Nanban Trade System

Timeline

1. 1543–1544Tanegashima · TanegashimaPortuguese merchants blown off course showed and sold matchlocks to Tanegashima Tokitaka. The island's lord purchased them and ordered craftsmen to copy them, forming the first Nanban transaction centered on lordly permission. Firearms immediately became strategic goods contested by Sengoku daimyo, embedding trade in the military needs of the domains.
2. 1549–1551Kagoshima · KagoshimaFrancis Xavier entered Kagoshima by Portuguese ship and opened the mission in Shimazu territory. Daimyo tolerance of "bateren" was often premised on attracting merchant ships, binding Catholicism to trade privileges. Xavier also realized the need for missionary methods better suited to Japanese identity and etiquette.
3. 1549–1550Port cities of southern Kyushu · KyushuClans such as the Shimazu of Satsuma, the Otomo of Bungo, and the Matsuura of Hizen vied to attract Portuguese ships with port-city conveniences, silk purchases, and protection of missionaries. The institutional core of Portuguese-Japanese trade was case-by-case daimyo licensing, not uniform shogunate tariffs. Chinese raw silk re-exported through the Portuguese embedded the system in both the East Asian maritime sphere and the Estado da Índia network.