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Red Seal ships
Red Seal ships (朱印船, Shuinsen) were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with red-sealed letters patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1635, more than 350 Japanese ships went overseas under this permit system.
From the 13th to the 16th century, Japanese ships were quite active in Asian waters, often in the role of "wakō" pirates, that raided the Korean and Chinese coasts. Often paid by various Japanese feudal leaders, they were frequently involved in Japan's civil wars during the early part of this period. Quasi-official trading missions were also sent to China, such as the Tenryūji-bune around 1341. The wakō attacks became less frequent by the third quarter of the sixteenth century. Wakō activity was efficiently curbed in the late 16th century with the interdiction of piracy by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the successful campaigns against pirate activity on the Chinese coast by Ming dynasty generals.[citation needed]
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the main trading intermediary in East Asia was the island kingdom of the Ryūkyū (modern Okinawa), which exchanged Japanese products (silver, swords) and Chinese products for Southeast Asian sappan wood and deer hides. Altogether 150 Ryukyuan ships are recorded between the kingdom and Southeast Asia, 61 of them for Đại Việt (Vietnam), 10 for Malacca, 10 for Patani, 8 for Java, etc. Their commerce disappeared around 1570 with the rise of Chinese merchants and the intervention of Portuguese and Spanish ships and corresponds with the beginnings of the Red Seal system. Japan finally invaded the Ryūkyū Kingdom in 1609.[citation needed]
When the first Europeans started to navigate in the Pacific Ocean (see also Nanban trade), they regularly encountered Japanese ships, such as when the Spanish welcomed in Manila in 1589 a storm-battered Japanese junk bound for Siam, or when the Dutch circumnavigator Olivier van Noort encountered a 110-ton Japanese junk in the Philippines in December 1600, and on the same voyage a Red Seal ship with a Portuguese captain off Borneo through which they learned about the arrival of William Adams in Japan.[citation needed]
The Red Seal system appears from at least 1592, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, date of the first known mention of the system in a document. The first actually preserved shuinjō (Red Seal permit) is dated to 1604, under Tokugawa Ieyasu, first ruler of Tokugawa Japan. Tokugawa issued red-sealed permits to his favorite feudal lords and principal merchants who were interested in foreign trade. By doing so, he was able to control Japanese traders and reduce Japanese piracy in the South Sea. His seal also guaranteed the protection of the ships, since he vowed to pursue any pirate or nation who would violate it.[citation needed]
Besides Japanese traders, 12 European and 11 Chinese residents, including William Adams and Jan Joosten, are known to have received permits. At one point after 1621, Jan Joosten is recorded to have possessed 10 Red Seal ships for commerce.[citation needed]
Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English ships along with Asian rulers basically protected Japanese Red Seal ships, since they had diplomatic relations with the Japanese shōgun. Only Ming China had nothing to do with this practice, because the Empire officially prohibited Japanese ships from entering Chinese ports. However, Ming officials were not able to stop Chinese smugglers from setting sail to Japan.[citation needed]
Red Seal ships usually ranged in size between 500 and 750 tons, a size equal or superior to European galleons, but inferior to that of the massive Portuguese carracks or to Manila galleons, which were often in the vicinity of 1,000 and 2,000 tons, respectively.[citation needed]
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Red Seal ships
Red Seal ships (朱印船, Shuinsen) were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with red-sealed letters patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1635, more than 350 Japanese ships went overseas under this permit system.
From the 13th to the 16th century, Japanese ships were quite active in Asian waters, often in the role of "wakō" pirates, that raided the Korean and Chinese coasts. Often paid by various Japanese feudal leaders, they were frequently involved in Japan's civil wars during the early part of this period. Quasi-official trading missions were also sent to China, such as the Tenryūji-bune around 1341. The wakō attacks became less frequent by the third quarter of the sixteenth century. Wakō activity was efficiently curbed in the late 16th century with the interdiction of piracy by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the successful campaigns against pirate activity on the Chinese coast by Ming dynasty generals.[citation needed]
Between the 15th and 16th centuries, the main trading intermediary in East Asia was the island kingdom of the Ryūkyū (modern Okinawa), which exchanged Japanese products (silver, swords) and Chinese products for Southeast Asian sappan wood and deer hides. Altogether 150 Ryukyuan ships are recorded between the kingdom and Southeast Asia, 61 of them for Đại Việt (Vietnam), 10 for Malacca, 10 for Patani, 8 for Java, etc. Their commerce disappeared around 1570 with the rise of Chinese merchants and the intervention of Portuguese and Spanish ships and corresponds with the beginnings of the Red Seal system. Japan finally invaded the Ryūkyū Kingdom in 1609.[citation needed]
When the first Europeans started to navigate in the Pacific Ocean (see also Nanban trade), they regularly encountered Japanese ships, such as when the Spanish welcomed in Manila in 1589 a storm-battered Japanese junk bound for Siam, or when the Dutch circumnavigator Olivier van Noort encountered a 110-ton Japanese junk in the Philippines in December 1600, and on the same voyage a Red Seal ship with a Portuguese captain off Borneo through which they learned about the arrival of William Adams in Japan.[citation needed]
The Red Seal system appears from at least 1592, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, date of the first known mention of the system in a document. The first actually preserved shuinjō (Red Seal permit) is dated to 1604, under Tokugawa Ieyasu, first ruler of Tokugawa Japan. Tokugawa issued red-sealed permits to his favorite feudal lords and principal merchants who were interested in foreign trade. By doing so, he was able to control Japanese traders and reduce Japanese piracy in the South Sea. His seal also guaranteed the protection of the ships, since he vowed to pursue any pirate or nation who would violate it.[citation needed]
Besides Japanese traders, 12 European and 11 Chinese residents, including William Adams and Jan Joosten, are known to have received permits. At one point after 1621, Jan Joosten is recorded to have possessed 10 Red Seal ships for commerce.[citation needed]
Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English ships along with Asian rulers basically protected Japanese Red Seal ships, since they had diplomatic relations with the Japanese shōgun. Only Ming China had nothing to do with this practice, because the Empire officially prohibited Japanese ships from entering Chinese ports. However, Ming officials were not able to stop Chinese smugglers from setting sail to Japan.[citation needed]
Red Seal ships usually ranged in size between 500 and 750 tons, a size equal or superior to European galleons, but inferior to that of the massive Portuguese carracks or to Manila galleons, which were often in the vicinity of 1,000 and 2,000 tons, respectively.[citation needed]