《41》Medieval Hakata - Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade) (Part 2)

《41》Medieval Hakata - Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade) (Part 2)

《41》Medieval Hakata - Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade) (Part 2)...Ouchi Clan's Rule and Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade)

 

- There was another reason for the development of medieval Hakata. This is because of the historical build-up (historical conditions) of the city, from Korokan, a window for ancient trade, to Sode-no-Minato in the late Heian period, to medieval Hakata, the center of Japan-Sung trade in the Kamakura period.

 

- Another addition to this history is the role of Hakata as a transit point for the Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade) in the Muromachi period. The "Japan-Ming trade (the tally trade)" was an intergovernmental trade between the Muromachi Bakufu and the Ming Dynasty in China. (All other trade was unofficial and clandestine.)

 

- The heyday of the Ouchi clan (1478-1551), when the Muromachi shogunate left the control of Japan-Ming trade(the tally trade) to the Ouchi clan, the feudal lord of Chikuzen, was the golden age of medieval Hakata.
Incidentally, the townscape of medieval Hakata as seen by the renga poet Sogi was exactly what it looked like during this period.

 

*Photos show a portrait of Ouchi Yoshitaka, his historical documents, and a tally trade ship. /


中世博多-勘合貿易(その2)…大内氏の支配と勘合貿易

 

- 中世博多の発展にはもう一つの理由がありました。それが古代貿易の窓口となった鴻臚館、平安末期の袖の湊、鎌倉時代の日宋貿易の中心地となった中世博多へと連なる歴史的な積み重ね(歴史的条件)があったためです。

 

- その歴史にもうひとつ加わったものが、室町時代の勘合貿易の中継地としての博多という役割りです。勘合貿易とは室町幕府と中国の明朝とが行った政府間の貿易です。(それ以外の貿易は非公式な密貿易となります。)

 

- 勘合貿易の実権が室町幕府の手を離れて、筑前守護大名の大内氏に移った大内氏全盛期の時代(1478年~1551年)は、まさに中世博多の黄金時代でした。ちなみに連歌師宗祇がみた中世博多の街並みはこの時期の姿でした。

 

*写真は、大内義隆の肖像画、歴史文書、そして勘合船です。