FOREIGN TRADE UP TO OPENING OF COUNTRY. 515 



It is mentioned also in Taketori Monogatari, " The Maid from the 

 Moon." ^ Osaka also, formerly called Naniwa, and Sakai, were im- 

 portant ports, having large commercial relations with China during 

 the Middle Ages. Marco Polo does not mention this intercourse, 

 nor does Barros in his work " Da Asia " make any statement of this 

 kind ; he does not once name the Japanese. On the other hand, 

 according to Crawford,^ in a commentary on Albuquerque, written 

 by his son, according to information which the great Albu- 

 querque received upon taking possession of Malacca in 15 10, the 

 Japanese (there called Gore) are said to have arrived every year 

 with two or three ships. They were a silent, truth-loving people, 

 who usually left their country in January and returned in August 

 or September. Their wares were raw and prepared silk, brocade, 

 porcelain, a great deal of wheat, copper, alum, and quantities of 

 gold bearing the king's seal. The mention of silk and porcelain 

 as export articles of Japan at that time, creates the suspicion that 

 the writer perhaps confused the Japanese with the Coreans. 



Evidences are not wanting that greatly feared pirates came from 

 Japan, especially from the island of Kiushiu, who not only made 

 the coasts of China unsafe, but extended their depredations to the 

 Philippine Islands and the Malay Archipelago.^ These occurred 

 principally at a time when civil wars in Japan had desolated the 

 country and relaxed all the restrictions of law and order, as for 

 example, at the end of the 14th century (see vol. i. pp. 259, 260), 

 and finally in the year 1600 A.D., before lyeyasu had gathered 

 the imperial power of the entire country in his own firm hands, 

 and shortly after put an end not only to pirates, but also to the 

 direct intercourse of Japan with other countries. 



It is certainly remarkable that the three most notable sea 

 voyages of great discovery in ancient times, were undertaken with 

 the view of securing for Spain and Portugal the most valuable 

 productions of Asiatic countries at the least expense. Columbus 

 discovered America as he was endeavouring by sailing westward 

 to reach the countries of Eastern Asia, especially the golden 

 Zipangu (Japan) and Cathay (China), with its abundance of silks. 

 For according to the descriptions of his countryman, Marco Polo, 

 and Arab geographers, the former was the El Dorado of the Chinese 

 and Arabs (see p. 295), while the latter has for ages enjoyed the 

 reputation of a rich country because of its silk. Vasco de Gama 

 led the Portuguese around South Africa to India, and thereby 

 turned the previous trade with this productive, highly civilized 

 country, into entirely different lines. Fernao de Magalhaes, a 



^ Translated by R. Lange, 17 Heft der Mitth. d. d- Ges. Ostasiens. 



2 Crawford : " Descriptive Diet, of the Mai. Archipelago," p. 164. 



3 " The men of Japan have done much mischief unto the men of China, and 

 many times fallen upon their coasts and put all to fire and sword."— The 

 voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies, p. 155. Hakluyt 

 Soc, London, 1875. 



