Changes

Many of the ships were constructed according to a fusion of European and East Asian forms, e.g. combining European rigging with an East Asian junk's hull. Portuguese piloted many of these ships, and there are numerous records of European sailors coming across red seal ships and describing them as possessing a decidedly strange appearance, because of their mixed crews and mixed construction. Most were built in [[Nagasaki]], though some red seal merchants commissioned ships from Chinese shipwrights in Ayutthaya. These East Asian or hybrid ships generally carried about 200-250 people, and 500-750 tons of cargo, in contrast to Iberian ships of the time, which were larger, carrying about 1000 tons.<ref>Cesare Polenghi, ''Samurai of Ayutthaya: Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam''. Bangkok: White Lotus Press (2009), 18-19.</ref>

Many of the ships were constructed according to a fusion of European and East Asian forms, e.g. combining European rigging with an East Asian junk's hull. Portuguese piloted many of these ships, and there are numerous records of European sailors coming across red seal ships and describing them as possessing a decidedly strange appearance, because of their mixed crews and mixed construction. Most were built in [[Nagasaki]], though some red seal merchants commissioned ships from Chinese shipwrights in Ayutthaya. These East Asian or hybrid ships generally carried about 200-250 people, and 500-750 tons of cargo, in contrast to Iberian ships of the time, which were larger, carrying about 1000 tons.<ref>Cesare Polenghi, ''Samurai of Ayutthaya: Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam''. Bangkok: White Lotus Press (2009), 18-19.</ref>

Red seal ships traveled to a number of ports in Southeast Asia; in [[1624]], for example, 35 ships traveled to Siam, 26 to Vietnam, two to Brunei, 30 to the Philippines, 23 to Cambodia, and one to Melaka.<ref>Geoffrey Gunn, ''History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000-1800'', Hong Kong University Press (2011), 215-216.</ref>

Red seal ships traveled to a number of ports in Southeast Asia; in [[1624]], for example, 35 ships traveled to Siam, 26 to Vietnam, two to Brunei, 30 to the Philippines, 23 to Cambodia, and one to Melaka.<ref>Geoffrey Gunn, ''History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000-1800'', Hong Kong University Press (2011), 215-216.</ref> Due to the patterns of seasonal winds, ships generally left Japan for Southeast Asia in mid-winter, and returned in early summer. The journey took on average about 47 days.<ref>Polenghi, 19.</ref>

In the time of the third [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa shogun]], [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]], the system was strengthened, adding the requirement of obtaining a ''[[hosho|hôsho]]'', a second license or permission, from the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' (the chief shogunate elders), and addressed to the Nagasaki ''bugyô'', granting the merchant permission to depart. This came after the realization by the shogunate that many of the ''shuinjô'' licenses given to foreign merchants were being used by ''daimyô'' or other high-ranking shogunate officials to engage in illegal trade; thus, the system had to be strengthened.<ref name=jansen>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 18-19.</ref>

In the time of the third [[Tokugawa shogunate|Tokugawa shogun]], [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]], the system was strengthened, adding the requirement of obtaining a ''[[hosho|hôsho]]'', a second license or permission, from the ''[[roju|rôjû]]'' (the chief shogunate elders), and addressed to the Nagasaki ''bugyô'', granting the merchant permission to depart. This came after the realization by the shogunate that many of the ''shuinjô'' licenses given to foreign merchants were being used by ''daimyô'' or other high-ranking shogunate officials to engage in illegal trade; thus, the system had to be strengthened.<ref name=jansen>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 18-19.</ref>