Changes

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, merchants trading in Southeast Asia carried official permits, marking them as licensed traders and differentiating them from smugglers and pirates. These permits were stamped with a red seal (''shuin''), and as a result, the traders' ships came to be known as ''shuinsen'', or "red seal ships."

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, merchants trading in Southeast Asia carried official permits, marking them as licensed traders and differentiating them from smugglers and pirates. These permits were stamped with a red seal (''shuin''), and as a result, the traders' ships came to be known as ''shuinsen'', or "red seal ships."

The system was begun by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], but was further systematized under [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who appointed a [[Nagasaki bugyo|bugyô (magistrate) to Nagasaki]], and planned a system of governing foreign trade. He sought to guarantee (maintain) revenue from foreign trade while enforcing the ban on Christianity, and granted red seal licenses to daimyô and merchants who sought to engage in overseas trade.

The system was begun by [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], but was further systematized under [[Shogun]] [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], who appointed a [[Nagasaki bugyo|bugyô (magistrate) to Nagasaki]], and planned a system of governing foreign trade. He sought to guarantee (maintain) revenue from foreign trade while enforcing the ban on Christianity, and granted red seal licenses to ''daimyô'' and merchants who sought to engage in overseas trade. ''Daimyô'' were no longer permitted to hold red seal licenses, however, after [[1612]], as part of efforts to strengthen the security of Tokugawa rule by restricting ''daimyô'' power. Further, while red seal licenses continued to be issued to non-Japanese ship captains, patrons, or merchants, ship crews were required to include at least a certain proportion of Japanese crew members.<ref>William Wray, “The Seventeenth-century Japanese Diaspora: Questions of Boundary and Policy,” in Ina Baghdiantz McCabe et al (eds.), ''Diaspora Entrepreneurial Networks'', Oxford: Berg (2005), 82.</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>