Late Muromachi period smuggling and the Ouchi Clan.

Part 1

As we are going to talk about the smuggling during the Japanese medieval period, we should start by looking at the Ouchi Clan, who were based in the western most provinces of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. They were engaged in the last days of the official trading period with the Ming Dynasty as a subordinate to the Ashikaga Shogunate. The Ouchi benefitted from this trade agreement and became one of the strongest clans in the west. With money to be made, other regional lords were also looking to get in on the party and numerous new smuggling routes were established by rival clans.

Fifty years after Japan plunged into the Sengoku period, Ouchi (captain Iida) and Hosokawa (captain Kawano) trade ships clashed in Ningbo harbour, eastern China. Ouchi’s trade ships arrived at Ningbo with their dated trade seal and were waiting to be unloaded. A few days later Hosokawa trade ships also arrived but they had an earlier dated trade seal than the Ouchi. Kawano confronted Iida and demanded the Ouchi ships to move aside and let them unload first showing the Hosokawa captain the earlier dated seal but an argument broke out and neither was willing to give in. Unable to talk any sense into Iida and unwilling to wait behind the Ouchi ships, Kawano bribed the local trade official to let them unload in front of the waiting Ouchi ships. Well, this action by Hosokawa captain Kawano did not go down well with the Ouchi crew who flew into a rage. Iida and the Ouchi crew hatched a plan to kill Kawano and set the Hosokawa trade ships alight. The Hosokawa ships were crewed, mainly by local Chinese and knew their way around the port town. Once hostilities broke out, many Chinese managed to escape and report back to the local authorities. The Ningbo garrison were dispatched but they were terribly inferior to the Ouchi crew who captured the garrison commander, then set light to buildings and houses in the port town. Once the town was set on fire the Ouchi retreated back to their ship and set sail. In their wake, a Ming flotilla gave chase but were unable to catch the fleeing Ouchi.

Both clans were still keen on peaceful trade relations with the Ming up to now, but this incident confirmed that the ongoing and worsening political environment on the Japanese mainland was now affecting trade in someone else’s back yard. The Ningbo port incident also showed a weakened position of the Ming to the more powerful trade lords of Japan. After this incident, the Ming government shut down trade against the Japanese as a retaliatory measure for a while, but that ironically allowed pirates and smugglers (Wokou/Wako), to replace the Japanese lords for trade. The Ming Dynasty were now faced with dangers from the sea and land with Mongolians from north starting to advance south.