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*''Died: [[1559]]''
*''Died: [[1559]]''
*''Chinese'': 汪直 or 王直 (traditional characters)
*''Other Names'': 五峯 ''(Wǔ Fēng / Go Hou)''
*''Chinese/Japanese'': 汪直 or 王直 (Wáng Zhí / Ou Choku)
Wang Zhi was a Chinese merchant and smuggler of the early-to-mid 16th century. Originally from [[Anhui province]], he came to Japan for the first time in the 1540s. He and his thousand or so men, a mixed Chinese and Japanese crew, based at [[Hirado]] and enjoying the aid of the [[Matsuura clan]] lord, engaged in illicit trade, mostly importing Chinese silks into Japan in exchange for Japanese silver. As his activities were in violation of the Chinese ''[[hai jin]]'' bans, he was labeled ''[[wako|wakô]]'' by the Chinese authorities.
Wang Zhi was a Chinese merchant and smuggler of the early-to-mid 16th century. Originally from [[Anhui province]], he came to Japan for the first time in the 1540s. He and his thousand or so men, a mixed Chinese and Japanese crew, based at [[Hirado]] and enjoying the aid of the [[Matsura clan]] lord, engaged in illicit trade, mostly importing Chinese silks into Japan in exchange for Japanese silver. As his activities were in violation of the Chinese ''[[hai jin]]'' bans, he was labeled ''[[wako|wakô]]'' by the Chinese authorities.
Wang is also said to have served as a translator aboard the Portuguese ship (possibly a Chinese junk carrying Portuguese crew and/or passengers) which famously brought the first Western firearms to Japan, at [[Tanegashima]] in [[1543]].
Wang is also said to have served as a translator aboard the Portuguese ship (possibly a Chinese junk carrying Portuguese crew and/or passengers) which famously brought the first Western firearms to Japan, at [[Tanegashima]] in [[1543]].
==References==
==References==
*Arano Yasunori. "The Formation of a Japanocentric World Order." ''International Journal of Asian Studies'' 2:2 (2005). pp185-216.
*Arano Yasunori. "The Formation of a Japanocentric World Order." ''International Journal of Asian Studies'' 2:2 (2005). pp185-216.
*[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 6.
*[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 6-7.
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]