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Paper short abstract:

Careful analysis of a twelfth-century government report of a "demonic" attack on a Japanese coastal community reveals important insights into Heian ideas of pirates and foreigners, the state of East Asian trade and technology, and the actual identity and motivations of the mysterious marauders.

Paper long abstract:

Japan’s Heian period (late ninth to late twelfth centuries) is often depicted as an age of peace as well as a time of gradually moving away from China and the influence of Chinese institutions. Formal diplomatic exchanges between the two countries stopped after the ninth century; although other types of exchange (such as among Buddhist priests and merchants) continued, they were infrequent. This paper, however, explores an unusual (and violent) incident that may have resulted from Chinese and Japanese coming into close contact with each other during a twelfth-century pirate attack. According to the record of the incident in a courtier’s diary (based on an official government report), “demons” attacked a Japanese coastal community, destroying property and killing locals before sailing away. The description of the pirates’ appearance and weapons makes it clear that locals found them completely foreign and incomprehensible.

Even so, why did the government official refer to the attackers as demons rather than pirates? What clues can be found in the written report that might help reveal the identity of the attackers and their motivations? And what did the label “demon” call to mind for literate Japanese of the twelfth century? Through close analysis of this report, the paper attempts to answer these and other questions about this mysterious incident through references to pre-modern East Asian trade and technology and connections in the Japanese cultural milieu between demons and the sea. It also places the demon attack in a broader context of Heian views on foreigners and otherness, contending that the attackers were actually Chinese but that the Japanese writer embedded references to demons throughout his report to strengthen the connection in the minds of his readers.