Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1616)

The Japanese invasion of Taiwan (1616) was a conflict between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Ming dynasty because of the domination over Taiwan.

Japanese magistrate of Nagasaki Murayama Tōan launched the invasion against Taiwan. The objective was to establish a base for the direct supply of Chinese silk, instead of having to supply from Macao or Manila. Earlier Toyotomi Hideyoshi also planned to conquer Taiwan and increase to the Japanese power at sea. However the king of Ryukyu Sho Nei had warned Chinese emperor Wanli of the Japanese plans to capture Taiwan.

On 15 May 1616 (some say 1615) they left Nagasaki. Murayama's fleet of 13 ships and 4,000 warriors, under the command of one of his sons. However a typhoon dispersed the invasion force and only one ship managed to reach the island, but it was repelled by local forces. This failure put an early end to the invasion effort. A other single ship was ambushed in a river, and all her crew committed suicide to avoid capture by the Ming force or the Taiwanese indigenous tribes.

Several Japanese ships diverted themselves to plunder the Chinese coast. Some Japanese ships reached the coasts of Vietnam and did not return to Nagasaki until July 1617. They are said to have killed over 1,200 Chinese people.