10-01-2024, 09:19 AM
I just started reading Giles Milton's Samurai William, about the real William Adams that the show is based on.
The opening chapter had some background about the Portuguese in Japan, and why they are in tight with the Japanese. It's because China had a trade embargo on Japan, and the Japanese wanted Chinese silk. The Portuguese imported silk in exchange for silver, raking in tons every year, an amount estimated to be half of the Japanese annual production of silver. The "black ships" (called that by the Japanese because the hull was tarred) that did the journey to China were the largest ships on earth at the time.
The opening chapter had some background about the Portuguese in Japan, and why they are in tight with the Japanese. It's because China had a trade embargo on Japan, and the Japanese wanted Chinese silk. The Portuguese imported silk in exchange for silver, raking in tons every year, an amount estimated to be half of the Japanese annual production of silver. The "black ships" (called that by the Japanese because the hull was tarred) that did the journey to China were the largest ships on earth at the time.
the hands that guide me are invisible