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The Satsuma-Ryukyu Trade and the Tokugawa Seclusion Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Robert K. Sakai
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Extract

The Shimazu daimyo of Satsuma-han maintained indirect contact with the China mainland throughout most of the Tokugawa period. This contact was possible despite the seclusion policy of the Tokugawa government which prohibited Japanese from going abroad and the policy of the Ming dynasty which would not allow Chinese to trade with Japanese. The link between Satsuma and China was die Ryukyu kingdom. Through the Ryukyu Islanders, the Shimazu daimyo obtained valuable Chinese commodities which were then sold for a profit to other parts of Japan. This commercial activity was a breach in the shogun's monopoly of foreign trade, which was supposed to be confined to the single port of Nagasaki.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , May 1964 , pp. 391 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1964

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References

1 Translations of the agreements of 1611 are found in Kerr, George H., Okinawa, the History of an Island People, (Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1958), pp. 160–162.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., pp. 162–163.

3 Hiroshi, Shidehara, “Shimazu shi chikyū saku” [“Lord Shimazu's policy for governing the Ryukyus”], Shigaku zasshi, VIII (June 1897), 527–536.Google Scholar

4 Kerr, pp. 142–143; Hall, John, “Notes on the Early Ch'ing Copper Trade with Japan,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, XII (1949), 447.Google Scholar

5 Shidehara, VIII (July 1897), 622; Kerr, p. 167.

6 Sakamaki, Shunzo, Ryukyu: A Bibliographical Guide to OKinawan Studies (Honolulu, 1963), p. 52Google Scholar; Kerr, pp. 166–167, 203. ken, Kagoshima (ed. and pub.), Kagoshima Kenshi (Tokyo, 1940), II, 673, 737–738.Google Scholar Hereafter Kenshi.

7 Concerning the extant copy of Chūzan Seikan (1650), the first official history of Okinawa, Sakamaki states that the part dealing with the Satsuma relationship after 1609 was lost or destroyed. The revised history, Chūzan Seifu, omitted mention of Satsuma control and left out a reference to the Ryukyus as “a tributary state under Shimazu, Lord of Satsuma.” Moreover, the Chūzan Seifu and the later historical work, Kyuyo, made no mention of documents in the Rekidai Hōan relating to Japan. Many studies were made of navigation between Ryukyu and China but none were published on conditions between Ryukyu and Satsuma. Sakamaki, pp. 37, 40–41, 54.

8 Kenshi, II, 687–688.

9 Ibid., II, 687–688. Two trips were made in 1614 and one each in 1617 and 1622.

* A kan is a unit of weight equal to 2.28 pounds, or one thousand momme, or mon. A kin is a unit of weight equal to about 21.2 ounces, or 160 momme. A momme was a unit of silver coin equal to about .133 ounces. (These equivalents are taken from Takizawa, Matsuyo, The Penetration of Money Economy in Japan [New York, 1927], p. 155.)Google Scholar

10 Ibid., II, 692–693, 709.

11 hensanjo, Koshaku Shimazu-ke, ed., Sappan kaigun shi [History of the Satsuma-han Navy] (Tokyo, 1928), I, 218.Google Scholar Despite its title, this three-volume work incorporates much useful documentary material on Satsuma's overseas trade.

12 Kenshi, II, 689–693.

13 Ibid., II, 690.

14 Ibid., II, 690.

15 Sakamaki, p. 76, gives the following dates for investiture missions during the Tokugawa period: 1606, 1633, 1663, 1683, 1719, 1756, 1800, and 1866. See also, Kenshi, II, 713.

16 Kenshi, II, 691–692.

17 Ibid., II, 713–714; Kaigun shi, I, 203.

18 Sakamaki, p. 84.

* A roll of cloth of about twelve yards.

19 Kensht, II, 696.

20 Toshi, Takeno, “Sappan Ryukyu bōeki to shōnin Ishimoto-ke no kankei” [“Matters relating to the Ishimoto merchant family and the Satsuma-Ryukyu trade”], Kyushu keizai shi ronshu, II (May 15, 1956), 98.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., 98; Kensht, II, 704.

22 See article by Hall, op. cit.

23 Kenshi, II, 725–726.

* Same as a kan, 2.28 pounds, or one thousand momme.

** A unit of gold coin in the Tokugawa period equal to sixty momme of silver.

24 Ibid., II, 725. “Ryukyu-ri kokoroe kunji” [“Instructions and orders for Ryukyu officials”] manuscript copy, order of 1688, in Sappan Rekki Zasshu [ “Miscellany of rules and regulations of Satsuma-han”] unpublished collection of documents stored in the Shiryo Hensanjo, Tokyo University. Hereafter, SRZ. On the copper trade see article by Hall, op. cit.

25 Takekoshi, Yosoburo, The Economic Aspects of the History of Civilization of Japan (London, 1930), III, 190Google Scholar; Takizawa, Matsuyo, The Penetration of Money Economy in japan (New York, 1927), p. 38Google Scholar; Hall, 452–455.

26 Hall, 456.

27 Kenshi, II, 727.

28 Ibid., II, 728–729; Kaigun shi, I, 203–205; Takekoshi, III, 225.

* A unit of gold coin of the Tokugawa period, equal to one ryo or sixty momme of silver.

29 Kaigun shi, I, 206; Takekoshi, III, 225.

30 Takizawa, pp. 39–41; Kenshi, 11, 730; “Totō kinsu sadame' [“Regulation on the amount of money to be sent to China”], manuscript copy of a document of 1704 in SRZ.

31 Kenshi, II, 730–732; Takeno, p. 99; kankōkai', Kagoshima-ken shiryō ed., Sappan seiyō roku [Essential Political Records of Satstima-nan] (Kagoshima, 1960), p. 124.Google Scholar

32 Kenshi, II, 731–739.

33 Ibid., II, 747.

34 Takeno, pp. 99–100.

35 Kenshi, II, 748–750.

36 Kaigun shi, I, 201–202; Takeno, pp. 98–99. A good description of the organization and functioning of the kaisho is provided by Tokutomi Iichiro, Kinsei Nihon kokumin shi [History of the ]apanese People in the Modern Period], XX, 362–370.

37 Kaigun shi, I, 209–211.

38 Takeno, pp. 93–118.

39 Ibid., p. 95; Tokutomi, XXVI, 170–172.

40 Takeno, pp. 103–115.

41 Ibid., p. 116.

42 Shidehara, VIH (July, 1897), 622.

43 “Totō-sen itomono kaiire unnun tassho” [“Instructions to ships bound for China for purchasing cloth goods, etc.”], issued in 1657, SRZ. See also instruction issued in 1693, “Ryukyu zaiban bugyō e no mōshi watashi” [“Instructions to the Ryukyu zaiban”], SRZ.

44 Kenshi, II, 739–740.

45 Kerr, pp. 328–329. “Ryukyu hōrci” [“Ryukyu laws”], SRZ, a memorandum of 1780, discusses the restrictions on shipping money to the Ryukyus. Concerning an incident of 1766, the government states that though there had been a report of an excessive amount of money having been sent to the Ryukyus on the kaisen [ship bearing tribute to Satsuma], “there was a reason for this.” The reason is not provided. Moreover, the memorandum acknowledged reports of increasing amounts of money being sent to the Ryukyus since then. Upon investigation, it was decided that the charges were groundless. The official position was that though mistakes might have been made, the transportation of excess amounts of money was not due to smuggling activity. The tone of die memorandum suggests that money beyond the limits established by the bakufu was in fact being sent to die Ryukyus for the China trade with the unofficial sanction of the Satsuma government. For further Satsuma prohibition against the shipment of excess money to the Ryukyus, there is an order of 1785. See under “Ryukyu hōrei,” SRZ.

46 “Ryukyu zaiban bugyō e no mōshi watashi” (1693).

47 Kenshi, II, 74.

48 The reference to “bad” silver, “akugin,” is ambiguous, but it may refer to newly-debased coins which would diminish the total value of purchases of Chinese goods. If this interpretation is correct, the Satsuma authorities were intent on the continued use of the older currency. See also “Ryukyu zaiban bugyō e no mōshi watashi” (1693).

49 See instructions of 1700, “Zaiban bugyō chokuji watasu hako kakugo sho” [“Instructions to the zaiban bugyō for the direct transfer and special protection of crates”], SRZ. See also memorandum of 1693, “Ryukyu zaiban bugyō e no mōshi watashi.”

50 See detailed instructions of 1693, “Totō sen kibo no setsu kakugo oboe” [“Memorandum to prepare for the return of ships voyaging to China”], SRZ.

51 For notices restricting entry and exit into the Ryukyu-kan, issued in 1786 and 1790, see under “Ryukyu hōrei” SRZ.

52 Checking procedure at inspection points is described in instructions of 1804, “Tōbutsu nukiuri Ryukyu e tassho” [“Instructions to the Ryukyus on the illegal sale of Chinese goods”], SRZ.

53 “Tōbutsu torishimaru shorei” [“Various regulations on the control of Chinese goods”], instructions of 1719, SRZ.

54 Ibid., instruction of 1726.

55 Tokutomi, XXVI, 172–173.

56 Kaigun shi, I, 213–218.

57 “Tobutsu nukiuri, Ryukyu e tassho” op. cit.

58 Kenshi, II, 758–780; Kaigun shi, I, 182; Miyoshi, Fujita, Kagoshima keizai nisen roppyakunen shi [2600 years of Kagoshima economic history] (Kagoshima, 1941), pp. 93–110Google Scholar; Masanori, Kawakoshi, Minami Nihon bunka shi [Cultural history of southern Japan] (Tokyo, 1950), pp. 75–76.Google Scholar

59 Tokutomi, XXVI, 141–183, has a good account of Zusho Shozaemon's economic reforms. See also Kawakoshi, pp. 90–92.

60 Tokutomi, XXVI, 170; Ebihara Yasuyoshi, “Sappan Tempo-do igo zaisei kaikaku tenmatsu sho” [“Details of the economic reforms of Satsuma-han after the Tempo period”] (1884) in Kinsei shakai keizai sosho (Tokyo, n.d.), IV, 7–8.

61 Kaigun ini, I, 182; Tokutomi, XXVI, 169, believes Zusho's death may have been due to illness.

62 The Rōju's permission for Ryukyu-Western trade was rescinded in 1852, and in i862 the Satsuma-Ryukyu exchange was restricted to the Nagasaki port. Kaigun shi, I, 182–185.