Wakō Raids on East Asian Coasts in the 1490s

Timeline

1. 1490–1499Busan–Jinpo area · KoreaKorea maintained anti-wakō fleets and beacon systems along the southern coasts of Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces; under King Seongjong, defenses were coordinated according to the statutes of the Gyeongguk Daejeon to counter wakō raids and plunder.
2. 1491–1499Zhejiang and Fujian coasts · SoutheastDuring the Hongzhi reign of the Ming, the sea ban continued, with guards and vice commissioners of maritime patrol established on the southeast coast to hunt wakō and smuggling fleets; the wakō problem and the sea ban intertwined, affecting legitimate tributary trade routes.
3. 1492–1499Kyushu coast · KyushuWakō largely originated from Kyushu coastal samurai, merchants, and mixed Chinese-Japanese-Korean pirate crews; the Muromachi shogunate and daimyō had weak control over local ports, unable to effectively stop departures for raiding, leaving the 1490s wakō problem regionally persistent.