should be
sent by each of the contracting parties in every period of ten years,
the suite of this envoy to be limited to two hundred, and any ship
carrying arms to be regarded as a pirate.

The first envoy from the Ming Court under this treaty was met by
Yoshimitsu himself at Hyogo, and being escorted to Kyoto, was
hospitably lodged in a hotel there. Instructions were also issued
from Muromachi to the officials in Kyushu, peremptorily interdicting
piracy and ordering the arrest of any that contravened the veto.
Further, the high constables in several provinces were enjoined to
encourage trade with China by sending the best products of their
localities. In fact, Yoshimitsu showed himself thoroughly earnest in
promoting oversea commerce, and a considerable measure of success
attended his efforts. Unfortunately, an interruption was caused in
1419, when some seventeen thousand Koreans, Mongolians, and "southern
barbarians"--a name given promiscuously to aliens--in 227 ships, bore
down on Tsushima one midsummer day and were not driven off until the
great families of Kyushu--the Otomo, the Shoni, the Kikuchi, and the
Shiba--had joined forces to attack the invaders. The origin of this
incident is wrapped in mystery, but probably the prohibition of
Japanese pirates was not enforced for the protection of Chosen, and
the assault on Tsushima was a desperate attempt at retaliation.

Yoshimochi, however, who was then shogun, seems to have associated
China with the invasion, for a Ming envoy, arriving just at the time
of the contest, was indignantly refused audience. Thereafter, the
tandai appointed from Muroinachi to administer the affairs of Kyushu
was driven out by the Shoni family, and the shogun's policy of
checking piracy ceased to be enforced, so that the coasts of China
and Chosen were much harried, all legitimate commerce being
suspended. When Yoshinori became shogun, however, this was one of the
directions in which he turned his reforming hand. A Buddhist priest,
Doen, proceeded to the Ming Court as Muromachi's delegate, and the
Chinese sovereign agreed to restore the old relations, transmitting
for that purpose a hundred tallies to be carried by the merchantmen.
These tallies were distributed to several high constables, to five
great temples, and to merchants in Hyogo and Sakai, the corresponding
tallies* being entrusted to the Ouchi family, which, having now
recovered its power, was charged with the duty of superintendi