Wo-kòu Pirates

[SirGarnet]

These pirates (Wōkòu in Chinese (meaning Japanese bandit or invader), wakō in Japanese, or waegu in Korean) raided the coasts of China and Korea from the 13th through the 16th centuries. Originally they were Japanese samurai, ronin, smugglers, merchants, fishermen and farmers from Japanese coastal regions who relied on their home bases or Tsushima for supplies and support. They raided in strength up to several thousands deep inland on the Korean littoral. As a result, town walls and mountain forts were built to shelter the population. Non-Japanese pirates could also disguise themselves as Wōkòu.

The Wōkòu also raided the coast of China, but their activities grew more ambitious in the mid- 16th century with the growth of trade, stimulated by the arrival of European traders, as well as more stringent Chinese trade prohibitions that provided expanded opportunities for profit through smuggling. Local Chinese were the bulk of Wōkòu forces, though Japanese remained their core fighting strength, and with large-scale organisation in the 1540s they established a strong permanent presence for smuggling and banditry on China’s southeastern coast and waterways. They operated trading posts, built inland bases, besieged cities, and deep inland with relative impunity against ill-disciplined local troops.

They operated effectively in small units – indeed, a band of 50-70 pirates could hold a region in fear, pillaging in a circle around Nanking, the southern capital, while its garrison with a paper strength of 120,000 men remained inside. They could also muster small armies. One major raid of 20,000 men was met and destroyed by Ming forces including the army of General Qi Jiguang, who made his reputation fighting Wōkòu. General Qi’s innovations were the anti-Wōkòu Mandarin Duck formation, extensive training and drill, terrifying discipline, and careful attention to logistics and operational planning, all documented in military manuals to ensure effective military administration.

Successful Ming operations sufficed to check the worst Wōkòu activities, but their depredations faded away only late in the century. Causes include Hideyoshi’s cooperation in the 1580s, including Japan’s great sword hunts and strict penalties for daimyo’s who allowed piracy, relaxation of Chinese trade prohibitions, Portuguese cooperation with the Ming, and Portuguese pricing that undercut Wōkòu profitability.

Much of the foregoing based on http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/495562 as well as references in many of the military works about China, Korea and Japan in this period. Discussions of the Ming efforts against them focus heavily on the Ming forces.

Troop Notes: Not a lot of troop types, I think. MF or Warriors for the most part. They operated in small mixed bands, but I did not see anything describing large scale organisation. I infer that that leaders each commanded their own troops, whatever their mix, and used mixed formations as the Japanese and Chinese both did so, but speculate that in the course of their work they were not experienced in fighting in large bodies so separate bodies might create a more appropriate, disjoint feel.

The Wōkòu used Japanese-style weapons and methods, with their long swords being greatly feared. No ethnic distinction is made among Japanese and Chinese using these methods. The pirates were early adopters of Portuguese firearms and their teppō successors. These are classified as

Superior to Average, Armoured, Impact Foot, Swordsmen 1st rank, second rank Bow Swordsmen or, from the 1540s, Arquebus Swordsmen, or separate BGs. [Note that a Mandarin Duck Spearman formation neutralizes Swordsmen.]

Other bandits and hangers-on who swelled their armies would have been less well-equipped and skilled, even if originally part of the Ming military.