Nanban trade
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Nanban trade (南蛮貿易, Nanban bōeki, "Southern barbarian trade") or the Nanban trade period (南蛮貿易時代, Nanban bōeki jidai, "Southern barbarian trade period") was a period in the
The Nanban trade as a form of European contact began with
First contacts
Japanese accounts of Europeans
Following contact with the Portuguese on Tanegashima in 1542, the Japanese were at first rather wary of the newly arrived foreigners. The culture shock was quite strong, especially because Europeans were not able to understand the Japanese writing system nor accustomed to using chopsticks.
They eat with their fingers instead of with chopsticks such as we use. They show their feelings without any self-control. They cannot understand the meaning of written characters. (from Boxer, Christian Century).
European accounts of Japan
The island of Jampon, according to what all the Chinese say, is larger than that of the Léquios, and the king is more powerful and greater and is not given to trading, nor are his subjects. He is a heathen king, a vassal of the king of China. They do not often trade in China because it is far off and they have no junks, nor are they seafaring men.[3]
The first comprehensive and systematic report of a European about Japan is the Tratado em que se contêm muito sucinta e abreviadamente algumas contradições e diferenças de costumes entre a gente de Europa e esta província de Japão of Luís Fróis, in which he described Japanese life concerning the roles and duties of men and women, children, Japanese food, weapons, medicine, medical treatment, diseases, books, houses, gardens, horses, ships and cultural aspects of Japanese life like dances and music.[4] Several decades later, when Hasekura Tsunenaga became the first Japanese official arriving in Europe, his presence, habits and cultural mannerisms gave rise to many picturesque descriptions circulating among the public:
- "They never touch food with their fingers, but instead use two small sticks that they hold with three fingers."
- "They blow their noses in soft silky papers the size of a hand, which they never use twice, so that they throw them on the ground after usage, and they were delighted to see our people around them precipitate themselves to pick them up."
- "Their Scimitar-like swords and daggers cut so well that they can cut a soft paper just by putting it on the edge and by blowing on it." ("Relations of Mme de St Tropez", October 1615, Bibliothèque Inguimbertine, Carpentras).[5]
Renaissance Europeans were quite fond of Japan's immense richness in precious metals, mainly owing to Marco Polo's accounts of gilded temples and palaces, but also to the relative abundance of surface ores characteristic of a volcanic country, before large-scale deep-mining became possible in Industrial times. Japan was to become a major exporter of copper and silver during the period. At its peak, 1/3 of the world's silver came from Japan.[6]
Japan was also noted for its comparable or even exceptional levels of population and urbanization relative to the nations of the West (see List of countries by population in 1600), and some Europeans became quite fascinated with Japan, with Alessandro Valignano even writing that the Japanese "excel not only all the other Oriental peoples, they surpass the Europeans as well".[7]
Early European visitors noted the quality of Japanese craftsmanship and metalsmithing. The later sources, most notably those written after the end of Japan's isolation period, also report Japanese blades and swords in general as good quality weapons with a notable artistic value.[8][9]
Portuguese trade in the 16th century
Ever since 1514 that the Portuguese had traded with China from Malacca, and the year after the first Portuguese landfall in Japan, trade commenced between Malacca, China, and Japan. The Chinese Emperor had decreed an embargo against Japan as a result of piratical wokou raids against China – consequently, Chinese goods were in scarce supply in Japan and so, the Portuguese found a lucrative opportunity to act as middlemen between the two realms.[10]
Trade with Japan was initially open to any, but in 1550, the Portuguese Crown monopolized the rights to trade with Japan.[10] Henceforth, once a year a fidalgo was awarded the rights for a single trade venture to Japan with considerable privileges, such as the title of captain-major of the voyage to Japan, with authority over any Portuguese subjects in China or Japan while he was in port, and the right to sell his post, should he lack the necessary funds to undertake the enterprise. He could charter a royal vessel or purchase his own, at about 40,000 xerafins.[11] His ship would set sail from Goa, called at Malacca and China before proceeding to Japan and back.
In 1554, captain-major Leonel de Sousa
The state of civil-war in Japan was also highly beneficial to the Portuguese, as each competing lord sought to attract trade to their domains by offering better conditions.
Vessels
Among the vessels involved in the trade linking Goa and Japan, the most famous were Portuguese
The Portuguese referred to this vessel as the nau da prata ("silver carrack") or nau do trato ("trade carrack"); the Japanese dubbed them kurofune, meaning "
In the 16th century, large junks belonging to private owners from Macau often accompanied the great ship to Japan, about two or three; these could reach about 400 or 500 tons burden.
Traded goods
By far the most valuable commodities exchanged in the "nanban trade" were Chinese silks for Japanese silver, which was then traded in China for more silk.[19] Although accurate statistics are lacking, it has been estimated that roughly half of Japan's yearly silver output was exported, most of it through the Wokou (Japanese and Chinese), Ryukyuans and Portuguese, amounting to about 18 – 20 tons in silver bullion.[20] The English merchant Peter Mundy estimated that Portuguese investment at Canton ascended to 1,500,000 silver taels or 2,000,000 Spanish dollars.[21][22] The Portuguese also exported surplus silk from Macau to Goa and Europe via Manila.[22][23]
Nonetheless, numerous other items were also transactioned, such as gold, Chinese
Japanese captured in battle were also sold by their compatriots to the Portuguese as slaves, but the Japanese would also sell family members they could not afford to sustain because of the civil-war. According to Prof. Boxer, both old and modern Asian authors have "conveniently overlooked" their part in the enslavement of their countrymen.[27] They were well regarded for their skills and warlike character, and some ended as far as India and even Europe, some armed retainers or as concubines or slaves to other slaves of the Portuguese.[28][29]
In 1571,
The overall profits from the Japan trade, carried on through the black ship, was estimated to ascend to over 600,000 cruzados, according to various contemporary authors such as
The monopoly of Portugal on trade with Japan for a European nation started being challenged by Spanish ships from Manila after 1600 (until 1620[39]), the Dutch after 1609 and the English in 1613 (until 1623[40]). Nonetheless, it was found that neither the Dutch nor the Spanish could effectively replace the Portuguese because Portugal had privileged access to Chinese markets and investors through Macau.[11] The Portuguese were only definitively banned in 1638 after the Shimabara Rebellion, on the grounds that they smuggled priests into Japan aboard their vessels.
Dutch trade
The
In 1605, two of the Liefde's crew were sent to
The Dutch also engaged in piracy and naval combat to weaken Portuguese and Spanish shipping in the Pacific, and ultimately became the only westerners to be allowed access to Japan from the small enclave of Dejima after 1638 and for the next two centuries.
Technological and cultural exchanges
The Japanese were introduced to several new technologies and cultural practices (so were the Europeans to Japanese, see
Tanegashima guns
The Japanese were interested in Portuguese hand-held guns. The first two Europeans to reach Japan in the year 1543 were the Portuguese traders António da Mota and Francisco Zeimoto (Fernão Mendes Pinto claimed to have arrived on this ship as well, but this is in direct conflict with other data he presents), arriving on a Chinese ship at the southern island of Tanegashima where they introduced hand-held guns for trade. The Japanese were already familiar with gunpowder weaponry (invented by, and transmitted from China), and had been using basic Chinese originated guns and cannon tubes called "Teppō" (鉄砲 "Iron cannon") for around 270 years before the arrival of the Portuguese. In comparison, the Portuguese guns were light, had a matchlock firing mechanism, and were easy to aim. Because the Portuguese-made firearms were introduced into Tanegashima, the arquebus was ultimately called Tanegashima in Japan. At that time, Japan was in the middle of a civil war called the Sengoku period (Warring States period).
Within a year after the first trade in guns, Japanese swordsmiths and ironsmiths managed to reproduce the matchlock mechanism and mass-produce the Portuguese guns. Barely fifty years later, "by the end of the 16th century, guns were almost certainly more common in Japan than in any other country in the world", its armies equipped with a number of guns dwarfing any contemporary army in Europe (Perrin). The guns were strongly instrumental in the unification of Japan under