian Continent.  Accordingly, you can easily sail around the Sea of Japan counterclockwise.

     Ochi Sadahara used to rule Oki Province as a governor, such a remote island province out of the eyes of the central government yet such a convenient spot to smuggle with Silla.  Later, he was accused of the treason against the central government joining hands with Silla by Azumi Fukuo, who was not registered as a farmer or a fisher in Oki.

     The entry dated October the 26th, 869, in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku writes: The Premier argued in front of the Emperor, “The court of Justice turned down the case, and writes, ‘In 866, Azumi Fukuo, an un-registered commoner, informed that Ochi Sadahara, the upper class of the upper sixth order and the former governor of Oki Province, planed a treason with Silla.  We dispatched a messenger to investigate the case, and found Fukuo’s information false.’”  A judge refuted, “Fukuo, instead, should be punished to be decapitated.  However, Sadahara knew his man had committed a murder but did’t investigate the case.  He should be demoted.”  The Emperor decided and said, “The decapitation should be reduced to exile.  The others should be executed according to laws.”

     Who and what was Azumi Fukuo?  Did he know the case of Funya Miyatamaro versus Yako Ujio in 843?  Did he think he would be hired and promoted like Ujio?  Or was he a rival smuggler?  A certain clan’s spy?  Who did Sadahara’s man kill?  A fellow of Fukuo’s?  Ancient incidents are always covered up in the ancient darkness.  Anyway, although Ochi Sadahara survived this contest, he and his clan lost their influence in the central political circles after this incident.

     The entry dated November the 13th, 870, in Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku writes:

     Saeki Matsugu, an additional official of Chicugo Province, reported with an official document from Silla, “Fujiwara Genrimaro, Dazai-fu Subordinate Officer, who belonged the upper class of the upper 7th order in the central nobility, secretly schemed with the Silla King against our country.”  Matsugu was restrained and sent to the Prosecutor.

     The entry dated November the 17th, 870, writes:

     Fujiwara Genrimaro, Subordinate Officer, was pursued and restrained, along with a valet of the former Director General of the department purchasing fillings for Court and 3 other un-registered commoners, Kiyohara Munetsugu, Nakatomi Toshimaro and Okiyo Aritoshi.  Abe Okiyuki, the Upper Secretary, who belonged to the lower class of the lower 5th order, was sent to Dazai-fu to question them.

     Could Genkimaro survive the contest?  Fujiwara Yoshimi, who might have been his ally, had died 3 years earlier.  Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku tells us no further development of the incident.

     Three Kiyohara clans are known in Ancient Japan: one was an offspring of the Emperor Tenmu, another was those who did secretarial jobs for the central government, and the other produced chiefs of captive norther aliens in Dewa Province, a part of Northeastern Japan.  We can hardly tell which clan Munetsugu belonged to, or whether he belonged to any of the three or not.

7.  Conclusion

     All in all, whether you are a pirate or not depends on the result of power games among central noble families in the Heian-kyo Capital, one of which you belong to.

     As Fujiwara Yasunori, a competent governor at the time, exclaimed about piracy, “Most leaders are not local registered people, but dropouts (from the hierarchic center, the Heian-Kyo Capital).  Some are young members of good family who have pursued means of support.  Some others are officers’ valets who have married local women.  They have made the remote provinces their hometowns.”

     Those young members and valets who belonged to Tomo, Ki, and Tachibana Clans must have had a hard time finding a new job, other than piracy.

     Furthermore, the fall and the further purge of Silla connections must have caused certain vacuum of human resources who could handle water transports and foreign trading.  The vacuum should be filled with Fujiwara Clan’s young members and/ or butlers.

     A road was paved to have a Fujiwara Sumitomo.  Sumitomo was actually a young member of Fujiwara Clan, and became a third officer in Iyo Province.  He later became a pirate, or was accused of piracy once he was judged to be a menace for the community of noble-blooded highborn people of central power.  However, it was not only a pirate but the first pirate king in Japan that he made.  It was not difficult to become a pirate, or be judged to be a pirate, but the reason why he could become a pirate king is yet to be researched.