In the news: Second scroll depicting ‘Wako’ pirates found in China

A part of China's scroll is pictured, with Wako pirates, left, and the Ming Dynasty navy, right, caught in battle. (Photo courtesy of the National Museum of China)

Second scroll depicting ‘Wako’ pirates found to be held by Beijing museum

(Mainichi Japan) October 31, 2010

A part of Japan's scroll is pictured, with Wako pirates, right, and the Ming Dynasty navy, left, caught in battle. (Photo courtesy of the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo)

The National Museum of China in Beijing holds a picture scroll very similar to one in Japan that was until now thought to be the only pictorial record of the medieval “Wako” pirates, it has been learned.

“Wako” is a name meaning “Japanese invader,” used in the past by China and Korea to refer to pirates that plundered and engaged in smuggling along the Chinese and Korean coasts from the 13th to 16th centuries. Through the 15th century, the Wako were mostly Japanese, as the name implies, but in the 16th century most of the Wako are believed to have actually been Chinese. Japan’s scroll and China’s scroll were both found to be inscribed with dates using a Japanese period name. The scrolls will be discussed at a joint research meeting between the two countries, planned to be held on Nov. 12 at the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, where Japan’s scroll is held. Expectations are high that the research meeting will shed new light on the little-understood Wako. China’s scroll measures 32-centimeters tall and 522 centimeters long, almost the same size as the scroll held by Japan, which was was obtained before 1923 from a shop selling old texts. Like Japan’s scroll, the scroll in China depicts a battle between the Wako and the navy of China’s Ming Dynasty. The locations of the boats and other details differ between China’s scroll and Japan’s scroll, but overall the scene depicted is the same. “Both were probably made at the same studio in China sometime around the 17th century,” said Toru Hoya, vice-director of the Historiographical Institute. The possible existence of China’s scroll came to Japanese researchers’ attention in 2007, when a Chinese researcher visiting Japan remarked at a symposium that there was a scroll depicting the Wako in China as well. Japanese researchers at the Historiographical Institute planned a visit to the Beijing museum to see the scroll, and also decided to take a fresh look at the scroll held by Japan. Re-examining the scroll in Japan with infrared photography, the researchers in June of this year discovered that on a ship’s flag in the picture, covered over with white paint was the date, “Year 4 of Koji.” “Koji” is a Japanese period name, and the fourth year of it corresponds to the year 1558 on the Gregorian calendar. The date coincides with when the Wako were at their height. The reason for the date being painted over is unknown. On their visit to the National Museum of China in Sept. of this year, Hoya and others from the Historiographical Institute reached an agreement with Chinese researchers to conduct joint-research on the scrolls. They were able to use infrared photography on China’s scroll as well, which revealed the word “Japan” and the date “Year 3 of Koji,” or the year 1557, on the flag of a boat in that picture. The scroll held in Japan is a well known historical artifact that even appears in Japanese school textbooks, but until now the location and date of the battle depicted were unknown. There were theories such as that the scene depicted the Ming Dynasty’s navy attacking Taiwan, but the recent research adds strong support that the image, in fact, depicts the Wako. On Nov. 12 and Nov. 13, both Japan’s scroll, which is not normally open to viewing by the public, and a reproduction of China’s scroll will be exhibited at the Historiographical Institute