Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
(59) Rice-merchants.
In the seventeenth century trade with the continent of Asia was brought to an end, and
the construction of large vessels capable of making oceanic voyages was no longer permit-
ted. On the other hand, the routes mentioned above, with their transshipments that caused
considerable losses through pilfering and spoilage, were abandoned in favor of single,
though longer, voyages along the north coast and through the Straits of Shimonoseki, and
to Edo round the Bōsō peninsula. This latter route was developed with support from the
Shogun, anxious to bring more rice to Edo. From the late eighteenth century it was exten-
ded northward to Hokkaido, which was beginning to provide timber and dried fish.
As for the ships themselves, a description was left by that skilled observer, Kaempfer,
as he saw them at the end of the seventeenth century:
The merchant ships, which venture out to sea, though not very far from the coasts,
and serve for the transport of men and goods, from one Island or Province to an-
other, are the largest naval buildings of the Country....They are commonly fourteen
fathom long, and four fathom broad, built for sailing as well as rowing; both ends
of the keel stand out of the water considerably. The body of the ship is not built
roundish, as our European ones, but that part which stands below the surface of the
water runs almost in a straight line towards the keel. The stern is broad and flat,
with a wide opening in the middle, which reaches down almost to the bottom of the
ship, and lays open all the inside to the Eye. This opening was originally contrived
for the easier management of the rudder, but since the Emperor [i.e. the Shogun]
has taken the resolution to shut up his dominions to all foreigners, orders were is-
sued....that no ship should be built without such an opening, and this in order to
prevent his subjects from attempting to venture out to the main sea....
