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Regulation of Edo Red-Seal Ship Trade (1620s)

Type Event Region East Asia Time 1620–1630

From the early 17th century to the 1620s, the Tokugawa shogunate licensed Japanese merchant ships to trade in Southeast and East Asia via red-seal pe…

Timeline

  1. 1603–1615Nagasaki · KyushuDuring the time of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the second and third shoguns, the shogunate issued red-seal permits to wealthy merchants and daimyō, licensing merchant ships to trade in Annam, Siam, Luzon, Java, and elsewhere; Japanese overseas trade peaked in the early 17th century.
  2. 1620–1624Edo · JapanIn the 1620s, the shogunate reduced the number of new red-seal permits issued, restricted daimyō direct participation in overseas trade, and strengthened inspections of returned cargo and outflow of precious metals; red-seal ship activity contracted markedly.
  3. 1625–1630All of Japan · JapanBy around 1630, apart from Dutch and Chinese trade via Nagasaki, the red-seal ship system existed in name only; the regulations of the 1620s laid the institutional foundation for the sakoku edicts issued successively from 1633 to 1639.

Sources