04 Fujiwara Sumitomo --- The First Pirate King ---
1. What the Excavation of Ceramics in the 9th and 10th Centuries Suggests
Imported Tang goods used to include ceramics, textiles, incense, medicine, colors, books, writing utensils and etc. We can, however, hardy find historical records which show us how those imported goods were actually exchanged in the 9th and 10th centuries. How were they exchanged with Tang traders at Hakata-tsu Port? How were they eventually carried to Kyoto? We can only rely on excavated ceramics to answer those questions.
Let me list up the excavated Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain along the Seto Inland Sea. They will be shown in the order of the number of Yue ceramics of celadon porcelain excavated, the name of the excavations, and the locations of the excavations. Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain were highly precious luxuries. Only a few of them have been found in each of just about 45% excavations in Japan.
6 Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain were found in Atago Excavations in Buzen Province (Ogura-kita Ward, Kita-kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture).
2 were found in Tokuriki Excavations in Buzen (Ogura-minami Ward, Kita-kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture).
1 was found in Nagano A Excavations in Buzen (Ogura-minami Ward, Kita-kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture).
52 pieces were found in Terada Excavations in Buzen (Ogura-minami Ward, Kita-kyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture).
22 ceramics Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain were found in Saiwaigi Excavations in Buzen ( Miyako Town, Miyako County, Fukuoka Prefecture).
5 were found in Akine Excavations in Nagato Province (Akine Town, Shimonoseki City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).
1 was found in Kokubunji Excavations in Nagato (Chofu Town, Shimonoseki-City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).
4 were found in Chusenshi Excavations in Nagato (Chusenshi Crossroads, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).
6 were found in Kokufu Excavations in Nagato (Kokuga, Bofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture).
4 were found in Kokubunniji Excavations in Aki Province (Saijo Town, Higashi-hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture).
2 were found in Okiura Excavations in Aki (Kamagari Town, Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture).
4 were found in Kusado-sengen Excavations in Bingo Province (Ashida River, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture).
2 were found in Kokubu Excavations in Bingo (Moto Town, Fuchu City, Hiroshima Prefecture).
2 were found in Zabu Excavations in Bingo (Tsunogo Town, Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture).
1 was found in Agata-yada Excavations in Iyo Province (Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture).
1 was found in Kokubu Excavations in Sanuki Province (Fuchu Town, Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture).
East of Bingo Province, we still have Bicchu, Bizen, Harima, and Awaji Provinces along the Eastern Seto Inland Sea, but no Yue ceramic of celadon porcelain has been found in 16 other excavations in those provinces.
Officially speaking, the central government used to have the monopoly of purchasing Tang goods first, so highly precious luxuries such as Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain should have been purchased by the central government, and been carried to the Heian-Kyo City first. Some of them, of course, might have been awarded to provincial governments, provincial temples, and provincial nunneries. If everything had been done lawfully, then the distribution of Yue Province ceramics of celadon porcelain in excavations should have been more equal among the provinces along the Seto Inland Sea.
The westward biased distribution suggests that there were people who were trading such luxuries with Tang traders, disregarding the central government, in the Western Seto Inland Sea after the first uprisings of Japanese pirates in the middle of the 9th century.
2. The Genealogy of Fujiwara Sumitomo
Nakatomi Kamatari (614-669) was given a surname “Fujiwara” by Emperor Tenji (626-672). Since then, the Fujiwara Clan tried dominating the Japanese politics, and they actually did until the end of ancient Japan. The clan flourished so much that their descendants spread across the country. Even local powerful families who were not the clan’s direct descendants and, accordingly, who didn’t have connections in the central government tried either to be adopted by bottom families of the clan or to buy the status of such adoption. As a result, Fujinawas infiltrated into every corner of Japan.
Fujiwara Nagara (802-856), who ranked 4th at the highest, was a noble man with extensive connections in the central government, and had 6 sons. Nagara’s 6th son, Kiyotsune (846-915), who ranked 14th at the highest, had 3 sons. His first son, Motona (885-965), who ranked 8th at the highest, was appointed as the governor of Iyo Province in 932, and as that of Yamato Province in 936.
Nagara’s 2nd son, Totsune (835?-888), who ranked 7th at the highest, had 4 sons. His first son, Yoshinori (?-?), died young, but had sons. His 3rd son was Sumitomo (893?-941), who submitted himself to his father’s cousin, Motona, and moved to Iyo Province with his younger brother, Suminori (?-?).
If Yoshinori hadn’t died young, Sumitomo must have risen as high as other relatives, as he was such a capable man who made a pirate king. The circumstances. on the other hand, might have driven him into piracy instead of taking part in the rat race in Kyoto.
3. Enter Fujiwara Sumitomo
Much damage was being caused frequently by pirates in the Seto Inland Sea during the years of Shohei and Tenkei, or in the first half of 10th century. Fujiwara Sumitomo (893?-941), who ranked 22nd in the noble class hierarchy at the time, was appointed as an aide of the governor of Iyo Province, and was also in charge of the subjugation of pirates. He later became the head of the pirates based in Heburi Island in Iyo Province by 936, and organized 1,000 boats.
The latest researches have pointed out, however, that the character of the pirates which Sumitomo was supposed to repress and that of the armed groups with which Sumitomo started his rebellion were different.
The Imperial Court had restructured its organizations and some lower-level personnel had been cut. Those who had been restructured around the Seto Inland Sea used to come from wealthy farmers in the area. They became pirates insisting their right to “tax” goods which were sent to Kyoto. Meanwhile, the armed groups including Sumitomo were intermediate-ranking officials who had been sent to the area because of their mastery of martial arts to repress those pirates and to maintain public order and who settled there later, without going back to Kyoto.
The armed groups of Sumitomo and others are said to be those who missed the opportunity to rise the court hierarchy due to their parents' early death, etc., who dropped out of the aristocratic circles of the capital, and who were planning recovery of their lost chances by distinguishing themselves in wars and battles. That is, they were almost in the same position as early generations of samurais in Eastern Japan.
However, their deeds' of valor were sometimes seized by the high-ranking aristocrats in Kyoto, or were the target of exploitation of those who started their new tenure as an attorney provincial governor.
Fujiwara Motona (885-965), who was Sumitomo's father's cousin, was the governor of Iyo Province from 932 till 935. Sumitomo was dispatched as an agent of Motona there and took on the duties to send taxes to Kyoto. He, supposedly, established the networks with the pirates who had been the personnel of the local governments and who had originated from the wealthy farmers.
In December, in 939, Sumitomo ordered his man, Fujiwara Fumimoto (?-941), to attack Fujiwara Sanetaka (?-?) and Shimada Koremoto (?-?), executive officers of Bizen and Harima Provinces accordingly, at Suki Station in Settsu Province. He sliced off their noses, took their wives, and killed their children. The report that Taira Masakado (?-940) started his rebellion in Eastern Japan and that he established himself as a new emperor was brought to Kyoto, and the Imperial Court was astonished and afraid that Masakado and Sumitomo started their rebellions in the East and the West in collusion. The Imperial Court appointed Ono Yoshifuru (884-968) a punitive expeditionary agent in Sanyo Region, and Mianamoto Tsunemoto (?-961?) a vice-agent on January 16 in 940, but also promoted Sumitomo to the 14th rank to conciliate him on January 30. The Imperial Court concentrated its military power to Eastern Japan for the time. Although Sumitomo accepted the promotion, he kept being opportunistic and did not stop his piracy.
On February 5, Sumitomo attacked the armory in Awaji and looted arms. In those days, arsons were frequently caused at many places in Kyoto, and Ono Yoshifuru reported, "Sumitomo’s are rowing their boats up toward Kyoto". The Imperial Court was afraid that Sumitomo’s would attack Kyoto, and arranged soldiers at 14 gates of the capital. It also dispatched Fujiwara Yoshiyuki (?-?) to Yamazaki, which was an entrance to Kyoto from Settsu Province, which was at the easternmost end of the Seto Inland Sea, on February 22 to strengthen its defense. Yamazaki was, however, burned down with a mysterious arson on February 26.
Those incidents suggest that Sumitomo's influence had covered not only over the Seto Inland Sea but also had reached the armed groups dissatisfied with the Imperial Court’s rules in Settsu Province, and even in the outskirts of Kyoto. Fujiwara Mitatsu (?-?), a former aid of the governor of Yamashiro Province, was one of the senior commanders of Sumitomo’s army. The situation was very serious against the government, and there was a direct threat to the capital.
The report of the Masakado’s defeat was brought to Kyoto on February 25. Sumitomo returned his boats to Hiburi Island, perhaps being disturbed by this news. Consequently, an official letter from Dazai-fu and that from Korea safely reached to Kyoto in June, and Minister-of-the-Left, Fujiwara Nakahira (875-945), dispatched the messenger to Wu and Yue in July. It means the Seto Inland Sea became peaceful, at least for a while.
In spite of the peace, the Imperial Court became positive to the Sumitomo subjugation, because the concentration of their military power to Western Japan became possible after Masakado was perished in Eastern Japan. The conquest-of-the-East army which had been to the Masakado’ subjugation returned to the capital in May. The Imperial Court concluded in June that Fujiwara Sanetaka attacked Fujiwara Fumimoto, and his punitive order was taken out. The order was provocation against Sumitomo by the Imperial Court whether he would hand over Fumimoto and submit to the government, or was to be subjugated as its enemy. After the success in subjugating Masakado, the Imperial Court seems to have deepened its confidence in repressing Sumitomo.
In August, Sumitomo, on the other hand, attacked Iyo and Sanuki Provinces with 400 boats, and committed arson, burned more than 100 military boats of Bizen and Bingo Provinces, and, furthermore, attacked Nagato Province and looted government properties. In October, Sumitomo defeated the soldiers of Dazaifu and the punitive expeditionary agent. In November, he attacked and burned the mint bureau in Suo Province. In December, he attacked Hata County in Tosa Province.
In February in 941, Fujiwara Tsunetoshi (?-?), one of the leading members of Sumitomo’s armies, however, surrendered to the Imperial army. The Imperial army attacked Sumitomo's headquarters in Heburi Island, and broke this.
Sumitomo’s army escaped west, attacked and occupied Dazai-fu, a special regional government in Kyushu which handled diplomatic relations and supervised international trading. Although Sumitomo's younger brother, Fujiwara Suminori (?-?), tried to invade Yanagawa in Chikugo Province, he was beaten by the army of Tachibana Kimiyori (877-941), an active commander of Dazai-fu, at Kamaike.
The Imperial army led by Ono Yoshifuru arrived in Kyushu in May. Yoshifuru attacked by the land route, and Okura Harumi (?-?) attacked by the sea route. Sumitomo burned Dazai-fu and met the Imperial army led by Okura Harumi at Hakata Bay. After the severe battle, the Sumitomo army was routed and about 800 boats were taken by the Imperial army. Sumitomo rode on a small boat and escaped to Iyo Province. In June, Sumitomo was arrested by Tachibana Toyasu (?-944), a guarding agent, when he was hiding in Iyo Province, and died in prison.
4. The Opponents against Fujiwara Sumitomo
The Ono Family started as a powerful family based in Ono, Shiga County, Omi Province. Ono Imoko (?-?), who lived in the late 6th and early 7th century, was the first outstanding historical figure of the family. He was a diplomat, and one of the reformist bureaucrats who followed Prince Shotoku (574-622). 5 generations later, there came Takamura (802-853), who ranked 6th at the highest. He was a poet whose poem was included in Hyakunin Isshu (literally, One Hundred People, One Poem Each), the most popular anthology of tanka. Yoshifuru, who ranked 6th at the highest, was his grandson. His father’s career was not clear, it means it was not so brilliant, but his younger brother, Michikaze (894-966), was one of the best 3 calligraphists in Japan, who ranked 8th.
Okura Haruzane (?-?), whose father’s name was unrecorded, was promoted to the 14th rank after the war.
It might have been all thanks to Fujiwara Sumitomo’s Rebellion that Yoshifuru and Haruzane, who were not writers nor artists, could have risen that high. And that kind of promotion paved the way for the success of military aristocrats such as the Minamoto and Taira Clans at the end of ancient Japan. However, a would-be second pirate king should learn 2 lessons from the failure of Fujiwara Sumitomo. First, he should secure the whole route between Kyoto and Dazai-fu at least. Disturbing or just stopping commerce didn’t make sense. A looted precious Chinese ceramic pot is just a pot for ordinary sea people unless there was someone else who would pay rice or something for it. Second, he should control the budget of the central government so as to assure the end users of precious Chinese goods and in order not to get the budget used as a bounty on his head.