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[[Image:Shuinsen.jpg|right|thumb|400px|A replica of an ''[[ema]]'' commissioned by the [[Sueyoshi family]] for [[Kiyomizu-dera]], in order to pray for a safe journey to [[Tonking]] in [[1633]]/11. Replica and original, collection of the [[Museum of Kyoto]].]]
*''Japanese'': 朱印船 ''(shuinsen)''
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.
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. Among the merchants who were granted red seal licenses and permission to engage in overseas trade, there were those who came to be known as the Great Red Seal Ship Families, who the shogunate remembered and appreciated. In [[Kyoto]], these families included the [[Sueyoshi family|Sueyoshi]] and [[Fushimi family|Fushimi families]], the house of [[Chaya Shirojiro|Chaya Shirôjirô]], and the house of [[Suminokura Ryoi|Suminokura Ryôi]]. Merchants frequently made offerings of ''[[ema]]'' (votive tablets) at [[Kiyomizu-dera]] before departing for Southeast Asia, in order to pray for a safe journey. Unlike the ''ema'' sold today at [[Shinto shrines]], which are about the size of a postcard (though a good half-inch thick), these ''ema'' could be as large as several meters on a side.
The ''shuinsen'' (red seal ships) system ended, however, with the implementation of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]] in the 1630s-[[1640]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels at Museum of Kyoto.
==External Links==
*Examples of red seal licenses to [http://www.digital.archives.go.jp/gallery/view/detail/detailArchivesEn/0000000107 Luzon (Philippines)] and [http://www.digital.archives.go.jp/gallery/view/detail/detailArchivesEn/0000000120 Cochinchina (central/southern Vietnam)], from a copy of the ''[[Gaiban Shokan]]'' (1818), National Archives of Japan.
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Ships]]
*''Japanese'': 朱印船 ''(shuinsen)''
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.
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. Among the merchants who were granted red seal licenses and permission to engage in overseas trade, there were those who came to be known as the Great Red Seal Ship Families, who the shogunate remembered and appreciated. In [[Kyoto]], these families included the [[Sueyoshi family|Sueyoshi]] and [[Fushimi family|Fushimi families]], the house of [[Chaya Shirojiro|Chaya Shirôjirô]], and the house of [[Suminokura Ryoi|Suminokura Ryôi]]. Merchants frequently made offerings of ''[[ema]]'' (votive tablets) at [[Kiyomizu-dera]] before departing for Southeast Asia, in order to pray for a safe journey. Unlike the ''ema'' sold today at [[Shinto shrines]], which are about the size of a postcard (though a good half-inch thick), these ''ema'' could be as large as several meters on a side.
The ''shuinsen'' (red seal ships) system ended, however, with the implementation of [[kaikin|maritime restrictions]] in the 1630s-[[1640]].
{{stub}}
==References==
*Gallery labels at Museum of Kyoto.
==External Links==
*Examples of red seal licenses to [http://www.digital.archives.go.jp/gallery/view/detail/detailArchivesEn/0000000107 Luzon (Philippines)] and [http://www.digital.archives.go.jp/gallery/view/detail/detailArchivesEn/0000000120 Cochinchina (central/southern Vietnam)], from a copy of the ''[[Gaiban Shokan]]'' (1818), National Archives of Japan.
[[Category:Sengoku Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Economics]]
[[Category:Ships]]
