Nichimin Trade (Kangō Trade)
日明貿易（勘合貿易）
The Nichimin trade (Kangō trade) began in Ōei 8 (1401) when shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu dispatched envoy ships to Ming China, and was conducted as officially sanctioned trade using kangō tally certificates from 1404 through 19 missions until 1549. Japanese swords were a major export alongside sulfur, copper, fans, and lacquerware, with mass-produced Bizen Osafune blades reportedly shipped to China in large quantities.
Description
The Start of the Trade and the Kangō Tally System
In Ōei 8 (1401), the third Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimitsu, dispatched envoy ships (kenminsen) to Ming China, establishing formal Japan-Ming relations under a form of investiture from the Ming emperor. From Ōei 11 (1404), officially sanctioned trade began using "kangō" tally certificates to distinguish legitimate missions from impostor tribute ships — hence "Kangō trade." Nominally structured as tribute to the Ming emperor (tribute trade), the exchange was in substance a highly profitable commercial enterprise.
Swords as an Export Commodity
Under the tribute-trade framework, horses, swords, sulfur, inkstones, fans, and folding screens were presented as gifts to the Ming emperor; under the parallel "public trade," swords, sulfur, copper, sappanwood, and maki-e lacquerware were exchanged for Ming copper cash, raw silk, and silk textiles. Swords, alongside sulfur, were among the most prominent export goods, shipped to Ming China in large quantities. Most of the exported blades are believed to have been mass-produced swords known as "kazu-uchimono" (bundle-sold blades) or "taba-gatana," made in Osafune, Bizen Province (present-day Setouchi City, Okayama Prefecture) — export demand of this kind was one factor that helped make Osafune Japan's largest sword-production center throughout the Muromachi period. Imports were centered on raw silk and silk textiles, along with hemp cloth, medicines, sugar, ceramics, books, calligraphy and paintings, copperware, and lacquerware from Ming China.
Post-Ōnin Rivalry and the Ningbo Incident
After the Ōnin War (1467-1477), management of the trade passed from the shogunate to the powerful shugo daimyō houses of Hosokawa and Ōuchi. In Taiei 3 (1523), their rivalry over trading rights erupted into armed conflict at Ningbo, China (the Ningbo Incident). The Ōuchi mission, holding a valid, newly issued tally certificate, arrived at Ningbo with three ships from Hakata under envoy Kendō Sōsetsu; the Hosokawa mission, using an already-invalidated older tally, arrived shortly after under envoy Ran'oka Zuisa. Because the Chinese trader Sō Sokei, employed by the Hosokawa side, bribed Ming officials, the later-arriving Hosokawa mission completed port formalities first. Enraged, the Ōuchi party burned the Hosokawa ship, killed the Ming envoy, pursued and killed the fleeing Ming official, set fires as far as Shaoxing, and escaped by sea with a captured vessel. From this point on, the Ōuchi clan monopolized the trade.
The End of the Trade
Following the Ōuchi monopoly, the last envoy mission was dispatched in Tenbun 18 (1549), after which the Nichimin trade (Kangō trade) came to an end. Spanning roughly 150 years and 19 missions, this officially sanctioned trade was among the earliest instances of the Japanese sword becoming a formal, state-level export commodity, shaping both the mass-production system centered on Bizen Osafune and the sword's earliest international reputation.
Characteristics of This Era
- Began in Ōei 8 (1401) with Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's envoy ships; officially sanctioned trade using kangō tally certificates from 1404
- Dual structure of tribute trade (nominal gift-giving) and public trade (commercial exchange); swords were a major export alongside sulfur, copper, sappanwood, and maki-e lacquerware
- Most exported swords are believed to have been Bizen Osafune mass-produced blades ("kazu-uchimono"/"taba-gatana"), a factor in Osafune becoming Muromachi Japan's largest sword-production center
- After the Ōnin War (1467-1477), the Hosokawa and Ōuchi clans took over management of the trade and clashed over trading rights
- The 1523 Ningbo Incident between Hosokawa and Ōuchi forces at Ningbo, China, after which Ōuchi monopolized the trade
- The trade ended after the last envoy mission in Tenbun 18 (1549), closing out roughly 150 years and 19 missions