Taira Nobushige

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  • Japanese: 左衛門尉 信重 (Taira Saemon-no-jou Nobushige)

Taira Saemon-no-jô Nobushige was a Hakata-based merchant who traveled to Korea in 1471 as an emissary for the court of the Ryûkyû Kingdom.

Nobushige led this 1471 mission to Korea alongside the Buddhist monk Jitan. He is also said to have been the one to suggest to Ryûkyû the implementation of a system of half-cut tallies, to help serve as the mark of a legitimate commercial/diplomatic representative.[1] He was granted formal official's robes by the Ryukyuan court, but is said to have actually desired to be named an official of the Korean court.[2]

References

  1. Hashimoto Yû. "The Information Strategy of Imposter Envoys from Northern Kyushu to Choson Korea in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries." in Angela Schottenhammer (ed.) The East Asian Mediterranean: Maritime Crossroads of Culture, Commerce and Human Migration. Harrassowitz Verlag, 2008. 295-296.
  2. Tomiyama Kazuyuki, Ryûkyû ôkoku no gaikô to ôken, Yoshikawa kôbunkan (2004), 48.