“The Repatriation of a Chinese Prisoner of War by Torihara Soan: Tokugawa Ieyasu’s First Negotiations with Ming China, 1600,”

The Journal of Osaka Historical Association (Historia) 202,2006

[Abstract]

In 1598, Japan’s seven-year war with Yi-Dynasty Korea and Ming-Dynasty China came to an end with the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The next year, Tokugawa Ieyasu—a powerful daimyo who sought to replace Hideyoshi as a ruler of Japan—began making attempts to restore relations with Korea and China. One of Ieyasu’s goals was to re-open official and direct trade with China. As part of this attempt, Ieyasu commanded Shimazu Yoshihiro, the daimyo of Satsuma, to repatriate Mao Guoke, a Ming soldier captured by the Satsuma army during the Korean Invasion. Ieyasu also ordered Shimazu to send an official letter to the Ming Court proposing that official trade between Japan and China be restarted. The letter indicated that Japan would attack Korea and China again if the Ming court refused to accept Ieyasu’s demands. To carry this message and repatriate Mao Guoke, Yoshihiro appointed Torihara Sôan, a trader from Bônotsu in Satsuma, in 1600.

This mission constituted Ieyasu’s first negotiations with the Ming, a process that continued into the Tokugawa Period. Despite the historical significance of examining this first trial as well as subsequent efforts at negotiations, little attention has been paid to this historical incident. In particular, how the Ming government received Ieyasu’s demands has remained unexplored. This paper examines the first negotiations by analyzing not only Japanese and Korean sources, but also hitherto little-used Ming-Dynasty documents.

In doing so, I demonstrate four points. First, Sôan and his followers, who executed Ieyasu’s diplomatic project, were border-crossing, international maritime traders whose crews contained Chinese pilots and steersmen. They were also deeply connected to the regional commercial networks linking Satsuma and Fujian. Second, the Ming court was clearly aware of Ieyasu’s demands for trade, but did not accede to them. Third, Ieyasu’s threats were not conveyed to the Ming court in order to conduct the negotiations peacefully. It is highly probable that the daimyo of Satsuma and Sôan’s group cooperatively performed some sort of intermediary role in translating Ieyasu’s actual demands into the message that the Ming court received. Hence, it could be said that Ieyasu’s first attempt to negotiate with Ming relied heavily on the Shimazu and Sôan. Fourth, Sôan and his followers returned to Satsuma without any punishment or hindrance.

I also discuss how this event came to be remembered in Satsuma. I show that Sôan’s mission was gradually re-imagined as a success, even though Ieyasu’s demand for official trade was ultimately not approved by Ming court. Likely, such a distortion was made in order to glorify the history of Shimazu clan and to show how indispensable they were to the Tokugawa Bakufu.

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