Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/189

 by Japanese traders. The So Family, who held the island of Tsushima in fief, wrote permits for fifty ships, which passed, every year, from ports in Japan to the three Japanese settlements in the peninsula. But in the beginning of the sixteenth century this trade came to an abrupt conclusion, owing to the unruliness of the Japanese themselves, whose attitude towards foreigners in early and mediæval times never showed any lack of defiant enterprise. Some objectionable proceedings on the part of Korean officials at the Fusan Settlement led (1610) to a revolt of the Japanese settlers. Their example was followed by their compatriots at another settlement, and in both cases the Koreans suffered, at the outset, complete defeat. But strong forces despatched from Söul soon restored the situation, and in the sequel the Japanese were obliged to retire altogether from the three settlements; an event which terminated the trade between the two countries. There had been no official intervention on Japan's part in this matter, but subsequently the Korean Government, in reply to communications from the Shōgun, agreed to re-open commerce provided that the ringleaders of the rioters were decapitated and their heads sent to Soul. The value attached by the Japanese to Korean trade may be inferred from the fact that they complied with these humiliating conditions. Nevertheless, the trade was not restored to its previous proportions: the number of Japanese vessels was limited to twenty