Maritime trade and transport flourished during Japan’s early modern (Edo, 1603 – 1868) period, connecting the urban centers of Osaka and Edo with the farthest reaches of Hokkaido and Kyushu. The omnipresent nature and variety of styles of boats, from local ferries, to fishing vessels, to large trade ships are recorded diligently in hundreds of woodblock prints by numerous different artists. Careful analysis of the construction styles and contexts of these vessels in the prints, in conjunction with contemporary ships’ treatises, extant artifacts in museum collections, and ethnographic research suggests that shipwrights strove to create visually striking watercraft that were adapted to the waters they plied. This lecture will highlight some of the distinctive features of Japanese ship construction and explore the role that different vessels play in the early modern maritime cultural landscape.

Short bibliography and/or website on lecture topic:

Damian, Michelle. “Japanese Wooden Boats in Woodblock Prints: A Research Project Journal,” The Museum of Underwater Archaeology. https://mua.apps.uri.edu/project_journals/aj/aj_intro.shtml

DiPaolo Loren, Diana, and Uzi Baram, 2007. Between Art and Artifact: Approaches to Visual Representations in Historical Archaeology. Historical Archaeology 41(1):1 – 5.

Kalland, Arne, 1995. Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan. University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu, HI.