Japan: Sueyoshi red seal ship with foreign pilots and sailors. A wood plaque painting from Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto (1633)

Japan: Sueyoshi red seal ship with foreign pilots and sailors. A wood plaque painting from Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto (1633)

Shuinsen, or 'Red Seal ships', were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century. Between 1600 and 1635, more than 350 Japanese ships went overseas under this permit system. Japanese merchants mainly exported silver, diamonds, copper, swords and other artifacts, and imported Chinese silk as well as some Southeast Asian products (like sugar and deer skins). Pepper and spices were rarely imported into Japan, where people did not eat a great deal of meat due to the local preponderance of adherents to the Buddhist belief system. Southeast Asian ports provided meeting places for Japanese and Chinese ships. In 1635, the Tokugawa shogunate, fearful of Christian influence, prohibited Japanese nationals from overseas travel, thus ending the period of red-seal trade. This measure was tacitly approved of by Europeans, especially the Dutch East India Company, who saw their competition reduced.

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