246 Boundaries and Beyond
were accused having been complicit in the alleged conspiracy of Premier
Hu Weiyong. The outcome was not as disastrous as it might have been
as the prohibition was seldom strictly carried out and the maintenance
of tribute-and-trade relations with China was economically important
to the Japanese daimyo (great lords). The Ming ban was even lifted
from time to time. Unfortunately, the resumption of Japanese tribute
missions in the mid-Ming era came to a disastrous conclusion. In 1523
two separate tribute missions appeared simultaneously in Ningbo, sent
under the auspices of different daimyo. Both parties were competing for
the trading privileges. Heavily bribed by a Chinese named Song Shuqing,
who was in the service of one of the two delegations, the shibo eunuch
sided with Song’s party. This partiality resulted in violence. Disappointed,
the tribute-bearers turned to piracy. In retaliation, the Ming Court again
suspended entry permits for all Japanese missions. Searching for safe
ports in which to pursue illegal trade, the Japanese went south and found
their opportunity on the Fujian coast. Thereafter what was known as the
Wokou problem became serious for the βirst time in Chinese history.^13
Actually, the Japanese, whether ofβicials or private citizens, had always
found the tribute trade, limited to once every ten years and to not
more than a hundred participants at a time,^14 unsatisfactory. In their
frustration, those who failed to obtain trading permits often turned to
illicit transactions or piracy. Indeed, raiding the Chinese coast became a
favorite occupation for many of the samurai from southwest Japan, who
behaved as pirates or as traders as the occasion warranted. As is said in
the Ming history:
The Wo (Japanese) were shrewd by nature; they carried
merchandise and weapons together, and appeared here and
there along the sea-coast. If the opportunity presented itself,
they displayed their weapons, raiding and plundering ruthlessly.
Otherwise, they would exhibit their merchandise, saying that they
were on their way to the Court with tribute. The southeast coast
was victimized by them.^15- Shen Yiguang 沈一貫, “Lun wo gongshi buke xu shu” 論倭貢市不可許疏 [On
why Japanese tribute trade should be disallowed], in Ming jingshi wenbian
明經世文編 [Collected essays on statecraft from the Ming Dynasty] (hereafter
MJSWB), comp. Chen Zilong, Xu Fuyuan, et al. 陳子龍 (1608‒47), 徐孚遠
(1599‒1665) 等選輯 (compiled in 1638) (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1962),
435: 1b. - Chouhai tubian, 12: 75a.
- Ming shi 明史 [Standard dynastic history of the Ming], 322: 8.
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