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| Sakai is a port town near [[Osaka]] which, in the 15th-17th centuries was a major center of merchant activity, including especially maritime trade and the manufacture and trade in firearms; it was also a center of arts and culture, [[tea ceremony]] in particular. The merchant leaders of Sakai managed to maintain a considerable degree of independence from [[samurai]] control throughout much of the [[Sengoku period]]. | | Sakai is a port town near [[Osaka]] which, in the 15th-17th centuries was a major center of merchant activity, including especially maritime trade and the manufacture and trade in firearms; it was also a center of arts and culture, [[tea ceremony]] in particular. The merchant leaders of Sakai managed to maintain a considerable degree of independence from [[samurai]] control throughout much of the [[Sengoku period]]. |
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| + | Arguments between merchants in Sakai and [[Hakata]] over trading rights led in the early or mid-15th century to [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryukyuan]] trade being directed only through Hakata and [[Bonotsu|Bônotsu]] for a time.<ref>Yokoyama Manabu 横山学, ''Ryûkyû koku shisetsu torai no kenkyû'' 琉球国使節渡来の研究, Tokyo: Yoshikawa kôbunkan (1987), 36.</ref> |
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| From [[1469]] until [[1510]], Sakai was the chief departure port for [[tribute]] missions to [[Ming Dynasty]] China. | | From [[1469]] until [[1510]], Sakai was the chief departure port for [[tribute]] missions to [[Ming Dynasty]] China. |
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| + | The city was governed by a board of thirty-six merchant councilors called ''egôshû'', and was walled off and surrounded with moats, not unlike some of the free cities of Europe.<ref name=ikegami>[[Eiko Ikegami]], ''Bonds of Civility'', Cambridge University Press (2005), 122.</ref> After [[1568]], the more independent ''egôshû'' were replaced by [[Oda Nobunaga]] with families he selected; they gained power, favor, and protection for the city from Nobunaga in exchange for providing services and gifts of prized tea implements and other [[karamono|Chinese treasures]] to him.<ref name=ikegami/><ref name=pitelka29>Morgan Pitelka, ''Spectacular Accumulation'', University of Hawaii Press (2016), 28-30.</ref> |
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| + | Despite the chaos and turmoil of the Sengoku period, Sakai reportedly saw little violence - even in the form of street brawls.<ref name=pitelka29/> |
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| + | Sakai remained a prominent port city, both culturally and economically, and at its [[Edo period]] peak, was home to roughly 50,000 people.<ref>''Bezaisen to santo'' 「弁才船と三都」、Asahi hyakka Nihon rekishi 62, p7-46.</ref> |
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| ==References== | | ==References== |
| *Morgan Pitelka. "Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu." in ''A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 451. | | *Morgan Pitelka. "Art, Agency, and Networks in the Career of Tokugawa Ieyasu." in ''A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 451. |
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| ==External Links== | | ==External Links== |