Sengoku-bune - merchant ship of Japan (1600-1868)

[Anatol]

The large coastal sailing vessels, during the Middle Ages in Japan, were called bezaisen, the term seamen and shipowners tended to use. The literal origins of the name are vague but probably refer to vessel type—sen as a word ending means “ship”—and sometimes, the word is romanized as benzaisen. More specific terms for the coastal traders include kitamaesen, best translated as “northern coastal trader,” the type that sailed along the Sea of Japan coast to Hokkaidō. From the north, the most common cargo was herring, salmon, and kelp in trade for rice, salt, cotton, cloth, and sake from the mainland. The general public tended to refer to these vessels as sengokubune, literally “one thousand koku ship.” A koku, or about 330 US pounds, is a traditional Japanese unit of measure; one koku was considered to be the amount of rice it took to feed one person for one year.
sengoku-bune - term given in the Edo period (1600-1868) to a cumbersome cargo vessel of lOOt disp. Used until ca. 1900. Suitable mainly for inland water areas, especially the Inland Sea. Sharp, elongated stem, sometimes curving at the top; high, open, square stern above a raking sternpost. Decked, usually removable; cabin amidships; some flush-decked. Huge rudder; very long, downsloping tiller; helmsman located below deck, directed by 2 crewmen. A fore winch unstepped the mast; an after winch lowered and raised the rudder. The heavy mast set a tall square sail. Might also set a very small, rectangular in the bow and a large staysail. Also rowed. Crew of 8-14. Reported lengths 18.5-40m; length of 1992 replicas 18.5m, beam 5.75m.
The photo by Dr. Yutaka Masuyama shows modern replica Edo-era sailing ship Naniwa Maru under full sail in Osaka Bay. This vessel was the third of four such replica ships built in Japan, all by one shipwright, in the last twenty years. Naniwa Maru represents the type of coastal trading vessel known variously as bezaisen, sengokubune, or kitameabune that dominated Japanese shipbuilding during the Edo Period (1603-1868).
Japan 1976;50,0. Yemen 1970;6b;6b
Source: A Dictionary of the world’s Watercraft from Aak to Zumbra.
https://www.asianstudies.org/publicatio ... raditions/.