Japan–Ming trade-ship flag

In 1371, in an attempt to prevent opponents joining forces with the wakō, the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming, issued a maritime prohibition on private overseas voyages and commerce.

[3][6] For nearly one hundred and fifty years, until the last such mission in 1547, Chinese "gifts", such as silk thread, brocades, medicines, books, and ceramics, were provided in return for Japanese "tribute", such as lacquerware, bronze vessels, swords, armour, fans, screens, and sulphur (used in papermaking).

[6] Two further dates help frame that of the Japan-Ming trade ship flag: 1567, when the Ming rescinded their maritime prohibitions, and 1592, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched his initial invasion of Korea.

[12][16] At this point in Sengoku Japan, after the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate and the death of unifying warlord Oda Nobunaga in 1582, no central authority was in a position to manage foreign trade and relations, leaving local daimyō free to adopt their own measures.

Contemporary Chinese sources also suggest the central Ming government in Beijing, the "northern capital", was unable fully to control the vessels coming and going from its southern coasts.

[13][6] Dated by its inscription to 1584, the flag was to be raised the following year by a trading ship from Quanzhou in China as a "port entry certificate" in Akamagaseki, now Shimonoseki, in Nagato Province, then in the hands of the Mōri clan, and governed through their daikan (代官), from the Takasu Family.

[12][16][17] From around 1578, family head Takasu Motokane served in the capacity of daikan of Akamagaseki (赤間関代官), his responsibilities ranging from governing this and the neighboring towns to collecting tariffs, managing trade vessels, and mediating disputes, as well as procuring foreign goods for public and private purposes.

[15][16] In 2015, the trade ship flag formed part of the Kyūshū National Museum special exhibition, Sengoku Daimyo: 16th century Warlords' Rivalry in Kyushu over billowing Asian seas.

[19] The Takasu originally from Bingo Province and officiating at Akamegaseki in the Kanmon Straits, gateway to the Inland Sea, there is also a replica of the flag at the Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of History in Fukuyama.

Japan-Ming trade ship flag (1584) ( ICP ), 167 by 95 centimetres (66 in × 37 in) ( Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives )
Sketch of a Ming tally trading licence or kangō ( ja ) from Record of Entrance into Ming China in Yang Earth Rat ( 戊子入明記 ) ( i.e. , 1468), the journal of Zen priest Tenyo Seikei ( ja ) , preserved at Myōchi-in, a sub-temple of Tenryū-ji in Kyōto . Approved " tribute ships " were issued an official licence. To enable verification that a licence was genuine, it was produced by placing the blank document in a registration book, so as to cover half the writing surface, prior to its inscription (with brush and ink ); when the inked licence was removed, half of the characters would be left behind; on the basis that only the original licence would be an exact match when placed on the corresponding leaf of the register, approved tribute ships could be determined [ 1 ] [ 2 ] ( cf. split tally sticks)
Draft agreement between Takasu Motokane ( 高須元兼 ) and the same three Ming merchants, similarly dating to the tenth month of Tenshō 12 (1584), in which it is stated that, two ships belonging to Cai Fu having just arrived at Akamegaseki, upon his return the following year, such a flag would enable rendezvous with assigned trading partners, in accordance with the wishes of Mōri Terumoto [ 12 ] [ 13 ] ( Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives )
Letter from Mōri Terumoto to Takasu Motokane of the Tenshō era entitled "private dealings" ( 内々用事 ) and detailing trade goods to be obtained, also their quantities, including saltpetre and one catty of kara-ito or "Chinese threads" [ 12 ] [ 13 ]
( Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives )