History of Asia

Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the first full-scale liberation of slaves in Japan

During the Warring States period, the property of the humans who lost the war was robbed, killed if they resisted, and sold as slaves even if they survived. Globally, such slavery was often heard, but it was very common in Japan until hundreds of years ago.

Ashigaru of this era did not receive the territory even if he fought on the battlefield, and unless there was something special, he was rewarded only by the status of the samurai who was the master. Therefore, Ashigaru and others were allowed to violently wolf and randori. He personally benefited from plundering gold and goods in enemy settlements and selling people as kidnappers.

Sengoku warlords were also buying and selling slaves

This slave trade is not only for Ashigaru, but also for the famous Sengoku warrior, Takeda Shingen . And Kenshin Uesugi I was also going.

Shingen Takeda When he attacked Shinano Shiga Castle, he killed all the enemy soldiers, and all the others were ingenuity in Kanayama and sold as mistresses . It seems that there is a record that said.

That said, the Sengoku warlords tended not to do anything inhumane in order to capture the people of the occupied territories, as the land they attacked was often governed as their own territory. The above example of Shiga Castle has a strong showing meaning . , Is considered an exceptional behavior.

On the other hand, Kenshin Uesugi Was different.

Kenshin, who was attacking the Kanto region almost every year, did not become a territory even if he won the war, and he returned to Echigo in a hurry. This customary invasion of the Kanto region is not an invasion of territorialization, but a part of economic measures during the off-season of agriculture . I went there.

Therefore, Oda Castle in Shimono When he attacked, Kenshin ordered a slave trading city . , People were bought and sold in 20-32 sentences that's right. In terms of the current value, one sentence is said to be about 30 yen, so it means that one slave was sold for about 600 to 900 yen.

This market price is cheap, and the price of slaves in the early Muromachi period is 2 kanbun (2000 sentences) . And the price is 100 times. It seems that the number of slaves sold was so large that the balance between supply and demand was lost and the price dropped, and if it was unsold, it was released on the spot.

We are not very familiar with the fact that slave trafficking was taking place all over Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the latter half of the Warring States period. Slavery was banned by law in the process of unifying the world It is from.

As a Sengoku warrior, it is natural to cherish the people of the land that he wants to territory, and for Hideyoshi, who dreamed of unifying the world, the whole of Japan is his future territory, and he cherishes the people . Is natural.

Jesuits and Slave Merchants

When Hideyoshi unified Kyushu, he saw missionaries buying slaves, chaining their limbs, and pushing them like luggage to the bottom of the ship . was.

Hideyoshi immediately handed over to the missionaries to ban this, and at the same time as retaliation . Bateren Edict Was issued. Also, not only prohibition of selling slaves to foreign countries, but also strong prohibition of domestic sales As a result, Japan has become the first country in the world to ban human trafficking.

Also, support to bring back Japanese sold from Japan in the past If that is not possible, release the slaves who are still in Japan Requested. In addition, pay for it if necessary I offered to the missionaries and tried to protect the Japanese.

However, the missionaries who bought and sold slaves continued to Jesuits . Also says that it has come to issue an excommunication order for slave traders. Hideyoshi's expulsion of Bateren and the ban on Christians were not merely religious crackdowns, but were caused by the background of the slave trade.

In this way, Toyotomi Hideyoshi achieved the unification of the world and announced the prohibition of human trafficking throughout his control, creating the world's first country without slave trafficking.