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In the 16th-18th centuries, Vietnam was divided, effectively, into three polities. [[Tonkin]], in the north, was ruled by the Trinh family, and [[Quang Nam]] in the central region, was ruled by the Nguyễn, while the southern region was the independent and ethnically distinct polity of [[Champa]].<ref>Tonkin (東京, lit. "Eastern Capital", V: ''Đông Kinh'') was also known as Đàng Ngoài (塘外, lit. "outside the dikes"), while Quang Nam (広南) was also known as Quinam, Cochinchina, and Đàng Trong (塘中, lit. "inside the dikes").</ref> The Trinh and Nguyễn domains were ruled by "lords," however, both under the ostensible authority of the emperor-kings of the [[Lê Dynasty]].  

In the 16th-18th centuries, Vietnam was divided, effectively, into three polities. [[Tonkin]], in the north, was ruled by the Trinh family, and [[Quang Nam]] in the central region, was ruled by the Nguyễn, while the southern region was the independent and ethnically distinct polity of [[Champa]].<ref>Tonkin (東京, lit. "Eastern Capital", V: ''Đông Kinh'') was also known as Đàng Ngoài (塘外, lit. "outside the dikes"), while Quang Nam (広南) was also known as Quinam, Cochinchina, and Đàng Trong (塘中, lit. "inside the dikes").</ref> The Trinh and Nguyễn domains were ruled by "lords," however, both under the ostensible authority of the emperor-kings of the [[Lê Dynasty]].  

The first contact between Quang Nam and any Japanese is believed to have been with the pirate [[Shirahama Kenki]], who came raiding ships and shores in [[1585]]. He was driven off by Nguyễn ships, but returned in [[1599]]. The Nguyễn captured him, and wrote to Japan to ask what to do with him; [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] [[1601]] response to Lord Nguyễn Hoang, explaining the [[shuinsen|red seal ship]] system,<ref>That authorized merchants would carry formal licenses marked with red seals, and that everyone else could be regarded as a pirate or smuggler, to be dealt with as the foreign polity (in this case, the Nguyễn court) saw fit.</ref> is considered the beginning of formal relations between the two polities.<ref>Li Tana, ''Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), 60-61.</ref> An earlier document, however, dated to [[1591]], was discovered in 2013; seemingly written by the same Lord Nguyễn Hoang, it is addressed to the "King of Japan," referring presumably to [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]].<ref>「ベトナムから秀吉に？「日本国王」あての書簡発見」, Asahi Shimbun, 17 April 2013.</ref>

The first contact between Quang Nam and any Japanese is believed to have been with the pirate [[Shirahama Kenki]], who came raiding ships and shores in [[1585]]. He was driven off by Nguyễn ships, but returned in [[1599]]. The Nguyễn captured him, and wrote to Japan to ask what to do with him; [[Tokugawa Ieyasu|Tokugawa Ieyasu's]] [[1601]] response to Lord (''Chúa'') Nguyễn Hoang, explaining the [[shuinsen|red seal ship]] system,<ref>That authorized merchants would carry formal licenses marked with red seals, and that everyone else could be regarded as a pirate or smuggler, to be dealt with as the foreign polity (in this case, the Nguyễn court) saw fit.</ref> is considered the beginning of formal relations between the two polities.<ref>Li Tana, ''Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), 60-61.</ref> These were the first of some fifteen letters exchanged between Nguyễn Hoang and Ieyasu which survive from the period from 1601 until Nguyễn's death in 1613.<ref>Hoang, 22.</ref> An earlier document, however, dated to [[1591]], was discovered in 2013; seemingly written by the same Lord Nguyễn Hoang, it is addressed to the "King of Japan," referring presumably to [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]].<ref>「ベトナムから秀吉に？「日本国王」あての書簡発見」, Asahi Shimbun, 17 April 2013.</ref>

From about 1590 to 1640, the Quang Nam port town of [[Hoi An]], the largest port in all of Vietnam,<ref>Alexander Woodside, “Central Vietnam's Trading World in the Eighteenth Century as Seen in Le Quy Don's 'Frontier Chronicles” in Keith Taylor and John K. Whitmore (eds.), ''Essays into Vietnamese Pasts'' (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1995), 162.</ref> was home to a major [[Nihonmachi]] (Japantown), where a few tens of independent Japanese merchant families played a prominent role in the local trade. Some, such as [[Araki Sotaro]], married daughters of the Nguyễn family.<ref>Matt Matsuda, ''Pacific Worlds'', University of Cambridge Press (2012), 89.</ref> On average, more than ten Japanese ships visited the port every year during the period of the "[[red seal ships]]," that is, between roughly 1590 and 1635; this represented fully a quarter of all Japanese maritime economic activity, more than that of any other individual port.<ref>Chingho A. Chen, ''Historical Notes on Hội An (Faifo)'' (Carbondale, Illinois: Center for Vietnamese Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1974), 13.</ref> Vietnam was likely the second most major source of [[silk]] imports into Japan during this period, after China.

From about 1590 to 1640, the Quang Nam port town of [[Hoi An]], the largest port in all of Vietnam,<ref>Alexander Woodside, “Central Vietnam's Trading World in the Eighteenth Century as Seen in Le Quy Don's 'Frontier Chronicles” in Keith Taylor and John K. Whitmore (eds.), ''Essays into Vietnamese Pasts'' (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 1995), 162.</ref> was home to a major [[Nihonmachi]] (Japantown), where a few tens of independent Japanese merchant families played a prominent role in the local trade. Some, such as [[Araki Sotaro]], married daughters of the Nguyễn family.<ref>Matt Matsuda, ''Pacific Worlds'', University of Cambridge Press (2012), 89.</ref> On average, more than ten Japanese ships visited the port every year during the period of the "[[red seal ships]]," that is, between roughly 1590 and 1635; this represented fully a quarter of all Japanese maritime economic activity, more than that of any other individual port.<ref>Chingho A. Chen, ''Historical Notes on Hội An (Faifo)'' (Carbondale, Illinois: Center for Vietnamese Studies, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 1974), 13.</ref> Vietnam was likely the second most major source of [[silk]] imports into Japan during this period, after China.