南蛮貿易
Before the travels of Tanaka Shōsuke, Japan had few contacts with the Spanish, and had instead relied upon the Portuguese, the Chinese, and to a much lesser extent the Dutch and the English for her foreign trade during the first part of the "Nanban trade period". Japan had also been very active sailing red seal ships throughout Asia, original Japanese ships that were broadly similar to Chinese junks, but incorporating various Western techniques and designs (such as square and lateen sails), but had never ventured as far as the Americas.