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[[Matsudaira Sadanobu]], who replaced [[Tanuma Okitsugu]] as [[Tairo|Tairô]] in [[1787]], however, began to pressure the domain to repay its loans both to the shogunate and to Edo, Osaka, and Nagasaki merchants. The domain attempted to come up with new payment plans, but simply could not afford to even pay the interest on the loans, let alone to begin paying down the principal. Tokugawa orders to increase the amount of marine products which the domain could supply to Nagasaki helped raise the domain's economy somewhat, for a time, but by 1800, many local fisherman found [[whaling]] to be more lucrative than harvesting abalone, kelp, and sea cucumber, and so had switched the focus of their activities. The domain briefly attempted to accommodate these shifts by increasing the amount of marine products they were getting from Korea, and by inviting fishermen from [[Hirado han|Hirado]] and [[Hiroshima han|Hiroshima]] to come harvest marine products in Tsushima waters; the latter aggravated local Tsushima fishermen, however, and forced new arrangements which negated preferential pricing for the outsider fishermen.
[[Matsudaira Sadanobu]], who replaced [[Tanuma Okitsugu]] as [[Tairo|Tairô]] in [[1787]], however, began to pressure the domain to repay its loans both to the shogunate and to Edo, Osaka, and Nagasaki merchants. The domain attempted to come up with new payment plans, but simply could not afford to even pay the interest on the loans, let alone to begin paying down the principal. Tokugawa orders to increase the amount of marine products which the domain could supply to Nagasaki helped raise the domain's economy somewhat, for a time, but by 1800, many local fisherman found [[whaling]] to be more lucrative than harvesting abalone, kelp, and sea cucumber, and so had switched the focus of their activities. The domain briefly attempted to accommodate these shifts by increasing the amount of marine products they were getting from Korea, and by inviting fishermen from [[Hirado han|Hirado]] and [[Hiroshima han|Hiroshima]] to come harvest marine products in Tsushima waters; the latter aggravated local Tsushima fishermen, however, and forced new arrangements which negated preferential pricing for the outsider fishermen.
Sadanobu also pressured the domain to reduce its copper exports, but domain officials protected the relationship with Korea, and the trade it provided, by deploying a variety of arguments. They argued that trade with Korea was a right of their domain, affirmed and reaffirmed by the Tokugawa since the early years of the shogunate, and furthermore that the importing of luxury goods benefited the realm, and that the import of rice was essential to the well-being of the domain, and for avoiding samurai or peasant uprisings. In the end, they successfully parried Sadanobu's attempts to hamper the domain's economy, and continued to be allowed to acquire up to 100,000 ''kin'' of copper for export each year.<ref>Hellyer, 109.</ref>
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