J apanese Navy Power very poor "Discovery Channel"

[letterman]

I saw on the History channel today that in the 16th and 17th century the Japanese Navy was a good close to shore navy but not much good out to sea..........Is this true???
They also said Japan s was no match for America's Admiral Perry and his fleet of ships who came into Edo with little resistance, eventually signing an asgreement with them to trade............Where was The Koryo navy at this later point..................Did YSS ever fight Americans or British Navys

john

[donilpark]

Well, we see in this drama that it wasn't even a good close to shore navy, let alone out to sea.
But what do you mean by Koryo navy? Koryo was long gone by the 16th century.
Although, if you're bringing in Koryo navy in the context of its relationship to Japan, than yes, Koryo navy did something similar to what Perry's fleet did.
Koryo, soon after it was founded, sent its navy to Japan to do a demonstration of power and force Japan to open up trade with Koryo, just like Western powerhouses would do later.
And no, Yi Sunshin never fought American or British navy.

[FrederickII]

The only Europeans that were in the area at this time were the Portuguese.

Most Asian navies were coatal fleets. Including the Chosonese navy.

[Trespasser]

Only Ming had ocean-going junks(You notice that Ming warships in the show didn't have any oars). To be ocean-going, a ship has to be a galleon(sail-only) and not a galley(sail + oars).

As you can see from the show, both Japanese and Korean ships were galleys. Japanese wakos(pirates) did go as far as China and SE Asia, but that was about it.

On the other hand, Ming junks did reach Africa and America but stopped there. But the reason Ming sailors didn't reach Europe was rather simple; Ming wanted nothing from Europe, whereas Europeans wanted Chinese silk and pottery.

[ronin]

To be a deep ocean going ship they need to be multi-sailed like the Spanish Galleon ships, Dutch Fluyt ships, and Chinese Junker ships so you can travel faster. Oars were used during battle for combat maneuvers and sails for cruising but in this show they make it look like the ships were traveling by oars all the way. They also need to have large cargo space to carry supplies (mostly dried food), trade goods, and slaves if you’re going to be sailing for months to other ports. Japanese were coastal pirate raiders and traders. They traveled all the way to the Philippines and Thailand. They weren't deep sea travellers like the Europeans and Chinese. I read in Samurai-Archives.com’s board that Thai kings valued Katana swords and they might have hired Samurai mercenaries. Malays from the East Indies and pre-Spanish Philippines were also pretty good sailors. Their ships sailed up all the way to southern Japan, Taiwan, China, Cambodia, and Thai kingdoms for trade in medieval times. The Spanish recruited them as sailors and Marine sharpshooter to guard their galleon ships from Asian and European pirates when they were travelling from the Philippines to California/Mexico since they were good sailors.
During YSS’s time, there were no USA and the English were still small time pirates like the Japanese who were raiding Spanish Galleon ships and battling it out with the Spanish Armada. However, the Chosun Kingdom did use their turtleboats against the US Navy’s squadron of iron clad steamships in 1871. They set the abandoned ships on fire and tried to ram it against the American Navy as a torpedo when they tried to land in Korea in 1871.
www.homeofheroes.com/wallofhonor/korea1871/2_hermit.html
Ming did ban maritime activity for a short period of time under a new Ming emperor a few years after Zheng He’s death because of Pirate activities from Japanese and Malays from the East Indies and the treasure fleets were too expensive to operate. They needed to concentrate their military strength on more western and northern barbarians coming their way. However, the ban was ineffective and caused economic turmoil for the coastal port cities in China. It was lifted in 1550 under bureaucratic pressure and they continued trade with SE Asia, India, and East Africa all the way to the 19th. Their Junk ships could travel all the way to the Americas.
Check it out
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hai_jin
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

[letterman]

Thank you all for the info and other sites to visit.............Each time I ask a question I'm amazed at the depth of knowledge many of you have on so many different subjects.......I'm fairly new at these historical drama's and find them fascinating........Finally a good reason to go back to TV...................Thanx all...............................john