Like the Koreans, the kaizoku “sea robbers”, attacked boats carrying rich cargo, notably the rice tax or shipments of grain, and were not above murdering their victims for loot.
Pirates of the Inland Sea
Their main theatre of operations, the Inland Sea between the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, formed an ideal setting for kaizoku raids.
With their hundreds of islands, inlets and coves, the coasts of the Inland Sea provided shelter, hiding places and chances to ambush trading ships and the other lucrative traffic passing by. Other vantage points for pirates were provided by the Sandanbeki cliffs at Shirihama, a huge slab of rock, 164 ft. high, on the southern coast of Honshu. Here, the pirates were reputed to live in a deep cave eroded out of the rock face, and also use it as a place to conceal their illicit treasure.
Treasures of Nara
To counter the danger piracy presented to peace, property, law and order, the Imperial Court issued special decrees. In 931AD, for example, the court ordered that the roads and rivers between the eastern end of the Inland Sea, and the area around Kyoto and Nara on Honshu island must be closely guarded to protect its palaces, its temples and their treasures.
Nara in particular had all the makings of a prize destination for pirates. Its temples were stuffed with tempting valuables. One of them, the Todai temple, contained the Great Buddha, a seated statue 49 ft. tall carved in bronze and more than 9,000 other items, all priceless.
Even so, Nara remained vulnerable even after the decree of 931AD, for no positive action was taken and the order had to be repeated in each of the next two years. In 932AD, a new post was created for a pirate-hunter grandly named Tsuibu haizoku shi, ‘ambassador for the pursuit and capture of pirates’.
Whether or not he took action is unknown: in any event, the ‘ambassador’ was unable to prevent an impudent pirate assault in 934AD in which a government granary in Iyo province on Shikoku island was set on fire and burned to the ground.
Pirate revolt
Two years later, the Imperial Court was faced with a well-organised pirate revolt led by an aristocrat, Fujiwara Sumitomo who had put together his own kaizoku group. Sumitomo was a native of Iyo province and was first employed by the Japanese military to hunt down and destroy pirates.
But by 936AD he had clearly undergone a change of heart - and a change of job - to become a pirate himself. He mounted plundering raids in style and strength with a fleet numbering around 1,000 vessels.
Sumitomo lost his men at a significant rate after a new governor of Iyo province offered them a tempting deal to renounce piracy. Some thirty pirate chiefs co-operated with the governor, offering him lists of candidates.
Ultimately over 2,500 men gave themselves up, confessed their sins and received pardons. They were given land, clothes, food and a supply of seeds and were told to become farmers.
That was easier said than done when, at this time, the prospects were hardly favourable for taking up the farming life. Disease and famine were rife in Japan in 936AD and subsequent years were even more disastrous. Predictably, the penitents soon reneged and returned to their old ways.
The Return of Fujiwara Sumitomo
In 938AD and 939AD, Sumitomo was back in harness, once more leading pirate raids and making a great success of it. He controlled almost all the traffic in the Inland Sea and had supporters in the capital, Nara. They proved useful when Fujiwara was summoned before the Emperor Yutaakira who demanded that he explain himself.
Sumitomo, it appears, was not punished for his misdemeanours. Instead, he was set free. He was certainly not cured of piracy and initiated a plan to attack Kyoto. The vice-governor of Bizen province, Fujiwara Kokoda, somehow learned what was afoot and set out for Kyoto to alert the Emperor. He never got there.
Sumitomo was waiting for him at a post station together with a number of his men who showered him and his family with arrows. Kokoda was taken prisoner and his ears were cut off. His nose was sliced in two, his wife kidnapped and his children were killed. Not long afterward Sumitomo assaulted Bitchu province, close by the Inland Sea, in western Honshu.
At around the same time, dire news reached the Emperor Yutaakira from northern Japan: a rebellion had broken out, led by the samurai Taira Masakado who declared himself Shinno or ‘new Emperor’. The rebellion was soon suppressed. Masakado was killed in battle and beheaded.
Tricking Sumitomo
Meanwhile, the Emperor played for time until his forces were free to deal with Fujiwara. As a lure to fool him into complacency, Sumitomo was offered a highly ranked position at the imperial court. News of this prestigious appointment took some time to reach him. but when it did, Sumitomo flattered, but apparently not suspecting anything untoward, gladly accepted the honour.
Not that this prevented him from further pirating. He put together a fleet of 400 ships and attacked Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku and in 940AD, embarked on a fresh series of raids, assaulting Dazaifu on Kyushu island, and moving on to Suo province on Honshu where he burned down a government mint.
The End of Sumitomo
This, though, was almost the end of Sumitomo’s pirate career. In 941AD, he managed to escape from an attack by government forces, but he was finally brought to battle in Hakata Bay, off the island of Kyushu where he met catastrophe: he lost 800 of his ships and many hundreds of his men, some of whom committed suicide by throwing themselves overboard when defeat seemed certain.
Sumitomo, remarkably, escaped again, but was captured on his home ground in Iyo province four weeks later. His head was cut off and later put on display in Kyoto.
Please see also; Pirates of Japan: The Terrifying Wokou
Sources
Turnbull, Stephen: Pirate of the Far East: 811-1639 (Warrior) Colchester, Essex, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2007) ISBN-10: 1846031748/ISBN-13: 978-1846031748
Konstam, Angus and Cordingly, David: The History of Pirates (Globe Pequot Press Guilford, Connecticut Lyons Press, Globe Piquot Press 2002) ISBN-10: 9781585745166/ISBN-13: 978-1585745166
Japanese history: Nara, Heian Periods - Japan Guide
Brenda Ralph Lewis - My interest in history dates from childhood. I am presently the author of 120 books and hundreds of articles, all on historical ...
