46 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. XII. 



thus came into his possession, and were presented by him to temples 

 throughout the country where several of them are still carefully pre- 

 served. 1 For this reason, we are bound to presume, either that the 

 celadons hunted by the Japanese on the Philippines were different from 

 those imported from China, or that the Chinese imports did not suffice 

 to fill the demand, and that the commercial opportunities afforded on 

 the Philippines must have had a special attraction for them. This may 

 indeed be inferred from the political events of the time. Hideyoshi's 

 military expedition to Korea in 1597 was a blow directed against China. 

 During the rule of the Ming dynasty (1 368-1 643), commercial relations 

 between China and Japan were crippled; Japanese corsairs pillaged 

 the coasts of southern China, and fear of them led to the exclusion of 

 Japanese trading-vessels except admission on special passports, and 

 but few Chinese junks stealthily made for Japan. Only the advance 

 of the Manchu dynasty brought about a change in these conditions, 

 and after the Dutch had lost the possession of Formosa (1662), China's 

 trade with Japan began to flourish. While Hideyoshi, owing to the 

 high ambitions of his politics, observed a hostile attitude toward China, 

 he cast his eyes Philippine ward. In 1592, he despatched a message to 

 the Spanish Governor, demanding the recognition of his supremacy; 

 otherwise he would enforce it by an invasion and devastation of the 

 Islands. The frightened Governor, not prepared for such an attack nor 

 willing to lose the profitable trade relations with Japan, sent an embassy 

 under the leadership of a Dominican to the Taiko to whom he offered a 

 treaty of amity. Hideyoshi promised to desist from military action, 

 on payment of a yearly tribute. In 1593, the conditions of this treaty 

 were stipulated, according to which the Japanese promised to despatch 

 annually to Manila ships freighted with provisions, to stop piracy, and 

 to grant passports to Spanish captains for the safety of their ships. 2 



In many cases where our Japanese author believes to recognize 

 Namban or Luzon types among well-known Japanese wares, I am under 

 the impression that such coincidences, partially, may be due to the 

 common ancestorship of these pieces being in China. The traditions 

 of Japanese potters rest on those of China, and even in comparatively 

 modern productions of Japanese furnaces, many ancient Chinese forms 

 are rather faithfully preserved. Mr. Morse (p. 320), in speaking of 

 Satsuma, has the following interesting remark: "One of the types 

 of Ninagawa 3 resembles very closely in form a jar found among ancient 

 Chinese pieces discovered in caves in Borneo, an example of which is 



1 Brinkley, /. c, p. 31. 



2 Nachod, /. c, pp. 58, 60. 



3 A Japanese writer on pottery. 



