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Wokou

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16th century Japanese pirate raids.
Wokou
Chinese name
Chinese倭寇
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinwakō
Yamatoko
Bopomofoㄨㄛ ㄎㄡˋ
Wu
Romanizationu kheu
Hakka
Romanizationvo24 kieu55
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingwo1 kau3
Southern Min
Hokkien POJe-khòo
Korean name
Hangul왜구
Ooigu
Transcriptions
Revised Romanizationwaegu
Japanese name
Kanji倭寇 海乱鬼
Kanaわこう かいらぎ

Wokou (Chinese: 倭寇; pinyin: Wōkòu; Japanese: わこう Wakō; Korean: 왜구 Waegu), which literally translates to Japanese pirates, were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea.

The term Wokou is a combination of "Wō" (倭) referring to Japanese, and "kòu" (寇), meaning "bandit". The earliest textual reference to the term "Wokou" as a Japanese invader comes from the Korean Gwanggaeto Stele erected in 414.[1]

Constituents

According to the Annals of Joseon Dynasty in 1395,[2] wokou were commanded by a number of small and medium-sized feudal lords of the coastal areas of Japan and consisted of petty farmers and fishermen. Wokou were said to number around 20–400 ships. The lack of political stability in Japan at the time (see Sengoku period) was one of the primary causes of the appearance of wokou.[citation needed]

China & Korea

Korea launched attacks on pirate bases on Tsushima in 1419 with the Gihae Eastern Expedition. General Yi Jongmu's fleet of 227 ships and 17,285 soldiers set off from Geoje Island toward Tsushima on June 19, 1419. The routes of the Korean attack were guided by captured Japanese pirates. After landing, General Yi Jongmu first sent captured Japanese pirates as emissaries to ask for surrender. When he received no reply, he sent out his forces and the soldiers proceeded to raid the pirates and destroy their settlements. The Korean army destroyed 129 boats, 1939 houses and killed or enslaved 135 coastal residents as well as rescueing 131 Chinese and Korean captives of the pirates and 21 slaves on the island.[3][4] The number of Wokou raids dropped dramatically since the Korean expedition.[citation needed]

One of the gates of the Chongwu Fortress on the Fujian coast (originally built ca. 1384)

Two well known Chinese military figures involved in the combating of Wokou is Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou. Yu Dayou was a general of the Ming Dynasty who studied martial arts in a shaolin temple and who was assigned to defend the coast against the Japanese pirates.[5] In 1553, a young man named Qi Jiguang became Assistant Regional Military Commissioner of the Ming Dynasty and was assigned to "punish the bandits and guard the people" which meant taking on the Japanese pirates attacking the Ming east coast. At the time he was only twenty-six years old. On the eve of the next year he was promoted to full Commissioner in Zhejiang because of his successes.[6]

Some of the coastal forts built for defense against Wokou, can still be found in Fujian. Among them is the well-restored Chongwu Fortress in Chongwu Town, Huai'an County and the ruins of the Liu'ao Fortress in Liu'ao, Zhangpu County.[7]

Attacks by the Wokou. Fourteenth century painting.

Controversy

Some Japanese scholars[8] claim that some wokou were Korean, due to one interesting sentence that exists within a Korean text. In the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong Sillok (Hangul: 세종실록; Hanja: 世宗實錄), Sunmong Lee said, "I hear that in the late period of the Goryeo Dynasty, Wokou were roaming over this land and peasants could not stand against them. However, even though only 1 or 2 out of 10 incidents were caused by real Japanese (Hangul: 왜인, Hanja: 倭人), some of our peasants wore the clothes of Japan, formed a group and caused trouble... in order to stop all evils, there is nothing more urgent than Hopae (a Goryeo word meaning 'personal identification')."[9] This is the only record that documents some imitation wokou as Korean. Because of this record, some Japanese scholars claim that a portion of the wokou were Korean. Other scholars believe that this record is dubious, as Sunmong Lee was not an investigator working against the wokou, and was not alive during the Goryeo Dynasty. His record is based on a rumor he heard, ("I hear that..") implying that he was relating hearsay rather than facts. There are no other records indicating any Koreans imitated wokou raiders, which implies that the frequency of Korean wokou imitators was not nearly as high as Sunmong Lee's rumor suggests. In any case, most of the early wokou were of Japanese origin. Incidents relating to imitation wokou (of unknown nationality) were only 0.57% (3 of 529) within the full period of the Goryeo dynasty. (The other 99.43% of all Wokou incidents were from Japanese raiders).[10]

Scholars who doubt the truth of Sunmong Lee’s record believe that it cannot be used to support the theory that many wokou raiders were Korean because his understanding of the wokou raids was based on hearsay, not on any source of facts, and because it was mainly intended to make the Korean king at the time strongly aware of the seriousness of public security and the importance of Hopae. The main body of Lee's record concentrates on how public security was deteriorating and how it required special attention. Different terms were used to distinguish between wokou and imitation wokou (倭寇 and 假倭, respectively). The Goryeo-sa states that only 3 incidents were caused by imitation Wokou. In addition, there are no Chinese, Japanese, or Korean records that document wokou imitators as Korean.[10]

Notable individuals

See also

References

  1. ^ Gwanggaeto Stele: "十四年甲辰而倭不軌，侵入帶方界□□ □□□，石城□連船□□□王躬率□□從平穰□□□鋒相遇，王幢要截盪刺，倭寇潰敗，斬殺無數。"
  2. ^ 太祖 7卷, 4年(1395 乙亥) 4月 19日 壬午
  3. ^ http://sillok.history.go.kr/inspection/insp_king.jsp?id=wda_10106020_004
  4. ^ 朝鮮王朝実録世宗4卷1年（1419年）6月20日:"我師分道搜捕, 奪賊船大小百二十九艘, 擇可用者二十艘, 餘悉焚之, 又焚賊戶千九百三十九。 前後斬首百十四, 擒生口二十一, 芟除田上禾穀, 獲被虜中國男婦百三十一名"
  5. ^ http://www.chineselongsword.com/
  6. ^ http://www.plumpub.com/info/Bios/bio_qijiguang.htm
  7. ^ Yang Shuiming (杨水明), 六鳌古城：倾听历史的涛声 (The old Liu'ao Fortress: listening to the waves of history) Template:Zh icon
  8. ^ ja:倭寇
  9. ^ 世宗 114卷 28年 (1446 丙寅) 10月 28日 (壬戌) "臣聞前朝之季, 倭寇興行, 民不聊生, 然其間倭人不過一二, 而本國之民, 假著倭服, 成黨作亂, 是亦鑑也。"
  10. ^ a b About imitation wokou, Chungcheong-maeil 그러나 우리 측 사료인 ‘고려사’에는 단 3건의 가왜(假倭)기록이 있을 뿐이다. 1223년부터 1392년까지 169년간 총 529회의 침입에 겨우 3번의 ‘가왜’ 기록이 있을 뿐인데, 이를 보고 왜구의 주체를 고려인으로 봄은 어불성설이고 침소봉대를 해도 너무 지나치다고 볼 수 있다. ‘조선왕조실록’에도 왜구침구 기사가 무려 312건이 나오는데 이 기사 어디에도 조선인이 왜구라는 말은 없다.Template:Ko

“The inseparable trinity: Japan's relations with China and Korea”; Elisonas, Jurgis; Cambridge Press 1991;pgs 235 - 300

Literature

Primary sources:

  • Zheng Ruohui, Zhouhai Tubian (籌海図編)
  • Hŭi-gyŏng Song, Shōsuke Murai Rōshōdō Nihon kōroku : Chōsen shisetsu no mita chūsei Nihon (老松堂日本行錄 : 朝鮮使節の見た中世日本) Iwanami Shoten, Tōkyō, 1987. ISBN 978-4-00-334541-2

Secondary sources:

  • So, Kwan-wai. Japanese Piracy in Ming China During the sixteenth Century. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, 1975. ISBN 0-87013-179-6
  • Boxer, C.R. “Piracy in the South China Sea”, History Today, XXX, 12 (December), p. 40-44.
  • Stephen Turnbull "Samurai: The World of the Warrior" Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 2003, p. 155-157. ISBN 1-84176-740-9
  • Boxer, Charles Ralph; Pereira, Galeote; Cruz, Gaspar da; Rada, Martín de (1953), South China in the sixteenth century: being the narratives of Galeote Pereira, Fr. Gaspar da Cruz, O.P. [and] Fr. Martín de Rada, O.E.S.A. (1550-1575), Issue 106 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Printed for the Hakluyt Society (Includes an English translation of Galeote Pereira's report and Gaspar da Cruz' book, with C.R. Boxer's comments)
  • The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 4: Early Modern Japan: “The inseparable trinity: Japan's relations with China and Korea”; Elisonas, Jurgis; Cambridge Press 1991; ISBN:9780521223553
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