Japan and the Gulf: A Historical Perspective of Pre-Oil Relations

Abstract

�The Dawn The date of Japan’s first encounter with the Persian/Arabian Gulf region has so far not been established, but Aḥmad b. Mājid, an Arab navigator born in Julphar (present-day Ra’s al-Khayma) in the 15th century, mentioned about Līkīwū in his famous book, Kitāb al-Fawāʻid fī Uṣūl ‘Ilm al-Baḥr wa al-Qawā’id. Its Sulṭān, he says, is an infidel and at war with the Sulṭān of China in spite of their strength and their ability. He added that its people have great might and no race has more courage and other men cannot prevail against them [Aḥmad b. Mājid 1981: 220]. 1 Līkīwū is definitely Ryukyu. It is present-day Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, though it was an independent kingdom at that time and was later in the early 17th century occupied by the Shimazu Family, one of Japan’s strongest feudal clans. Thus, Ibn Mājid must be the first Gulf Arab who mentioned the surrounding areas of Japan. Since the Europeans discovered Japan in the 16th century, many Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch merchants or missionaries started to visit the country. They left their home ports for Japan most probably via the Cape of Good Hope, the Indian Ocean and the South East Asian archipelago. In order to expand their maritime power, the Portuguese had occupied some of the coastal areas along with their main shipping route bound for India, among which the Persian Gulf small littorals and islands are included, like Masqat, Bahrain and Hurmuz, so there is a possibility that the people of the Gulf under strong Portuguese influence could have had a chance to visit Japan with these Portuguese.