Naniwa Maru
Encyclopedia
The is a replica ship
Ship replica
A ship replica is a reconstruction of a no longer existing ship. Replicas can range from authentically reconstructed, fully seaworthy ships, to ships of modern construction that give an impression of an historic vessel...
of a typical Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese trader from the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
(1603-1868) known as a higaki kaisen. It was built as the main exhibit for the Osaka Maritime Museum
Osaka Maritime Museum
The is a maritime museum in Osaka, Japan. It was opened by the Mayor of Osaka City on 14 July 2000 having started on site in March 1998. Designed by architect Paul Andreu with engineering design by Arup and Tohata. the museum was built on reclaimed land in the Bay of Osaka at a cost of 12.8bn yen,...
, with academic interest which also encouraged sea based testing until it was transferred into the newly built museum.
History
During the Edo period higaki kaisen ships were used to transport basic materials between OsakaOsaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
and Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
(now Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
), up the coast. Materials transported included cotton, oil, paper and medicines.
Naming
The name Naniwa Maru comes from the ancient name for Osaka - Naniwa, and the usual postfix given to Japanese trading vessels, Maru. The type of ship, higaki kaisen , originates in the name of the rhomboid-shaped bamboo gunwales, higaki, which helped keep the goods on deck, and kaisen, or "coastal boat".Construction
The plans for the ship were drawn up on computer, based on the only remaining original drawings dating back to the BunkaBunka
was a after Kyōwa and before Bunsei. The period spanned the years from January 1804 to April 1818. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:...
epoch (1804-1817). The ship has a length of 30m, is 27.5m high, with a breadth of 7.4m and weighs 90t.
The ship uses a number of different woods in its construction, just as the original ships would have done. Pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
, cedar, Japanese cypress and evergreen oak are all used in the construction of the hull and mast, whilst the sail is a cotton canvas known as a matsuemon-ho and there are old Japanese-style nails such as nuikugi and toshikugi.
Sea trials
Sea trials were conducted in Osaka Bay between 20 July and 1 August 1999, the first sea trials of a replica ship in Japan. These were run under the supervision of Nomoto Kensaku, emeritus professor at Osaka UniversityOsaka University
, or , is a major national university located in Osaka, Japan. It is the sixth oldest university in Japan as the Osaka Prefectural Medical College, and formerly one of the Imperial Universities of Japan...
, and helped confirm theories on the efficacy of the single-mast, square sail design.