Japanese Pirates - Later Wokou Raids

Later Wokou Raids

The 1550s and 1560s saw a resurgence of the Wokou tide. The period of greatest Wokou activity was during the Jiajing and Wanli eras, also some of the weakest in Ming history. In the period from 1369 to 1466, the Wokou raided Zhejiang 34 times, on average once every three years. By comparison, in the period 1523 to 1588, they made 66 raids, on average once a year.

In contrast with previous Wokou, however, the pirate bands of the middle 16th century no longer consisted preponderantly of Japanese. Although Wokou remained the common label by which they were identified, most of these bandits were in fact Chinese.

The term often used for Japanese pirates was bahan (Portuguese transcription: bafan). The term is written as bafan or pofan ("tattered sails"). According to the Zhouhai Tubian, Satsuma, Higo, and Nagato were the Japanese provinces that were the most prolific breeding grounds of the pirates; next came Ōsumi, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hakata, Hyuga, Settsu, Harima, and the island of Tanegashima. Natives of Buzen, Bungo and Izumi also took part in raids on occasion, often when the opportunity of joining a Satsuma expedition to China presented itself.

An inequitable taxation and property system, combined with endemic corruption, forced many Chinese farmers in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang to seek livelihoods on the sea. The Ming ban on ocean-going, selectively enforced by local authorities, made these people dissidents. Sometimes pirates and sometimes merchants, they used their local knowledge to make successful raiding expeditions. In 1533 the Ming Ministry of War complained that armed fleets were pillaging at will along the coast. Pirates often also engaged in illegal smuggling operations and raided rival merchant marine. During the 1540s the disparate groups of Chinese pirates and traders became more organised. They gathered on islands off the eastern coastline and colluded with the Japanese.

In this way, the acts of piracy and overseas trade were interconnected. In 1523, for example, the Hosokawa trading party in Ningbo attacked its rival mission from the Ōuchi clan and then proceeded to loot the city. It seized a number of ships, and set sail. The Ming commander sent in pursuit was killed in a sea battle.

Proposals to appoint a governor with jurisdiction over coastal defense first appeared in 1524 after the Ningbo affair. Supporters argued that the Japanese were as much a threat as the Mongols and that administrative arrangements in effect on the northern borders should therefore be applied to the coast as well. In 1529, after a garrison on the coast had rioted and fled to join pirate bands, a censor was sent to inspect coastal defenses, to coordinate the suppression of piracy, and to punish the leaders of the riot. In 1531 this official was transferred and not replaced.