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Sulfur is a yellow mineral essential to the production of [[gunpowder]].

Sulfur is a yellow mineral essential to the production of [[gunpowder]].

One of the chief sources of sulfur historically in the region around Japan was the island of [[Iotorishima|Iô Torishima]], located in the [[Amami Islands]] to the south of [[Kyushu]] and controlled by the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] throughout the [[Edo period]]. The Ming and Qing empires had few sources of elemental sulfur within their territory, and had to employ complex techniques to process mined pyrite into sulfur which could be used to produce gunpowder.<ref name=smits69>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 69-70.</ref> They therefore imported sulfur from the kingdom as well as from other sources, and forbade the export of the material.<ref>Uezato Takashi 上里隆史. "Ryûkyû no kaki ni tsuite" (琉球の火器, "The fireweapons in the Ryukyus"). ''Okinawa Bunka'' 沖縄文化. vol. 36:1, no. 91 (July 2000), 77.</ref> This made trade relations with (or control of) Ryûkyû vital for military preparedness, and powers throughout the region regularly worked to secure or maintain sources of Ryûkyûan sulfur. Ryûkyû often traded sulfur to entities in Japan, Korea, and China, or presented it as tax or [[tribute]];<ref>In fact, along with [[tin]] and [[copper]], sulfur was one of the chief tribute goods presented by [[Ryukyuan tribute missions to China|Ryûkyûan tributary missions to China]].</ref> in trade with Southeast Asia, however, Ryûkyû only ever shipped sulfur to [[Ayutthaya|Siam]], and not to other polities.<ref>Geoffrey Gunn, ''History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000-1800'', Hong Kong University Press (2011), 220-221.</ref> Japanese entities such as the [[Heian period|Heian]] court and [[Muromachi shogunate]] exported a portion of the Ryûkyûan sulfur they obtained, in sizable enough amounts that sulfur is noted as one of the chief exports of premodern Japan.<ref>Richard von Glahn, "The Ningbo-Hakata Merchant Network and the Reorientation of East Asian Maritime Trade, 1150-1350," ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' 74:2 (2014), 268-269.; Asato Susumu 安里進, Dana Masayuki 田名真之, et al. (eds.), ''Okinawa ken no rekishi'' 沖縄県の歴史, Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppan (2010), 117.</ref>

One of the chief sources of sulfur historically in the region around Japan was the island of [[Iotorishima|Iô Torishima]], located in the [[Amami Islands]] to the south of [[Kyushu]] and controlled by the [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû Kingdom]] throughout the [[Edo period]]. Sulfur was also produced at [[Mt. Aso]] in [[Higo province]] (Kyushu), and on [[Ioshima|Iôshima]] near the Satsunan and [[Tokara Islands]].<ref name=smits69>Gregory Smits, ''Maritime Ryukyu'', University of Hawaii Press (2019), 69-70.</ref>

In the 1420s to 1510s, Ryûkyû shipped on average 27-37,000 ''jin'' (J: ''[[Japanese Measurements#Weight|kin]]'') of sulfur to China each year. For various reasons, this amount declined from roughly 35-38,000 ''jin'' in the 1420s-1470s to 27-28,000 ''jin'' in the 1470s to 1510s, and then to only 6-8,000 ''jin'' in the 1510s-1600s. Around this same time, the Ming court was regularly obtaining only about 10,000 ''jin'' of sulfur from domestic (Chinese) sources.<ref name=smits69>

 

In the 1420s to 1510s, Ryûkyû shipped on average 27-37,000 ''jin'' (J: ''[[Japanese Measurements#Weight|kin]]'') of sulfur to China each year. For various reasons, this amount declined from roughly 35-38,000 ''jin'' in the 1420s-1470s to 27-28,000 ''jin'' in the 1470s to 1510s, and then to only 6-8,000 ''jin'' in the 1510s-1600s. Around this same time, the Ming court was regularly obtaining only about 10,000 ''jin'' of sulfur from domestic (Chinese) sources.<ref name=smits69/>

Following the [[Shimazu clan|Shimazu]] [[invasion of Ryukyu]] in [[1609]], despite the great importance of sulfur for the Shimazu armies, the Shimazu allowed Ryûkyû to maintain control of Iô Torishima, even as they extended their own administration over the remainder of the surrounding (Amami and [[Tokara Islands|Tokara]]) islands. This was likely done in large part in order to allow Ryûkyû to continue to send sulfur as a tribute good to China, thus allowing for the maintenance of the tributary relationship which was the essential core of Ryûkyû's value to the Shimazu to begin with.

Following the [[Shimazu clan|Shimazu]] [[invasion of Ryukyu]] in [[1609]], despite the great importance of sulfur for the Shimazu armies, the Shimazu allowed Ryûkyû to maintain control of Iô Torishima, even as they extended their own administration over the remainder of the surrounding (Amami and [[Tokara Islands|Tokara]]) islands. This was likely done in large part in order to allow Ryûkyû to continue to send sulfur as a tribute good to China, thus allowing for the maintenance of the tributary relationship which was the essential core of Ryûkyû's value to the Shimazu to begin with.