The Shimazu of Satsuma in the South of Japan would be the logical people for the Tondo to approach. And through them, the Tondo could make obeisances to the Emperor (Ten no) and establish tributary relations and an alliance based on the precedent of Japan's ( and Shimazu's) control of some of the Ryukyu Islands.
What Tondo would have to offer the Shimazu (if fully conquered) would be considerable based on kokutada,K okudaka (from Wikipedia) (石高
?) refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes in
Edo period Japan and expressing this value in
koku of rice.
[1]
One 'koku' was generally viewed as the equivalent of enough rice to feed one person for a year. The amount taxation was not based on the actual quantity of rice harvested[Name?], but was assessed based on the quality and size of the land. The system was used to value the incomes of
daimyo, or feudal rulers, as well as to value the homes and fields of landowners.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokudaka#cite_note-nussbaum549-1
By this measurement alone, Tondo would greatly interest Shimazu, since in the Philippines, 3 crops of rice per year can be grown. Shimazu was basically stuck in Satsuma Province at the Southern end of Japan, and severely limited in competition with other daimyo for land and resources. But Shimazu, having Satsuma, has this traditional outlet to islands to the South which may well be stretchable to include Tondo or even the entire Philippines itself. Granted, Tondo would be trading one master for another. But from what you are telling me, Tondo people might well find Shimazu less oppresive than Brunei. And by the time Japan reunified, completely, (early 1600s OTL) enough time might have elapsed for Philippines to be considered part of Japan.
Satsuma Domain (薩摩藩,
Satsuma-han?), also known as
Kagoshima Domain, was a
Japanese domain of the
Edo period. It is associated with the
provinces of
Satsuma,
Osumi and
Hyūga in modern-day
Kagoshima prefecture and
Miyazaki prefecture on the island of
Kyūshū.
In the
han system, Satsuma was a
political and
economic abstraction based on periodic
cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields.
[1] In other words, the domain was defined in terms of
kokudaka, not land area.
[2] This was different from the
feudalism of the West.
The domain was ruled from
Kagoshima Castle in
Kagoshima city. Its
kokudaka was assessed at 770,000
koku, the second highest
kokudaka after that of
Kaga Domain.
[3]
[edit] History
The Shimazu family controlled Satsuma province for roughly four centuries prior to the beginning of the Edo period. Despite being chastised by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his 1587
Kyūshū Campaign, and forced back to Satsuma, they remained one of the most powerful clans in the archipelago. During the decisive
battle of Sekigaharain 1600, the Shimazu fought on the losing side. Satsuma was one of the most powerful feudal domains in
Tokugawa Japan. It was controlled throughout the Edo period by the
tozama daimyō of the
Shimazu clan.
[edit] Ryukyu
Map showing southern Kyushu and Ryukyu islands, 1781
In 1609, the Shimazu requested permission from the shogunate to invade the Ryūkyū Kingdom which lay to its south. After a brief invasion which met little resistance, Satsuma seized a number of the
Ryukyu Islands, annexing them to the
han, and claimed the Ryūkyū Kingdom as a vassal state. For the remainder of the Edo period, Satsuma exacted tribute from Ryukyu, influenced their politics, and dominated their trading policies. As strict
maritime prohibitions were imposed upon much of Japan beginning in the 1630s, Satsuma's ability to enjoy a trade in Chinese goods, and information, via Ryukyu, provided it a distinct and important, if not entirely unique, role in the overall economy and politics of the Tokugawa state. The degree of economic benefits enjoyed by Satsuma, and the degree of their oppression of Ryukyu, are subjects debated by scholars, but the political prestige and influence gained through this relationship is not questioned. The Shimazu continually made efforts to emphasize their unique position as the only feudal domain to claim an entire foreign kingdom as its vassal, and engineered repeated increases to their own official Court rank, in the name of maintaining their power and prestige in the eyes of Ryukyu.
from wikipedia Ryukyu Islands History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyu_Islands#cite_note-haraguchi1999-19
The island chain appeared in written history as Japan's Southern Islands (南島,
Minamishima?). The first record of the Southern Islands is an article of 618 in the
Nihonshoki (720) which states that people of
Yaku (掖玖, 夜勾
?) followed the emperor's virtue. In 629 the imperial court dispatched an expedition to
Yaku.
Yaku in historical sources was not limited to modern-day
Yakushima but seems to have covered a broader area of the island chain. In 657, several persons from
Tokara (都貨邏
?, possibly
Dvaravati) arrived at Kyushu, reporting that they had first drifted to Amami Island (海見島,
Amamijima?), which is the first attested use of
Amami.
[18]
Articles of the late 7th century give a closer look at the southern islands. In 677, the imperial court gave a banquet to people from Tane Island (多禰島,
Tanejima?). In 679 the imperial court sent a mission to Tane Island. The mission carried some peoples from the southern islands who were described as the peoples of Tane, Yaku, and
Amami (阿麻弥
?) in the article of 682. According to the
Shoku Nihongi (797), the imperial court dispatched armed officers in 698 to explore the southern islands. As a result, people of Tane, Yaku, Amami and
Dokan visited the capital to pay tribute in the next year. Historians identify
Dokan as
Tokunoshima of the Amami Islands. An article of 714 reports that an investigative team returned to the capital, together with people of Amami,
Shigaki (信覚
?), and
Kumi (球美
?) among others.
Shigaki should be
Ishigaki Island of the
Yaeyama Islands. Some identify
Kumi as
Iriomote Island of the Yaeyama Islands because Komi is an older name for Iriomote. Others consider that
Kumi corresponded to
Kume Island of the
Okinawa Islands. Around this time "Southern Islands" replaced Yaku as a collective name for the southern islands.
[18]
In the early 8th century the northern end of the island chain was formally incorporated into the Japanese administrative system. After a rebellion was crushed,
Tane Province was established around 702. Tane Province consisted of four districts and covered Tanegashima and Yakushima. Although the tiny province faced financial difficulties from the very beginning, it was maintained until 824 when it was merged into Ōsumi Province.
[19]
Ancient Japan's commitment to the southern islands is attributed to ideological and strategic factors. Japan applied to herself the Chinese ideology of emperorship that required "barbarian people" who longed for the great virtue of the emperor. Thus Japan treated people on its periphery as "barbarians," i.e., the
Emishi to the east and the
Hayato and the Southern Islanders to the south. The imperial court brought some of them to the capital to serve the emperor. The
New Book of Tang (1060) states at the end of the chapter of Japan that there were three little princes of
Yaku (邪古
?),
Haya (波邪
?), and
Tane (多尼
?). This statement should have based on a report by Japanese envoys in the early 8th century who would have claimed the Japanese emperor's virtue. At the site of
Dazaifu, the administrative center of Kyushu, two wooden tags dated in the early 8th century were unearthed in 1984, which read "Amami Island" (㭺美嶋,
Amamijima?) and "Iran Island" (伊藍嶋,
Iran no Shima?) respectively. The latter seems to correspond to
Okinoerabu Island. These tags might have been attached to "red woods", which, according to the
Engishiki (927), Dazaifu was to offer when they were obtained from the southern islands.
[18]
Koremune no Tadahisa, a retainer of the Fujiwara family, was appointed as a steward of Shimazu Estate in 1185. He was then named
shugo of Satsuma and Ōsumi (and later Hyūga) Provinces by first
shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1197. He became the founder of the
Shimazu clan. Tadahisa lost power when his powerful relative
Hiki Yoshikazu was overthrown in 1203. He lost the positions of
shugo and
jitō and only regained the posts of
shugo of Satsuma Province and
jitō of the Satsuma portion of Shimazu Estate. The
shugo of Ōsumi Province and
jitō of the Ōsumi portion of Shimazu Estate, both of which controlled Tanegashima, were succeeded by the
Hōjō clan (especially its Nagoe branch). The Nagoe family sent the Higo clan to rule Ōsumi. A branch family of the Higo clan settled in Tanegashima and became the
Tanegashima clan.
[19]
The islands other than Tanegashima were grouped as the Twelve Islands and treated as part of Kawanabe District, Satsuma Province. The Twelve Islands were subdivided into the Near Five (口五島/端五島,
Kuchigoshima/Hajigoshima?) and the Remote Seven (奥七島,
Okunanashima?). The Near Five consisted of the Ōsumi Islands except Tanegashima while the Remote Seven corresponded to the Tokara Islands. After the
Jōkyū War in 1221, the
jitō of Kawanabe District was assumed by the Hōjō
Tokusō family. The Tokusō family let its retainer
Chikama clan rule Kawanabe District. In 1306,
Chikama Tokiie created a set of inheritance documents that made reference to various southern islands. The islands mentioned were not limited to the Twelve but included
Amami Ōshima,
Kikai Island and
Tokunoshima (and possibly
Okinoerabu Island) of the
Amami Islands. An extant
map of Japan held by the Hōjō clan describes Amami as a "privately owned district." The Shimazu clan also claimed the rights to the Twelve. In 1227
Shōgun Kujō Yoritsune affirmed
Shimazu Tadayoshi's position as the
jitō of the Twelve Islands among others. After the Kamakura shogunate was destroyed, the Shimazu clan increased its rights. In 1364, it claimed the "eighteen islands" of Kawanabe District. In the same year, the clan's head
Shimazu Sadahisa gave his son
Morohisa properties in Satsuma Province including the Twelve Islands and the "extra five" islands. The latter must be the Amami Islands.
[23]