The Structure and Content of Namban Trade

The purpose of this chapter is to understand the structure of Namban trade through the analysis of Spanish records that inform us about import and export goods, places of production, trade prices, and the selling prices of the official trade that was undertaken by the ships of the Capitão-mór, assigned by the king. Numerical data about trade has not been well provided, with the exception of research by Takase Kōichirō (高瀬弘一郎),1 who extracted information about the import volume of raw silk from documents relating to the Jesuits and other organizations.2 Thanks to Takase’s research, Jesuit missionary reports have been shown to provide excellent and reliable historical information about Portuguese trade in East Asia. For example, in 1559 the Jesuits of Japan concluded a contract to load fifty picos of raw silk into the ships of the Capitão-mór every year, such that Namban trade would give them a financial basis for their missionary work. Other materials, such as gold, were also sent from Macao, accruing good profits, all of which were used as the operating foundation of their missionary activities. Furthermore, we can assume that the Namban trade and the Jesuits were closely linked based on the fact that the Jesuits rendered a fund consignment service from a local lord in western Japan (saigoku daimyō 西国大名) and intervened in raw silk package deals. Their missionary report gives us some details of the trade. Missionaries were sensitive to information about merchant ships on which their livelihood depended, but they did not keep many records of the contents and volumes of loaded goods. Therefore it is difficult to reconstruct a complete picture of the Namban trade from this information. Iwao Seiichi (岩生成一), who systematically studied red-seal ship trades, comments about the detailed records of imported and exported goods: “there

Islands; Boxer: The Great Ship from Amacon),9 a full analysis of the information they contain remained to be done. 10 Since this information enables us to create a detailed picture of Namban trade I have revisited these sources in order to highlight and describe the trade's dynamics. The original text is housed in the General Archive of the Indies, Seville, Spain.11 As already mentioned, the available reprints contain glaring mistakes and lack explanatory notes. These problems have led to erroneous conclusions and an incorrect impression of the information the sources hold.
The date of the original writing is not known, but it is often assumed to be around 1600. The document might be based on an old catalog of the General Archive of the Indies, in which this date is given.12 The author may have been Spanish: he indicated that Spain was his home country and wrote about 9 Emma The research paper by Kobata Atsushi (小葉田淳) regarding the relative values of gold and silver was the first in Japanese to cite a part of the English translation. In addition, Okamoto Yoshitomo (岡本良知) translated and introduced elements of the trade with Japan in his Memorandum of Trading Goods with Japan in Macau by Obscure Spanish. However, Okamoto uses Spanish reprints and English translations as his original sources, and they contain glaring mistakes (Kobata points to the fact that precise translations had not been established) and almost no comments or explanatory notes about special terms. Kōichirō Takase also cites parts of the Spanish reprint and English translation according to Okamoto's translation that referred to them. Okada Akio (岡田章雄) cites the English translation in his research paper about trade in the early modern period. 11 The manuscript used for existing reprints and translations is Document 31 in Box 46 of Patronato (hereinafter Document A) in the General Archive of the Indies. Apart from this document, there exists a manuscript beginning in the middle of the document; this is Document 3 in Box 263-2 of Patronato (hereinafter Document B). The remaining part of Document B begins in the middle of a list of goods brought from China to Goa and continues to the end of the document. While Document A must also be a manuscript, considering points such as smooth writing and no date or signature, Document B seems to have been created not from the same original text as Document A, but from Document A itself, considering the mistakes included in it. The beginning of Document B does not make sense; it seems it was once a complete version, whose first half has been lost for some unknown reason. Given the mistranscriptions, the writer of Document B was obviously not familiar with the place names and products of Asia. 12 Yet the reason for this date lies in the thirty-one documents that are included in Box 46 of Patronato, most of which were written in the later part of the 16th century. The content of this box is ordered chronologically and documents with unknown date are bundled at the end. Box 46 is one of sixteen boxes containing documents from 1518 to 1619 named "Patronato S2/SS12 discovery. The Maluku Islands and spices." Box 45, previously Box 46, contains documents dating from 1525 to 1537 and Box 47 from 1605 to 1619 follows. Document the Portuguese from a third-person perspective. The Captaincy General of the Philippines seemed to stand in the background of the document. Assuming it was a report on trade conducted by the Portuguese between Japan and Macao, we can try to identify an approximate date for it. The Captaincy General of the Philippines in Manila was established in 1571, when Spain undertook to govern the Philippine islands and to trade in the East China Sea.13

1.1
Spanish Interest in the Japan Trade Some Spanish individuals, including Augustinians and Franciscans, were on board Vicente Landeiro's ship that sailed from Macao to Hirado in 1584. Matsura Shigenobu (松浦鎮信), the territorial lord of Hirado, entrusted them with a letter asking the Spanish government in the Philippines for commercial transactions and amity. A galleon ship from Macao to New Spain (Mexico) drifted down to Amakusa (天草) in 1587, and a Fragata ship arrived in Satsuma in a similar way.14 Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉) sent letters to the Spanish government in the Philippines, demanding they submit to him, in 1591 and 1593; but official relations were not established owing to the unstable situation in Japan. For example, Dasmariñas was killed in a riot by Chinese sailors during his expedition to Ternate Island. Hideyoshi confiscated loaded goods from the San Felipe, a galleon drifting down to the Urado (浦戸) Port, Tosa (土 佐), from Manila to Mexico in 1596. During this period mendicant orders came to Japan from Manila and started missionary work.15 In addition, a Japanese merchant ship traded in Manila.16 A in Box 46 is therefore from the latter part of the 16th century, but this fact is not enough to conclude it was written in 1600. 13 Regarding the Spanish government and multi-ethnic society of the Philippines, see I also focus on a historical source (Salazar's note) held in the National Historical Archive of Spain (Archivo Histórico Nacional).17 The information provided in this source prompted Spain to take an interest in Japan in the late 1580s. Japanese historians have long known about this source, but it has not been analyzed in sufficient depth.18 The source contains information that a Japanese visitor to Manila was communicating with the Spanish governor-general of the Philippines.19 This communication occurred in 1587, a time when Luzon and other islands of the Philippines were under the occupation of the Spaniards. In that year, a group of Japanese merchants arrived in Luzon. The merchants met Domingo de Salazar, who, as Bishop of Manila, was the leading Catholic prelate of the area. The source is a compilation of information on Japan that the bishop gleaned from the merchants. Enclosed in the source is a document from the merchants themselves. The document describes the various regions in Japan, featuring a particularly detailed account of Iwami (石見), the location of a silver mine. This account includes the following statement: "Here lies plenty of silver. The Portuguese visit here" (Ay mucha plata. Aqui van los portugueses). Iwami boasted many valuable natural harbors, including Okidomari (沖泊) in Yunotsu(温泉津). Outside Yunotsu it had Hamada, one of Japan's foremost commercial ports.
The source also includes a list of sixty-seven Japanese domains in exquisite handwriting by a Japanese person. Besides the Iwami domain, the list includes a detailed account of the Aki domain and of the Mori family, who ruled the domain. The pages containing this geographic information were bundled together with a map of Japan drawn on a single sheet. The map was drawn according to a cartographic style that historians call the Gyoki-zu ( 行基図) style (it is known among historians of cartography that a Buddhist  with the list of  sixty-seven domains, one can get a rough idea of the layout of the independent  jurisdictions (known as bunkoku). Notably, however, the map omits Japan's northernmost island Hokkaido, which was then known as Ezochi. Among the Portuguese maps of the time, which represented the cutting edge of European cartography, there is a map produced in 1561 featuring a landmass that bears a striking resemblance to Hokkaido/Ezochi. Although Japanese cartographers of the late 16th century may have been aware of Hokkaido/Ezochi's existence, they omitted it from their maps of Japan. The source provides evidence that Spaniards in Manila had accessed accurate information about Japan's geography and Jesuit activity in Japan as early as 1587.
Thus the Spanish in Manila seemed to be fully aware of the existence of Japan by the end of the 16th century.20 Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) seized power after the death of Hideyoshi after the Battle of Sekigahara (1600). He strove for internal unification and attempted to bring calm to the country's foreign affairs. He also focused his attention on trade with New Spain (Mexico), and in 1598 he asked Jerónimo de Jesús, a Franciscan, to encourage Spanish ships to sail from Manila to Uraga (浦賀), a port in his territory. In 1601 he sent a letter to the Governor-General of Manila to ask for amity and commerce. A ship from Manila bound for Edo region in 1602 entered port at Bungo (豊後 Oita) owing to bad weather conditions, and in 1608 trading ships came to the Uraga port.21 A large volume of raw silk was brought from Manila to Nagasaki (長崎) in 1605, greatly affecting the Macao merchants' raw silk trade.22 Based on these considerations, we can assume the document was written after 1584 when Matsura asked about trading and before 1602 when the official trade started. In other words, it was during a period when the Captaincy General of the Philippines was seriously investigating trading possibilities with Japan and the Spanish in Manila, having already resolved the situation regarding Portuguese trade in around 1602.
Boxer reasons that the author of this document may have been Pedro de Baeza, a Spaniard who stayed in Macao for six years. "I didn't remember the net price nor selling price" concerning the cargo of tin, and "I loaded on the ship from China to Japan," it is certain the author actually joined traders with Japan on a Macao trading ship. With regard to the whole description, it is also certain the author stayed in Macao and saw the mutual trade in Guangzhou (広州) with his own eyes. Boxer does not give any other grounds for these conclusions, except to point to the possibility that Pedro de Baeza had the necessary experience to be in this position. Another memorandum written by Baeza (1609) to which Boxer refers states that the "Philippines don't produce gold."24 But this contradicts the detailed reference to gold production in the Philippines at the end of the same document. According to Boyajian, Baeza was from a converted Jewish family that formed a network on the route from the new continent to Manila.25 As the author's name is not on the document, we can only make suppositions. It is certain, however, that the author was Spanish, familiar with Portuguese trade in Asia, and that he had experience of sailing to Japan. As mentioned earlier, the first reprint of this document was contained in Labor Evangelica (1663). The mistakes included in that edition prove that the later English translation used this reprint as an original text, and that it was neither a new translation nor a reprint from the original book.26 Therefore, I have decided to analyze the content in light of the correct translation as opposed to the transliteration of the original book.

The Commodities
The contents of the "Memorandum of Trading Goods of Portuguese Ships" (hereinafter Memorandum) can be categorized into five broad types: "Loaded goods in ships from China to Japan," "Loaded goods in ships from China back to India," "Loaded goods in ships from Goa to China," "Detailed memo of goods in Guangzhou," and "Trading goods of Portuguese and their production area." The first three categories contain mainly goods that were transported on the main sailing routes, such as China to Japan, China to India, and Goa (India) to China. They mostly do not include goods bought and sold in port markets in Southeast Asia. We can suppose therefore that the records regarding port markets in Southeast Asia and their production were inserted as part of the fifth category, "Trading goods of Portuguese and their production area." Existing research about Namban trade has covered trade between Japan and Macao and has not focused on markets in Guangzhou and the hinterland. These descriptions prove that Macao was a main distribution point. Chinese products brought to Japan were mainly traded in markets in Guangzhou. Products destined for Japan were traded in Guangzhou in April and May and those for Goa in September and October.27

2.1
Chinese Commodities for the Japanese Market Chinese products destined for Japan make up the largest and most detailed category of goods, with raw silk and silk textiles being the lead products. Historians have not yet focused on twisted yarn in raw silk, but according to the imported volumes there was not a big difference between 500-600 picos of white yarn and 400-500 picos of twisted yarn. One pico is equivalent to approximately 60 kg. However, the profit ranged from 70 percent to 185 percent according to quality. The Memorandum of the Procurador in Japan (see Chapter 6), possibly written by Tçuzu Rodrigues S.J., states that "It is not bad to trade 5 to 6 or 10 boxes of rolls of cloth and twisted yarn. They must be thick, high quality, and crimson. That is because they absorb [exchange] silver well and are sold well to raise stable profits." Twisted yarn was, as we can see, the best-selling good. The total volume of imported white yarn and twisted yarn was about 1,000 picos. This record refers to the trade at the end of the 16th century, indicating there was a big difference from the more than 2,500 picos of imported raw silk taken to Japan by Portuguese ships in 1600. 28 As the total volume of imported raw silk, white yarn, and twisted yarn taken to Japan by Dutch ships from the factory in Patani was 6,205 catty (equivalent to 62 picos),29 Portuguese ships clearly had a monopoly in the Chinese raw silk market at the time. Though the VOC started to trade with Japan in 1609, the volume of imported goods was quite small in the beginning compared with the amount that Portuguese ships imported. Apparently because the trading volume of Portuguese ships was so large, Dutch imports were excepted from the pancada (wholesale price). There was no need to control the prices.
According to the records, Portuguese ships imported 1,700-2,100 rolls of silk textiles. Only 558 rolls of silk textiles were imported by Dutch ships in 1615, so the difference in volume is obvious.30 Three thousand rolls of cotton textiles were imported, a significantly larger volume than silk. This shows that not only luxury goods but also many everyday goods were part of the Namban trade. The same situation pertained with ceramics, which will be analyzed later. However, compared with cotton, silk brought a greater level of profit, with a selling price per roll that was five times higher.
Together with raw silk from China, gold ingots (insukin 印子金) were a leading product. At the beginning of the "Detailed memo of goods in Guangzhou," gold is mentioned in the following way: "One tael of high quality gold is equivalent to seven taels of silver" (see Table 2.1). According to the study by Kobata Atsushi (小葉田淳), the exchange rate between gold and silver in China from 1573 to 1620 had been considered as "one gold is equivalent to seven or eight silver."31 Kobata argues against this rate, quoting an English translation of this Memorandum. He notes that the exchange rate between gold and silver in Japan in the early 17th century could not be proved to be one to eight. The Memorandum therefore was either mistranslated or was referring to a rate in another time period. According to Kobata's research, the exchange rate between gold and silver in Japan in the early 17th century was one to twelve or thirteen. But this has to remain as speculation. As mentioned earlier, there is no evidence to identify the year of the Memorandum. Editors of English translations sometimes state that Volume 19 contains material dating from 1620 to 1621 together with account documents from the early 17th century and material that cannot be dated.
Judging from records concerning the market price in Guangzhou of gold (superior), it becomes clear that Kobata did not mistranslate the Memorandum. The rate was 6.6 taels to 8.3 taels for selling in Japan and that of gold (standard) was 5.4 taels to 7.8 taels. Profits from the exchange of standard quality gold were in the region of 44 percent and therefore more than that for superior quality gold. It may be noted that 3,000-4,000 taels are equivalent to 112.5-130 kg in weight. Obata states in his paper that the exchange rate 30 Ibid. 31 Atsushi between gold and silver in 1585 was one to 8.32, which was quite similar to the selling price mentioned in this Memorandum. Based on this information it is possible to suppose that the author of this document wrote his record based on his trade experience in Japan and Macao around 1585, according to the later order of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. As I will argue in Chapter 6, it is generally known that the Jesuits in Japan consigned raw silk to Macao merchant ships destined for Japan in order to gain profits for their missionary work. The procurador of Macao, that is, the person in charge of the economic matters of the Jesuits also in Japan, fixed the rule that "all other than goods (except necessary cotton) must be invested into gold. [...] we have to make our best effort to invest into gold with 4,000 taels at a minimum every year."32 A Jesuit Father Visitador for the East Indies, Alessandro Valignano, established this rule when he visited China and Japan in the 1580s. The rule was further revised in 1611-12 by Pasio, and again in 1618 by Vieira.33 It is not known when this part was established, but it is clear the Jesuits invested 4,000 taels of silver to purchase gold in China and exchange it in Japan every year.
Ceramics ranging in quality from everyday commodities to luxury goods made up a total of 20,000 pieces. Selling prices in Japan were about two to three times the purchase prices and differed significantly according to the product's quality. There was a twelve-to fifteen-fold difference between ten pieces of commodity ceramics at 0.1 tael and ten pieces of luxury ceramics at 1.2-1.5 taels.
Plants growing wild in China, such as rhubarb, liquorice, and Smilax glabra (or tufuling, a component of Chinese herbal medicine), had quite a high profit ratio that could reach 400 percent. Smilax glabra was traded at especially high prices, so the Capitão-mór was allowed to treat it preferentially in Macao.34 Concerning sugar, the demand for brown sugar was higher than that for white among the Japanese; its profit ratio could reach 900 percent. This was because sugar was used not primarily as food but as medicine, and there was great demand for it. 32 "The regulation of the Procurador of Japan residing in China.

Chinese Commodities for the Indian Market
The imported volume of white yarn for India was 1,000 picos, greater than the volume for Japan. The profit ratio was 150 percent, thus 60 percent higher than the rate for Japan. Twisted yarn was not contained in the list and the number of rolls of damask and taffeta bought was 10,000-12,000. This was equivalent to five times the number of silk fabric rolls for Japan.35 While goods described as "most of them are consumed by the local inhabitants" were silk textiles, gold, brass, and musk, one that was clearly mentioned as an exported good to Portugal was kapur (dryobalanops aromatica). Other goods destined for Europe passed through India, but they were likely consumed in India as well.
According to the Memorandum, places of collection were not limited to China but included Manila. As it is difficult to believe that high-quality silk fabric was mass-produced in Manila at this time, it seems that Chinese merchants from Zhangzhou (漳州) brought it to Manila. In other words, the Portuguese utilized Manila as a place in which to obtain Chinese goods more freely than in Guangzhou. While trade between Manila and Macao was prohibited under the union of Spain and Portugal by Felipe II (Philip II), restatements of these bans indicate they were not actually complied with. Especially around 1585, when this Memorandum was written, the ban had not yet been issued and merchants in Macao traveled to Manila on their own ships in order to trade.36 Silk brought from there to India was supposed to be exported to Europe.
On this sailing route, gold was brought at three to four picos (weight 180-240 kg), which was a much higher rate than in Japan. It could achieve a selling price in Goa up to 1.8-1.9 times higher than in Japan. The exchange ratio between gold and silver was one to thirteen. Exchanging gold into silver in India was more profitable than in Japan. Looking at other goods, sugar for instance had an import volume that was thirty times higher than in Japan. Crude drugs and minerals were also taken there in large amounts. This was proportional to the 35 Sixty-two rolls of damask were imported to Japan by a Dutch ship in 1615; thus even if the damask is not recorded in this Memorandum, it seems that damask was sometimes imported to Japan. demand. The exception was quicksilver, used for plating gold and copper,37 which was more often imported and had a higher selling price in Japan. At that time the amalgam method for refining silver was used in silver mines but was not otherwise widely known.

2.3
Commodities from India to China The types of loaded goods from Goa to India were comparatively limited. As the profit from gold exchange was greater than in Japan, a considerable quantity of silver was brought from India to China. How much is not clear, however, because the loaded volume was not recorded. Furthermore, daily commodities produced in Europe occupied a considerable proportion of the total. It was said that daily commodities such as wine and olive oil brought from afar were sometimes sold below cost. These goods were considered as not for onward selling but as gifts or for personal consumption by the Portuguese and Spanish.
So far I have analyzed trade between China and India and compared it with trade between China and Japan. As a result the trade between China and India has been proved to have been larger in scale and in profit ratio. The quantities of the major products, such as raw silk, rolls of cloth, and gold, exceeded those to Japan. India also paid more in silver. The exchange rate of gold to silver was one to 8.3 in Japan but one to more than ten in India. Profits from the gold trade in India were therefore greater even if the trade quantity remained the same. A report about forts and cities in Portuguese India by António Bocarro illustrates this point:38 The route from Goa to China, except the route to the (Portuguese) Kingdom, was the richest and most valuable in the (Portuguese India) Territory. The first nau39 was called the "silver nau". [...] Today, people make an effort and try to load even 300-400 candim (ca. 68-91 tons) in one galleon.40 37 According to a commonly accepted theory, the amalgam method was introduced in the 17th century when contacts between Manila had been established. India was not the main silver production area at this time.41 It is possible that the silver mentioned was brought instead from the Americas to Europe and then taken on to India. Trade between China and India was declining when the VOC appeared in the China seas, coming from the Indian Ocean area to Southeast Asia in the 17th century. The Dutch fought several battles with their Portuguese and Spanish rivals.42 While the "silver ships" between China and India were declining in number, those on other routes were increasing. In other words, since the 1570s the galleon trade between Acapulco and Manila had developed, and coincidentally the silver trade via India in Asia weakened. Evidence for this relationship is hard to find, so it is difficult to calculate the exact impact the opening of the Manila-New World route had on Portuguese trade within Asia. We should consider that the Portuguese in Macao monopolized the silver trade with Japan, where large quantities were produced. Compared with the Spanish, who lacked further ports, the Portuguese used their networks of local port cities in Asia to collect products that were needed in China.

Products from Various Regions across Asia
Most of the commodities transported from China to Japan were produced in China. Though products made in South Asia and Southeast Asia were not on the list, products such as agalloch, sandal wood, and Tonkin raw silk from Cochinchina, agalloch and aloes wood from Cambay, tin and pepper traded in Manila, kapur from Borneo, clove from the Maluku Islands, and raw silk and silk fabric from Manila were commonly traded goods and were carried by redseal ships from various places.43 Macao merchant ships also were keen to bring them to Japan.
I have summarized the products from Siam that we can define most precisely in Table 2.3. I will compare them with the load of Portuguese, red-seal and Dutch ships. While the Portuguese records are from the late 16th century, the records of red-seal and Dutch ships are from the late 17th century.
Commonly traded goods were sappan wood, lead, areca nut products, and turmeric products. Silver, musket, and benzoin were added to these items for Portuguese ships during the 16th century. Deer skin, shark skin, agalloch, and tin were listed for red-seal ships and Dutch ships in the 17th century. Among others, deer skin and shark skin seem to have been as important as sappan wood. It is unclear why they were not listed in the trade records of the  In other words, the Japanese and Portuguese did not import deer skin from Siam but from Manila at the end of the 16th century. We can suppose this was the reason these skins were not loaded on many Portuguese ships. Morga also lists products brought by the Chinese from Zhangzhou, Fuzhou (福州), and Guangzhou, as shown in Table 2.446 This table shows that items brought by the Chinese to Manila were similar to those brought by the Portuguese from China to India. We learn from this that almost every item was sent to Europe and that the goods traded by Macao and Chinese merchants in Zhangzhou, Fuzhou, and Guangzhou were almost the same. Furthermore, we should pay attention to the fact that many of these products were not only from China but also from Southeast Asia and the wider region. It is also clear that the Spanish bought ginseng from the Chinese not for trade in Europe but in Japan. 45 Morga, Philippine Shotō-shi, 392. 46 Ibid., 388. Silver, musket, benzoin, turmeric oil, coconut oil, sappan wood, lead, rice List of import/export goods of red-seal ships according to regions

2.5
Japanese Commodities for the Chinese Market Import and export items and prices were on the list of trades between China and India, as well as between Japan and China. A list of goods and prices from China was also provided in detail, but there is no list of goods and prices for the trade from Japan to China. "Trade goods and places of production of the Portuguese" just mentions the production of silver, tuna, swords, and haft.
An English sailor Ralph Fitch, who traveled from the Indian Ocean to the Chinese Sea between 1585 and 1591, recorded that "when the Portuguese sail from Macao to Japan, they import a lot of raw silk, gold, musk and porcelain but export only silver."47 This description fits the Memorandum and shows that there was no main product except silver, which was paid by Japanese. On the other side, various products were imported from China to Japan. Furthermore, the correspondence between the descriptions in the Memorandum and Fitch's record may show that the trade situation described in the Memorandum was after all true for the period. 47 Iwao, Shuin-sen Bōeki-shi no Kenkyū, 377. Every year Japanese and Portuguese merchants sail from the Nagasaki port from Japan and travel to this island riding on the northern winds in the end of October and around March. They anchor in Manila by following the same procedure. Their main goods are wheat of a very good quality which is much needed in Manila. They also import high-priced dried meat, beautiful colored silk textile, fold screens with a flamed decor and oil painting with gold leaves, various kinds of blades, armors, javelins, swords and other weapons with beautiful crafts, writing desks, boxes, small lacquered wood boxes and put patterns, good looking accessories at a moderate price, fresh pairs with very excellent quality, barrels and tubs of good quality salted tuna, larks in cages called Shinbarol with a very good voice and more. [...] Most of them are consumed within the island and some are goods destined for New Spain. The payment is made with real silver coins. However, as silver is produced in Japan, they don't need it as much as the Chinese. They even usually bring a lot of silver plates themselves to sell at a comparatively low price.48 We can see from this description that in addition to silver goods brought from Japan to Manila the products were mostly food, craftwork, and swords. The main product exported from Japan was silver, and no other products could expect to achieve such high profits. Furthermore, this proves that Japanese ships and Portuguese ships competed against each other as they brought similar products from Japan to Manila in the same period (1595-1603).

Customs and Freight Rate
The Memorandum touches on matters of customs, freight rate and the consideration for the Capitão-mór in various places. Now I will further analyze this after taking a look at the recent research from Takase Kōichirō on the matter.49 Takase quotes many authorities from different periods concerning the customs and freight rate of Portuguese ships' trade between Japan and Macao and also the reward to the Capitão-mór that took place from time to time. 48 Morga, Philippine Shotō-shi, 391-392. 49 Takase, Monsoon Monjo to Nippon, 70-80.
In the latter half of the 16th century, when private merchant ships came from Macao to Japan every year, the Capitão-mór could not monopolize trade in Japan. Private merchants came to Japan with their own ships, at least until around 1610.50 I assume that private merchant ships from Macao ceased to go to Japan because of the obligation to receive the red-seal ships that was issued by the Tokugawa Shogunate and also the Madre de Deus incident in 1610, when the Capitão-mór ship of André Pessoa was attacked by the governor's army of Nagasaki and Arima Harunobu (有馬晴信).51 Pessoa finally blew up himself and his ship in Nagasaki's bay. Following this incident, the Capitãomór trade changed its structure and began to use a group of several smaller ships (galliots) in order to reduce the risk of using a single large ship (nau). Private merchant ships mostly vanished because their owners officially joined the trade with Japan by offering their ships to the Capitão-mór. This process is an important turning point in the history of the Namban trade, which will be addressed later.

Capitão-mór Income and Freight Charges
After 1556, the authorization of trade with Japan began to be invested by the Portuguese king in only one person according to his military achievement or if he paid money for it (the Capitão-mór system).52 The benefit of this authorization was not the income from goods but the collection of "freight charge," a certain ratio of prices of goods, from the Society of Jesus, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, for example, and organizations in Macao.53 The chief The bases for my assumption are (1) there is no record of private ships that went to Japan after 1610 in the Portuguese documents; (2) the private ship of a wealthy merchant that entered the port of Nagasaki in 1609 received something like a red-seal certificate (see Chapter 6); and (3) in 1613, when the Capitão-mór from Macao arrived in Japan for the first time after the incident he went to the Edo court where he received a red-seal certificate to cross the sea. But this is just a hypothesis at this time. 52 Okamoto Yoshitomo thinks the Capitão-mór system for navigation to Japan was regulated, both in name and reality, after 1556 with Dom Francisco Mascarenhas. merchant (feitor do povo) was entrusted with selling these goods in Japan and calculating the profits. According to Takase Kōichirō, 2,000 picos of raw silk were loaded into the ship of the Capitão-mór destined for Japan every year, and the cargo owners had to pay 10 percent of the net price of any loaded goods as freight to the Capitão-mór.54 Manuel Dias, a Jesuit, records that they had to pay for 2,000 picos of raw silk loaded even if the actual amount loaded was less.55 The Memorandum states this more precisely, and we can conclude the basic incomes of the Capitão-mór as the following: (1) the freight charge of raw silk, which was 10 percent of the net price; (2) 500 taels from cargo owners with other goods; and (3) the equivalent of sales of sixty picos of excellent quality raw silk sold in a package deal. Calculating the basic income of the Capitãomór from one passage of the Memorandum, it amounted to 16,000 ((80 taels per 1 pico of raw silk × 0.1) × 2,000) + 9,000 (150 taels × 60 picos) + 5,000 (estimating ten owners of other goods) equal to a total of 30,000 taels. However, this is not correct, as the net and selling prices of raw silk differed from time to time, and the number of owners of other goods cannot be identified. Furthermore, Smilax glabra was monopolized by the Capitão-mór and its sales profits were also expected to make up part of his income.56 António Bocarro states in his record, written in about 1635, that 10 percent of the total sales from trade were posted into the safe at Macao and that less than a tenth of this was paid to the Capitão-mór as his consideration.57 The change in the privileged consideration system shown in this record seems to be related to the considerable changes in the trading system in Japan. As Chapter 4 will show, the city of Macao owed a huge debt to the Japanese in the 1630s and thus suspended the Capitão-mór system after 1634.58 The rigging of the ship and the acquisition of staff in 1635 were funded by the public property (royal treasury) saved in Macao, and the experienced Capitão-mór was elected to be sent to Japan under paid employment. The city of Macao tried to improve the debt situation by reducing the necessary costs to a minimum. We have to consider 54 Ibid., 72-73. 55 Álvarez Taladriz, "Un documento de 1610 sobre el contrato de armação de la nao de trato entre Macao y Nagasaki," Tenri Daigaku Gakuhō [Bulletin of Tenri University] 11, no. 1 (1959): 6. The original source transcribed here is: A report written by Manuel Dias dated April, 18th, 1610 in ARSI, Jap. Sin. 14-II, fl. 341-341v. 56 Takase, Monsoon Monjo to Nippon, 70. 57 Ibid., 72. 58 Boxer, The Great Ship from Amacon, 140-141. The Capitão-mór of this year was Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho. He, too, was a converted Jewish merchant. therefore that both the meaning and the income of the Capitão-mór in terms of Japanese trade saw significant change after 1635.

3.2
Customs Malacca, Ceylon, and Goa were mentioned in the Memorandum as the places where Portuguese ships paid customs on the Asian trade route. Of this, 7.5 percent of the total amount of goods was paid in Malacca, but there was no trade there. Does this mean that trading ships of the Capitão-mór only paid customs duties and left after having supplied their ships and waited for the right wind? This was indeed the order of the Viceroy of Portuguese India. What really happened is shown in the following statement: We paid 8 percent of the total goods as customs at the custom office when we arrived at Malacca. On our departure, we don't pay anything. In other words, the line in the Memorandum that states "in Malacca, no item is sold nor discharged" was repeating the official rule. Yet in reality, the buying and selling of trading rights among the captains (capitão) broke this rule. The Memorandum contains further information about payment of 8.5 percent of the loaded goods at arrival and departure in Goa, the payment of 59 Record about the cities and the fortresses in India possessed by the Portuguese court, about the Capitão-mór and other offices in these cities and fortresses and the expenditure for them (1582 2,000-3,000 cruzados by forcibly taking under tow ships that sailed in the sea around Ceylon, and so on. The Memorandum does not state that customs were collected in Macao as the king's profit. The aforementioned record by Manuel Dias from 1610 states that there was no customs system to profit the Portuguese king, but that the city authorities of Macao collected 2-4 percent of the loaded goods from ships that sailed into Macao as customs duties.60 This was called cardeirão and was collected as common property to maintain the city. However, Bocarro recorded for 1635 that the customs duties that became the profit of the Portuguese king were 10 percent of the total trade profit.61 We should consider therefore that some changes to the customs system in Macao were made between 1610 and 1635. This seems to be related to the changed relations between Macao and Portuguese India in the 1620s, which I will discuss in more depth in Chapters 4 and 5.

Groundage in Macao Port and Taxes Due to the Chinese Authorities
From 1620 onwards, customs duties pertaining to the Portuguese India trade were collected in Macao. In fact, the Portuguese paid "groundage" to the Guangzhou authority after they entered their contract of settlement. The Memorandum says the amount of port dues depended only on the capacity of a ship regardless of whether it was loaded or not. We already know the Portuguese paid land taxes to the Chinese authority,62 but other taxes have not been researched until now.63 However, determining who had a right to collect taxes relating to the port services will help to define to whom the land belonged.
In 1556 Dominican friar Gaspar da Cruz stayed around Guangzhou. He recorded that the Chinese authority measured the total length of ships that 60 Takase, Monsoon Monjo to Nippon, 73; Taladriz, "Un documento de 1610 sobre el contrato de armação de la nao de trato entre Macao y Nagasaki," 7. 61 Takase, Monsoon Monjo to Nippon, 71-72. 62 According to a commonly accepted theory, the land taxes in Macao were 500 taels per year, but this was actually the amount after 1740. It is said that the original amount of the land taxes was 1,000 taels, and 600 taels after 1691, then 500 taels after about 1740. and officials in Macao measure the width and length of the ships. They issue a bill and collect the groundage. Once the groundage is paid, they can load goods as they wished and no more tax payment nor confiscation of goods will happen. Portuguese are allowed to elect one Portuguese functioning as a representative. He is sent to Guangzhou to buy what they want.66 Linschoten stayed in Portuguese India from 1583 to 1588. After his return he published an account of his own experience and the information he had gained about the Dutch foray into Asia. His stay was close in time to the possible date when the Memorandum was written, and the works share some points. In other words, it is clear the Portuguese paid not only land taxes but also groundage to the Chinese authority after their settlement in Macao. As the latter amount was 3,000-4,000 taels per ship with a load of 300 tons, its relative importance compared with the 500 taels of land tax is clear.
Navarrete, a Dominican who stayed temporarily in Macao in the middle of the 17th century, wrote about the groundage as follows: Macao has so far paid the land tax for building houses and churches and the groundage for ships to Chinese authority. When a ship arrives, the Chinese authority comes from its Metropolis (Guangzhou) to measure the ship's capacity and collect a tax responding to the quantities of its load. When the ship departs, they measure its size again and collect customs. The method of measuring changes every year.67 Land tax, groundage, and customs upon arrival and departure were paid to the Chinese authority in Macao. This method of collecting taxes was similar to the customs system used by the Portuguese in Goa. Yet it becomes obvious that the Chinese authorities allowed the Portuguese to settle and live in Macao. The Chinese overlooked the Portuguese settlements while imposing large land taxes and groundage on them. Navarrete explains the differences between Macao and Manila as follows: Macao has flourished from trades with Manila and Japan and become very rich. However, Macao cannot compare with Manila and I cannot find any similarities between these two cities. I have found many different points in many ways between these two cities. Another kind of tax problem occurred in the 1620s. Macao sustained serious damage from a military attack by the VOC fleet in 1622. To remedy this situation, the resident administration officer in charge of military defense and control of the citizens, the Captain General (Capitão-geral), was sent from the viceroy's office of Portuguese India to Macao. The first Governor, Dom Francisco Mascarenhas, began to consolidate the military functions and the administrative structure. He further improved the economy during his term of office. As part of this effort he tried to build a fort and install a cannon factory to strengthen the military. The construction of this fort irritated the Ming authorities that oversaw the Portuguese settlement in Macao. The Haitao-fushi (海道副使) of Guangdong province arrived in Macao in May 1625 to investigate the matter. He indicated that 22,000 taels as tribute divided into two portions per year was to be collected under "the order of the Tutan (都堂, governor),"70 for a permit to build a fort. Trading was to be allowed between Macao and Guangzhou after payment was confirmed. This was repeated every time a payment was made. 71 Further regulations stated that the Portuguese would not be allowed to have four ocean defense ships anchored at the same time in Macao. The amount of rice that was brought from Guangzhou to Macao every month was to be halved.72 At this time China was undergoing political change from the Ming to the Qing dynasty. The Ming seemed to demand from the Portuguese as much tribute as they possibly could.
The Portuguese government in Goa deemed Macao to be a part of its domain and the Chinese authorities deemed Macao to be a place where the Portuguese were allowed to stay after offering their tribute and obedience. We can say, therefore, that at this time Macao was probably already acting according to a "two systems in one country" agenda.