Community-Based English Learning

     I started teaching English in Osaka Prefectural Higashi-Mozu Senior High School a month ago.  For a month, I have been wondering how I can motivate my students to study English.  In the mean time, as I have commuted from Doto Bus Stop to the school on foot, I found a mysterious pyramid-like mound half covered with countless tiles in the middle of a park.  One day, on my way to a convenience store in the morning, I dropped in at the park, and walked around the mound out of curiosity.  And I posted my curious experience on a travel review site, with full of enigmatic words.  On another day, on my way back to the bus stop, I found a sign in front of a temple, which accounted for the history of the temple, Ono-ji Temple, and the nearby mound, which turned out to be the ruins of an ancient Buddhism pagoda, Doto.

     The travel review site informed me that Doto is currently ranked #43 out of 156 things to do in Sakai City.  If I post its reviews in English again, with a properly explanatory manner this time, I may be able to promote the pagoda, and attract inbound tourists to it.  I would like to let my students witness Western backpackers looking up to Doto, and Asian travelers strolling around Doto, pulling their suitcases behind themselves.  I would like my students to see learning and using English matters.

     To inform about the surrounding area, I have already listed Ono-ji Temple, to which Doto used to belong, and Doto Shrine on the travel review site, which are currently ranked #141, and #142 accordingly.  I have to wait another three months to post the next review about Doto, observing the rules of the travel review site.

Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) and Pirates in Kyushu

     In the 12th century, the trade between Japan and the Sung Dynasty China came to a turning point.  In 1126, the Jingling Incident broke out:  Jurchen tribes occupied the northern half of China and established the Jin Dynasty.  The Sung Dynasty fled to the south, and ruled the southern half of China.  The incident brought 2 aftermaths to the southern half, or to the South-Sung society.

     First, after the occupation by Jurchen, thousands of imperial family members, bureaucrats, and even ordinary people were brought to the Jurchen homeland on foot.  Men were either bartered as slaves for horses or had to make their own living by cultivating fields.  Women, including imperial princesses, were either offered for public bidding or kept in a “laundry hall” as prostitutes.  Many of those who could escape the abduction fled to the south.  Accordingly, the forest resources in the south were exhausted to build palaces and houses, and woods were exported from Suo and other Provinces in Japan.

     Second, those from the north were not used to the subtropical climates in the south.  Diseases and epidemics broke out frequently, and that had medicine developed.  The development enabled the society to export the new medication to Japan, where, in the summertime, it was as hot as in the subtropics.

     For those 2 reasons, the trade between Japan and the Sung-Dynasty China became brisk and robust, and so did the piracy in the West Sea in Japan.  The pirates there were local powerful families.  Some of them acquired the privilege as priests or as royal or sacred purveyors, and did some unlawful deals as well as legal jobs to send tax rice and as such to Kyoto.  In worst cases, some of them even did some looting and homicide.

     On April 8, 1135, it was debated in the Imperial Court who they should dispatch to hunt down those pirates in the West; Taira Tadamori (1096-1153), or Minamoto Tameyoshi (1096-1156).  They preferred Tadamori’s maneuvering ability to the violent power of Tameyoshi and his men.  As early as in August, Tadamori returned to Kyoto in triumph, with Hidaka Zen Priest and 80 other pirates arrested.  His swift triumph caused a rumor that those arrested were not pirates but were framed as pirates.  They might have been, at least, those who were newly organized under Tadamori.

Balhae, Who Opened the Second International Door of Japan in Tsuruga, Echizen Province

     The Ancient Korea Peninsula was divided into three kingdoms; Baekje, Silla and Goguryeo.  Goguryeo was destroyed by the alliance of Silla and the Tang-Dynasty China.  Dae Jo-yeong (?-719), a former general of Goguryeo, turned away the Tang armies in Tianmenling, and later founded Balhae. Balhae looked to Japan, the enemy of their enemies, and sent missions through the Sea of Japan.  The central government of Japan built Matsubara Guesthouse in Tsuruga, Echizen Province.  The guesthouse is presumed to have been somewhere around today's Kehi-no-Matsubara in Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture, but its remains yet to be found.

     The missions sailed south to Japan on the northernly wind in winter, and went back to Bale on the southernly wind in summer.  They brought marten, which made a boom among noble people in Kyoto.  And ginseng brought by them was precious medicine.  Balhae was destroyed by Kihtan in 926, but Sung-Dynasty Chinese merchants kept visiting Tsuruga even Tadamori’s days.  It might be doubtful that they were all really the Sung-Dynasty citizens, but it is certain that they were from the continent.

Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) and Pirates along the Seto Inland Sea

     In March, 1129, Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa’s office and the office responsible for police and judicial duties under the Imperial Court ordered Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) to hunt down and kill pirates around the Seto Inland Sea.  The order of the cloistered emperor office said, “These days, savage bandits are more and more rampant along the sea lane.  They sail tens of ships and crest millions of waves.  Some kill or abduct travelers to and from Kyoto, and others ruin or rob public and private cargos.  Evil deeds have piled, and hardly a day passes without violence.  That is because provincial officers are afraid of their savagery and are reluctant to hunt them down.”  Mysteriously enough, however, no records of such large-scale piracy at the time can be found.  Anyway, it was at that time that Tadamori brought the Nomi-no-umi area under his control and renamed it Tada-no-umi (Tada Sea).

     Later in the Warring States Period, Kobayakawa Hirohira (1416-1473), the 10th head of the family, had 2 sons.  The elder, Takahira (1452-1499), became the 11th head of the family, and the younger, Korekage (?-?), started Nomi Family.  Korekage picked up the older name of the area for his family name.  Later, Nomi Masakatsu (?-?) was adopted to the Ura Family.  His son, Munekatsu (1527-1592), succeeded to the headship of the Ura Family, but preferred to be called Nomi Munekatsu.  The name “Nomi” might have been a brandname around the area.

      Nomi Munekatsu (1527-1592) commanded his sea forces in the area.  The most remarkable contribution he made to his master, the Mori Clan, was that he mediated between the clan and Murakami Pirates.  Murakami Pirates were composed of In-no-shima Murakami Family, No-shima Murakami Family, and Kuru-shima Murakami Family from North to South.  Each family’s headquarters was based in In-no-shima Island, No-shima Island, and Kuru-shima Island respectively.  Munekatsu’s daughter was married to Murakami Yoshisuke (?-1596), who was the 7th head of In-no-shima Murakami Family, the northernmost one, that is, geopolitically the closest family to Nomi's.  Obviously, the sea people under the brandname of “Nomi” were pirates, or more euphemistically sea samurais.

     Let’s get back to Tadamori’s time.  Tadamori used the first Chinese character of his first name to rename the sea, Tada-no-umi.  He also used the second Chinese character to name a port in O-Mishima Island across Tada-no-umi.  The port, Mori Port, is still used as a fishing port even today.  The island, which used to be respected as a god’s island, had, and still has, O-Yamazumi Shrine, which is the head shrine of 402 branch shrines at the minimum, and 897 of those at the maximum, and which used to be one of the most powerful shrines among the sea people along the Seto Inland Sea.  The fact that Tadamori  could “suppress” the area in such a short time might mean he could have got along with the sea people in the area somehow or other, maybe, as a matter of course, taking advantage of the authority of Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa.  Tadamori must have had the same DNA as his father did.

Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) and Pirates in Echizen Province

     Taira Tadamori (1096-1153) was appointed as a provincial officer in Echizen Province in 1114.  Tsuruga County in the province used to be one of ports of call for Song-Chinese traders.  There, a murder case occurred.  A priest of Hie Shrine was captured as a suspect, and transferred under guard to the Kyoto office responsible for police and judicial duties.  He was, however, recaptured by priests of Enryaku-ji Temple.  The office captured the temple priests, and then other temple priests made a direct and rather violent petition to the Imperial Court.  Enryaku-ji Temple was the headquarters of the Tendai Sect of Buddhism, and Hie Shrine was believed to be a guardian god of the sect.  A conflict of interests concerning the trade with the continent might have underlain the violent incident. It is widely believed Tadamori learned what huge profits he could rake in through trading with China.

Taira Tadamori’s Family Line (6)

      How swift Masamori’s victory was! He must have had certain know-how to make local powerful families come over to him, other than just militarily destroying them.  In 1113, Masamori was appointed as a provincila officer in Bizen Province along the Seto Inland Sea.  In 1114, he was accused of hiding 5 robbers from Kyushu in his residence in Kyoto.  In the same year, he hired 9 pirates.  In 1118, another royal order was issued to him to hunt down and kill Taira Naozumi (?-?) in Fujitsu Manor in Hizen Province, Kyushu Island.  Masamori dispatched his followers, most of whom were powerful family members from Kyushu and Shikoku Islands.  Masamori had successfully built connections in the area, or along the sea lane between Kyoto and the continent, or China.  In 1120, he was appointed as a provincial officer in Sanuki Province, Shikoku Island.

     Masamori’s son, Tadamori (1096-1153), made a splendid debut.  He was named as a holy dancer in a non-regular festival of Kamo Shrine on November 14, 1119.  Fujiwara Sanesuke (957-1046) wrote about that in his journal, “His costume was so gorgeous that it made his walk brilliant and spectacular.  Every move of his dance surprised audience.  It was infinitely superior performance.”  Taking Japanese production level at the time into consideration, his costume should have been made in China.

     Tadamori made a good start in his career, taking advantage of achievements and accomplishments of his father, and exploiting rare imported goods which might have been obtained through the pirate network his father had built along the Seto Inland Sea.

Taira Tadamori’s Family Line (5)---The Revolt of Minamoto Yoshichika (2)---

 

 

     The trend of local powerful families around Sanin-do Region in Western Japan along the Sea of Japan to follow Yoshichika frightened the central political circles. They might have been afraid of having an Otenmon Conspiracy in 866 again, which had been caused by the power games between the Silla connections and the Tang connections. Or they might have been scared of a second Fujiwara Sumitomo (?-941), the first pirate king in Japan. Or someone else might have wanted to be a second Sumitomo for himself, replacing Yoshichika.

     A royal order was issued to Taira Masamori to hunt down and kill Minamoto Yoshichika on December 19, 1107. He was given a station bell which enabled him to procure manpower and horses at stations on his way. His troops raised three battle cries in front of Yoshichika’s residence in Kyoto (which was, surprisingly enough, still owned by Yoshichika), and cut down (only) the gateposts as rituals. He left Kyoto on the day, went to Harima Province, went north through Mimasaka Province to Inaba Province, went west through Hoki Province, and got to Izumo Privince on January 6, 1108. His speedy military advance suggests he met no enemies nor battles on his way.

 

     Yoshichika held fort in Kumoto, the second easternmost port along the northern shore of the Shimane Peninsula in Izumo Province. Even today, you can find a cave in which Yoshichika shut himself up according to legend. Masamori attacked the port across hills and by sea. The victory was reported to Kyoto as early as on 19, informing that Masamori had beheaded Yoshichika and 5 others, and that he would return to Kyoto in the first ten days of the next month.