Chapter 53: Post-Gapan Japan, From One War To Another
Japan, in winning the Iberian-Japanese War, had not only made substantial territorial and commercial gains in Southeast Asia but also had beaten the most powerful empire in the world. Despite a seemingly positive outcome, the war had come at several hidden costs. Overseas trade had been completely disrupted in the region as a result of the war, the Spanish and Portuguese having been expelled from all Japanese ports and vice versa and Macau having been effectively blockaded halfway through the war. Additionally, the numerous naval battles in the South China Sea made those waters too dangerous for many merchants to traverse through. On top of this, the war had been an expensive endeavor. Expanded trade with Joseon during the war wasn’t enough to make up the difference, resulting in the implementation of a wartime scutage, the first ever direct tax on the daimyo. Despite the unpopularity of its implementation among many daimyo, Azuchi through inspector-general Hori Chikayoshi and Nobutomo’s closest confidante among the Sangi-shu, Inaba Michikatsu, helped coerce the acceptance of the tax. This, however, failed to prevent bitterness from developing among the taxed lords.
Through the Treaty of Gapan, Japan became the new mercantile middleman between Europe and Ming China through the return of Macau from Portugal back to the latter, taking on a role previously filled by Portuguese Macau before the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations in 1607. This incentivized the return of many Spanish and Portuguese merchants to cities like Nagasaki and Sakai. However, Catholic missionaries and priests were forbidden from returning and the religious practices of the merchants were strictly monitored and regulated by Azuchi, the construction of even churches exclusive to the Iberians banned in post-Gapan Japan. This, combined with anti-Iberian sentiments among many among the general populace, limited Spanish-Portuguese presence in the home islands and the Iberian powers would never attain the same economic presence and influence they once held years before the war. The Dutch and the English to a much lesser extent were thus able to retain much of their mercantile gains from the war. On the other hand, Azuchi ironically would collect less revenue than expected from their portion of the Manila trade as that galleon trade’s revenue declined due partially to decreased Iberian presence in Japan.
Additionally, Japan’s new role as a mercantile middleman soured relations with their nominal overlord, Ming China, for Emperor Zhenchun and his court began to feel that Japan held too much control over their seas and oceangoing commerce. This resentment was exacerbated by the realm being economically weakened by prolonged peasant rebellions and frequent natural disasters, increasing the importance of the issue in the imperial court’s mind. Azuchi would send a delegation to Beijing headed by Nobutomo’s younger brother Oda Tomoaki in 1634 in order to ease tensions through concessions and tribute, including greater privileges for Chinese merchants at Japanese ports. Although the delegation and tribute was initially well-received by the Ming emperor, he became frustrated when Tomoaki refused many additional Ming demands, including reducing Dutch presence in Japan, owing to bad history between Ming China and the Dutch [1]. What offended the Zhenchun Emperor was Japan effectively undermining the norms of the longstanding Cefeng tributary system, which the latter was a voluntary participant of, by challenging his absolute superiority. The Japanese delegation would eventually accede to reducing Dutch presence in Bireitou only, a compromise Zhenchun accepted as neither realm could afford war or a decline in commercial relations. Despite a thaw in tensions afterwards, Sino-Japanese relations would never be the same. This diplomatic interaction also showed Beijing just how much had changed beyond its borders and how perhaps a new course of action might be necessary.
Portrait of the Zhenchun Emperor
The first sign of this was the 1638 opening of Macau as a port open to limited trade with all friendly European countries by Emperor Zhenchun after the economy of the region began to suffer significantly with the lost trade. Even the Dutch were with great reluctance allowed access, although this move would over time improve Dutch-Ming relations. To a certain extent, however, this move was a snub towards Azuchi and meant to break Japanese commercial pre-eminence. For all its meaning however, the opening of Macau drew little reaction from Japan as by this time, Nobutomo was preoccupied with conflict in the home islands.
This conflict would come from the same resentment that had originated over the introduction of wartime scutage, the end of the war failing to resolve due to Japanese gains disproportionately benefiting Azuchi, hereditary vassals, and tozama daimyo in the west. Among those dissatisfied was Hojo clan head and prominent Kanto daimyo Hojo Ujinobu, a maternal grandson of Nobunaga himself [2]. Despite the Hojo clan being one of the most powerful daimyo in the realm and its marriage alliance with the Oda clan, it had been largely excluded from Azuchi politics, instead relegated within Kanto affairs like many other tozama lords in the region under the Kamakura Tandai’s authority. Ujinobu had always privately hated the Kamakura-fu’s existence and how it suppressed his and the entire region’s political power, especially with nearby clans like the Tokugawa, Date, and even the Takigawa attaining greater realmwide prominence. This hatred deepened with Satake Yoshinobu’s appointment to the Sangi-shu over the Hojo lord, and although he contributed manpower to the third invasion force during the war and thus avoided paying scutage, Ujinobu still considered the tax an act of overreach and was frustrated that the war effectively ended any possibility of his own plans to establish direct trade between the Kanto region and New Spain. Additionally, despite his military contributions to the war effort, he received no rewards for his service.
Portrait of Hojo Ujinobu
Although Ujinobu was a powerful daimyo, not only was Azuchi’s authority reaching unprecedented heights after the war but his great prestige ironically risked arousing suspicion as the Hojo lord could easily attract the allegiance of other sympathetic lords. However, his position would be strengthened by the deaths of two men in 1636: the “One-eyed Dragon of the North” Date Masamune and the 61 year old Kamakura Tandai, Oda Toshimasa. This left a power vacuum that allowed Ujinobu to reassert the Hojo faction’s power in Kamakura. Then, in 1637, came a secret letter from Owari province, one that would engineer the formation of a conspiracy against the sitting daijo-daijin and trigger a large-scale rebellion.
[1]: In 1618, the Dutch took Chinese junks in order to force the opening of a port in Fujian. This was unsuccessful. In 1622, the VOC unsuccessfully attempted to take Macau from the Portuguese. Between 1622 and 1624, the VOC and Ming fought over control of the Penghu Islands, which concluded in a VOC defeat.
[2]: Ujinobu is the son of Hojo Ujinao and Tokuhime, Nobunaga’s eldest daughter and also Tokugawa Nobuyasu’s wife between 1567 and 1579.
