Beyond bondage: captive experiences and adaptation in the maritime order of East Asia during
the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries

Liu, Y

Thesis

Beyond bondage: captive experiences and adaptation in the maritime order of East Asia during the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries

Abstract:: This thesis investigates the experiences of captives taken by Japanese pirates and invaders from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The study addresses neglected questions concerning the lives, roles, and diverse experiences of these captives, moving beyond traditional state-centric and period-specific analyses that dominate existing scholarship.

Existing research often focuses on the early wokou era or the Imjin War, and typically examines bilateral relations, mainly between Japan and Korea. The fragmentation neglects the continuity and evolution of the captives' experiences over a broader timespan and across multiple political entities. This thesis seeks to construct a more coherent and comprehensive understanding of the captives within the East Asian maritime world.

This study moves beyond conventional approaches that treat captives as slaves or commodified bodies lacking social autonomy. By focusing on the captives' own perspectives, it highlights their strategic adaptations from the point of capture to their settlement in Japan, demonstrating that they were not merely passive victims but active participants who shaped their own circumstances.

Structured into seven chapters, this thesis begins with why and under what circumstances individuals were captured and brought back to Japan and then delves into the captives' initial fate post-capture: destinations, markets, living conditions, and social statuses. Captives underwent physical alterations and endured labour conditions. The thesis also explores choices: escape or assimilation.

The thesis reframes captives and highlights that, far from being mere passive victims, captives exhibited diverse strategies and experiences in their processes of capture, relocation, adaptation, and identity reconstruction. The thesis engages with theoretical frameworks from global slavery and offers new perspectives for global studies on slavery, forced migration, and cultural exchanges, contributing East Asian case studies to these broader scholarly conversations.

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APA Style

Liu, Y. (2025). Beyond bondage: captive experiences and adaptation in the maritime order of East Asia during the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries [PhD thesis]. University of Oxford.

MLA Style

Liu, Y. Beyond Bondage: Captive Experiences and Adaptation in the Maritime Order of East Asia During the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. University of Oxford, 2025.

Chicago Style

Liu, Y. 2025. “Beyond Bondage: Captive Experiences and Adaptation in the Maritime Order of East Asia During the Fourteenth to Seventeenth Centuries.” PhD thesis, University of Oxford.
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