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Over the course of the Edo period, figures such as Amenomori used a variety of arguments to defend privileges and arrangements which allowed trade with Korea to continue smoothly. This was essential for providing for the well-being of the people of the domain, in addition to concerning the lords' personal coffers. The importance of providing ginseng to the Japanese market was among these; Amenomori also argued that because relations with Korea allowed for the collection of intelligence about politics and events of the region, Tsushima's activities were thus essential for national defense. Further, Amenomori compared the Sô clan's obligations vis-a-vis Korea to the coastal defense and other special duties required of certain other domains, arguing that effecting trade and relations with Korea was the Sô clan's way of performing feudal service to their lord (the shogun), and that they thus should be given conditions allowing them to perform it well. One benefit which came as a result of such arguments came in [[1748]], when, acknowledging the importance for national defense of the maintenance of friendly relations with Korea, the shogunate exempted Tsushima from having to contribute to the defense of the port of [[Nagasaki]].<ref>Satsuma was exempted at that time as well, the shogunate applying the same argument to Satsuma's relationship with Ryûkyû.</ref>
Over the course of the Edo period, figures such as Amenomori used a variety of arguments to defend privileges and arrangements which allowed trade with Korea to continue smoothly. This was essential for providing for the well-being of the people of the domain, in addition to concerning the lords' personal coffers. The importance of providing ginseng to the Japanese market was among these; Amenomori also argued that because relations with Korea allowed for the collection of intelligence about politics and events of the region, Tsushima's activities were thus essential for national defense. Further, Amenomori compared the Sô clan's obligations vis-a-vis Korea to the coastal defense and other special duties required of certain other domains, arguing that effecting trade and relations with Korea was the Sô clan's way of performing feudal service to their lord (the shogun), and that they thus should be given conditions allowing them to perform it well. One benefit which came as a result of such arguments came in [[1748]], when, acknowledging the importance for national defense of the maintenance of friendly relations with Korea, the shogunate exempted Tsushima from having to contribute to the defense of the port of [[Nagasaki]].<ref>Satsuma was exempted at that time as well, the shogunate applying the same argument to Satsuma's relationship with Ryûkyû.</ref>
The domain saw considerable financial difficulties in the latter half of the 18th century, however, as a variety of factors, including the growth of domestic production of [[ginseng]], led to a significant decline in the value of the Korea trade. In the 1740s-1750s, the domain requested and received from the shogunate loans or grants of 10,000 ''[[currency|ryô]]'' on a number of occasions, and in the 1770s, the volume of trade had declined to such an extent that the domain declared the private trade effectively ended. Meanwhile, the agricultural gains from Suyama Totsuan's deer and boar hunts only lasted for a time; an official survey performed by an agent of the ''[[Nagasaki bugyo|Nagasaki bugyô]]'' in [[1772]] found that the domain's effective net income that year was a mere 23,000 ''koku''. The domain encountered difficulty in requesting loans from merchants, as they developed a reputation for not being able to repay their loans, and so continued to petition the shogunate for help. A domain official named [[Sugimura Naoki]] finally secured from the shogunate an annual grant of 12,000 ''ryô'', which remained in place, being paid out every year from [[1776]] until [[1862]].<ref>Hellyer, 91-92.</ref>
[[Matsudaira Sadanobu]], who replaced [[Tanuma Okitsugu]] as [[Tairo|Tairô]] in [[1786]], 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.
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