Yawata ship - Bahansen

The term "bahan" was used to refer to plundering places outside of Japan, such as China, and the ships of bandits who went to plunder other countries were called "bahanbune." In China, "bahan" was pronounced as "Hatsuhan," "Haban," "Haho," "Haha," "Hakuba," and "Pengxiang," while in Japan it was pronounced as "Banhan," "Datsuhan," "Hachiman," "Bouhan," "Bahanmu," or simply written in hiragana as "Bahan."

There are two theories about the origin of the word "bahan." One is that it comes from the belief in Hachiman Daibosatsu (Great Bodhisattva of Hachiman), and the other is that it comes from a foreign language such as Portuguese or Chinese. The former is based on the "Nankai Jiranki" (Record of the Warring States of the Nankai) written by Kozai Shigesuke in 1719 (4th year of the Kyoho era) during the Edo period, which states, "Our country's pirate ships raised the flag of Hachiman Shrine, set out into the ocean, and invaded the trade of the Western barbarians and stole their property. These pirate ships were called Hachiman ships." It was a common custom to raise the flag of Hachiman Daibosatsu to pray for safety at sea, but I do not agree with finding the origin of the word "bahan ship" there. It would be more appropriate to consider it to have come from a foreign language. Later, "bahan" came to refer to piracy and plunder in general, and in the Edo period, it also came to be used to refer to smuggling.

[Takehisa Udagawa]

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Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本以外の地、すなわち中国その他に略奪に行くことをバハンといい、また他国へ略奪に行く盗賊の船をバハンブネと称した。中国では「発販」「破幡」「破帆」「波発」「白波」「彭享」とバハンは発音され、日本では「番販」「奪販」「八幡」「謀叛」「婆波牟」、あるいは単に平仮名で「ばはん」があてられた。

　バハンの語源については、八幡大菩薩(はちまんだいぼさつ)の信仰に由来するという説と、ポルトガルや中国などの外国語に由来するとの二つの説がある。前者は、江戸時代の1719年（享保4）香西成資(こうざいしげすけ)の『南海治乱記(なんかいちらんき)』が「わが国の賊船が八幡宮の幟(のぼり)を立て、洋中に出て、西蕃(せいばん)の貿易を侵して財産を奪った。その賊船を八幡船とよんだ」と記しているのが出所である。海上安全を祈願して八幡大菩薩の幟を立てたことは一般的な風習だが、そこにバハン船の語源を求めるのは賛成できない。外国語に由来しているとみたほうが妥当であろう。のち、バハンは海賊行為や略奪行為一般をさし、江戸時代には抜け荷もそうよぶようになった。

［宇田川武久］

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