Changes

==Decline of the Wakô==

==Decline of the Wakô==

The later years of the reign of the Ming [[Jiajing Emperor]] (1521-1567) saw a peak in ''wakô'' activity, which subsided when, in 1567, the Ming Court lifted the bans on Chinese trade and interaction in Southeast Asia<ref name=arano189>Arano. p189.</ref>, thus allowing many so-called "''wakô''" to become legitimate traders and seafarers in the eyes of the Chinese authorities. Many smugglers still engaging in activities deemed illicit, such as trade with Japan, moved their bases at this time to Taiwan or the Philippines.<ref name=arano189/>

The later years of the reign of the Ming [[Jiajing Emperor]] (1521-1567) saw a peak in ''wakô'' activity, which subsided when, in 1567, the Ming Court lifted the bans on Chinese trade and interaction in Southeast Asia<ref name=arano189>Arano. p189.</ref>, thus allowing many so-called "''wakô''" to become legitimate traders and seafarers in the eyes of the Chinese authorities. Many smugglers still engaging in activities deemed illicit, such as trade with Japan, moved their bases at this time to Taiwan or the Philippines.<ref name=arano189/> ''Wakô'' attacks on Korean vessels and territory subsided at the same time, due in large part to these factors; agreements between the Korean court and the Sô clan of Tsushima in 1557 and 1567 allowing the Sô to send thirty ships a year to engage in legal trade may have contributed to the decline in ''wakô'' activity as well.<ref>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 6.</ref>

[[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] helped further weaken the ''wakô'' with a [[1588]] edict banning piracy. Hideyoshi established a definition of "Japanese waters," and declared that force could not be used to settle disputes within those boundaries; further, this edict severely weakened the ability of provincial ''daimyô'' to support, benefit from, or otherwise directly associate with pirates, i.e. the ''wakô''.<ref name=arano190>Arano. p190.</ref>

[[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] helped further weaken the ''wakô'' with a [[1588]] edict banning piracy. Hideyoshi established a definition of "Japanese waters," and declared that force could not be used to settle disputes within those boundaries; further, this edict severely weakened the ability of provincial ''daimyô'' to support, benefit from, or otherwise directly associate with pirates, i.e. the ''wakô''.<ref name=arano190>Arano. p190.</ref>