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ahorbinskiBibliographic Data: Verschuer, Charlotte von. Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries. Trans. Kristen Lee Hunger. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006.
Main Argument: "Within a chronological framework, this book traces Japan's transformation over nearly a millennium from an importer of continental luxury items, raw materials, and techniques to an exporter of high-quality handicrafts" (ix).
Historiographical Engagement: Difficult to discern, if any.
Preface: Argument, Sources, Examples Verschuer situates the original edition of the book within the 1980s turn from considering Japan's foreign relations solely within the framework of "diplomatic relations" to economic ties, and from considering Japan as a unitary entity to considering those ties as made by a variety of groups with differing interests, particularly along the margins. The revised edition corrects dates and measurements and contains a fuller bibliography.
Chapter 1: Argument, Sources, Examples This chapter looks at tributary exchanges from the seventh to the ninth centuries. Essentially, it appears that the tributary system and the exchange of embassies between Silla and Parhae were ways for the Japanese state to acquire luxury goods, for which they traded "simply made articles or small quantities of metal and other valuable commodities" (22). Not coincidentally, once merchants from the continent and the peninsula began making regular trips to Japan, the embassies stopped.
Chapter 2: Argument, Sources, Examples This chapter looks at "the rush for foreign goods" from the 9th to the 12C. In these centuries Japan remained primarily a tax economy in which goods were exchanged solely in the capital, and in which the state claimed the right to regulate and to conduct trade with foreign merchants, principally Chinese merchants: "in many respects, the Japanese government treated commercial trade as if it were the equal of official exchanges" (48). At the same time however, "private trade emerged against the will of the government authorities," culminating in Taira no Kiyomori's open defiance of custom in personally and openly trading with Chinese merchants in 1173.
Chapter 3: Argument, Sources, Examples Japan imported raw materials for perfumes and medicines, as well as rare textiles and Chinese ceramics, particularly celadons and Jingdezhen ware from after the 11thC. All of these goods may also have been transshipped from China to Japan by Korean merchants as well as directly. Chinese books were also essential to Japanese culture. Furs, bamboo, and exotic animals made up the remainder. For exports, Japan--which was formerly not a mined-out archipelago but a notable metal producer--sent out gold, metals, sulfur, and pearls, as well as paper, construction wood, mother-of-pearl items such as high-quality lacquerware, and fans and swords.
Chapter 4: Argument, Sources, Examples Verschuer characterizes the 12th to 14thC as the era of "free trade," when the imperial court lost what control it had been able to assert over trade formerly and when Japanese people went out to begin trading in their own right in large numbers for the first time. At the same time, this period also saw the rise of Japanese pirates, who seem to have preyed particularly on the coasts of the Korean peninsula. The most interesting section of the book discusses the importation of Chinese currency into Japan starting in the 11thC (thus playing a part in the demetallization of the Chinese economy that hit bottom at the end of the Yuan?)--currency was a good, not modern money, as it certainly did not form the medium of exchange in Japan, although it was used to settle payments. [NB: Verschuer does not really understand this.] After the 13thC, tea also became an increasingly common import, and by the mid-13thC, Japanese agents had entirely taken over the China trade, even as the Kyushu authorities continued to exercise de facto independence from the Kamakura bakufu in terms of conducting trade.
Chapter 5: Argument, Sources, Examples The late 14th to 16thC saw the growth of the economy and interregional trade within Japan, as well as the emergence of a de facto free market in the forms of merchant cooperatives, periodic markets, and wholesalers (ton'ya). Both piracy and trade with Korea continued, usually in the form of independent delegations from Kyushu notables, and eventually the Sô family of Tsushima wrangled themselves into a paramountcy vis-a-vis the peninsula that they would hold until the 1870s. In this era trade with Southeast Asia began, although it quickly evolved to be conducted via the Ryûkyû kingdom.
Conclusion: Argument, Sources, Examples "Thanks to this pragmatism [of disregarding regulations], Japan profited greatly from trade with foreigners, especially once imported products were no longer hoarded by aristocrats, and became available for marketing" (167).
Critical assessment: Verschuer's ahistorically referring to the Chinese tributary system as "imperialism" really grates on me, as does her refusal to historicize aspects of the ancient Japanese chronicles, which cannot be read as sources of fact, but must be read in conjunction with other forms of evidence. Indeed, that is an early sign of a problem that she carries with her throughout, namely either ahistorically projecting backwards or simply taking written records at face value. Verschuer asserts in the preface that Joan Piggot agitated for the translation and publication of this book in English; one has to wonder why, given that it is workmanlike at best, but more often just bad.
Also, the copy editing is atrocious.
Further reading: Ethan Segal, Coins, Trade, and the State; Japan in the Muromachi Age
Main Argument: "Within a chronological framework, this book traces Japan's transformation over nearly a millennium from an importer of continental luxury items, raw materials, and techniques to an exporter of high-quality handicrafts" (ix).
Historiographical Engagement: Difficult to discern, if any.
Preface: Argument, Sources, Examples Verschuer situates the original edition of the book within the 1980s turn from considering Japan's foreign relations solely within the framework of "diplomatic relations" to economic ties, and from considering Japan as a unitary entity to considering those ties as made by a variety of groups with differing interests, particularly along the margins. The revised edition corrects dates and measurements and contains a fuller bibliography.
Chapter 1: Argument, Sources, Examples This chapter looks at tributary exchanges from the seventh to the ninth centuries. Essentially, it appears that the tributary system and the exchange of embassies between Silla and Parhae were ways for the Japanese state to acquire luxury goods, for which they traded "simply made articles or small quantities of metal and other valuable commodities" (22). Not coincidentally, once merchants from the continent and the peninsula began making regular trips to Japan, the embassies stopped.
Chapter 2: Argument, Sources, Examples This chapter looks at "the rush for foreign goods" from the 9th to the 12C. In these centuries Japan remained primarily a tax economy in which goods were exchanged solely in the capital, and in which the state claimed the right to regulate and to conduct trade with foreign merchants, principally Chinese merchants: "in many respects, the Japanese government treated commercial trade as if it were the equal of official exchanges" (48). At the same time however, "private trade emerged against the will of the government authorities," culminating in Taira no Kiyomori's open defiance of custom in personally and openly trading with Chinese merchants in 1173.
Chapter 3: Argument, Sources, Examples Japan imported raw materials for perfumes and medicines, as well as rare textiles and Chinese ceramics, particularly celadons and Jingdezhen ware from after the 11thC. All of these goods may also have been transshipped from China to Japan by Korean merchants as well as directly. Chinese books were also essential to Japanese culture. Furs, bamboo, and exotic animals made up the remainder. For exports, Japan--which was formerly not a mined-out archipelago but a notable metal producer--sent out gold, metals, sulfur, and pearls, as well as paper, construction wood, mother-of-pearl items such as high-quality lacquerware, and fans and swords.
Chapter 4: Argument, Sources, Examples Verschuer characterizes the 12th to 14thC as the era of "free trade," when the imperial court lost what control it had been able to assert over trade formerly and when Japanese people went out to begin trading in their own right in large numbers for the first time. At the same time, this period also saw the rise of Japanese pirates, who seem to have preyed particularly on the coasts of the Korean peninsula. The most interesting section of the book discusses the importation of Chinese currency into Japan starting in the 11thC (thus playing a part in the demetallization of the Chinese economy that hit bottom at the end of the Yuan?)--currency was a good, not modern money, as it certainly did not form the medium of exchange in Japan, although it was used to settle payments. [NB: Verschuer does not really understand this.] After the 13thC, tea also became an increasingly common import, and by the mid-13thC, Japanese agents had entirely taken over the China trade, even as the Kyushu authorities continued to exercise de facto independence from the Kamakura bakufu in terms of conducting trade.
Chapter 5: Argument, Sources, Examples The late 14th to 16thC saw the growth of the economy and interregional trade within Japan, as well as the emergence of a de facto free market in the forms of merchant cooperatives, periodic markets, and wholesalers (ton'ya). Both piracy and trade with Korea continued, usually in the form of independent delegations from Kyushu notables, and eventually the Sô family of Tsushima wrangled themselves into a paramountcy vis-a-vis the peninsula that they would hold until the 1870s. In this era trade with Southeast Asia began, although it quickly evolved to be conducted via the Ryûkyû kingdom.
Conclusion: Argument, Sources, Examples "Thanks to this pragmatism [of disregarding regulations], Japan profited greatly from trade with foreigners, especially once imported products were no longer hoarded by aristocrats, and became available for marketing" (167).
Critical assessment: Verschuer's ahistorically referring to the Chinese tributary system as "imperialism" really grates on me, as does her refusal to historicize aspects of the ancient Japanese chronicles, which cannot be read as sources of fact, but must be read in conjunction with other forms of evidence. Indeed, that is an early sign of a problem that she carries with her throughout, namely either ahistorically projecting backwards or simply taking written records at face value. Verschuer asserts in the preface that Joan Piggot agitated for the translation and publication of this book in English; one has to wonder why, given that it is workmanlike at best, but more often just bad.
Also, the copy editing is atrocious.
Further reading: Ethan Segal, Coins, Trade, and the State; Japan in the Muromachi Age