itabatake family.
Numbers flocked to his standard during the disordered era of the War
of the Dynasties, and from Korea in the north to Formosa and Amoy in
the south the whole littoral was raided by them.

For purposes of protection the Ming rulers divided the coast into
five sections, Pehchihli, Shantung, Chekiang, Fuhkien, and
Liangkwang, appointing a governor to each, building fortresses and
enrolling soldiers. All this proving inefficacious, the Emperor
Taitsu, as already stated, addressed to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu a
remonstrance which moved the shogun to issue a strict injunction
against the marauders. It was a mere formality. Chinese annals show
that under its provisions some twenty pirates were handed over by the
Japanese and were executed by boiling in kettles. No such
international refinement as extra-territorial jurisdiction existed in
those days, and the Japanese shogun felt no shame in delivering his
countrymen to be punished by an alien State. It is not wonderful that
when Yoshimitsu died, the Chinese Emperor bestowed on him the
posthumous title Kung-hsien-wang, or "the faithful and obedient
king." But boiling a score of the Wokou* in copper kettles did not at
all intimidate the corsairs. On nearly all the main islands of the
Inland Sea and in the Kyushu waters they had their quarters. In fact,
the governors of islands and a majority of the military magnates
having littoral estates, took part in the profitable pursuit. No less
than fourteen illustrious families were so engaged, and four of them
openly bore the title of kaizoku tai-shogun (commander-in-chief of
pirates). Moreover, they all obeyed the orders of the Ouchi family.
It is on record that Ouchi Masahiro led them in an incursion into
Chollado, the southern province of Korea, and exacted from the
sovereign of Chosen a promise of yearly tribute to the Ouchi. This
was only one of several profitable raids. The goods appropriated in
Korea were sometimes carried to China for sale, the pirates assuming,
now the character of peaceful traders, now that of ruthless
plunderers. The apparition of these Pahan** ships seems to have
inspired the Chinese with consternation. They do not appear to have
made any effective resistance. The decade between 1553 and 1563 was
evidently their time of greatest suffering; and their annals of that
era repay perusal, not only for their direct interest but also for
their collateral bearing on the story of the invasion of Korea at t