Departure of a Ryukyu junk with tribute to Peking. A tribute ship being prepared at Naha for the voyage to China in 1828. The despatch and reception of tribute ships and embassies were great occasions in the lives of the isolated Okinawans. Here a tribute ship ready sail has been sketched by William Smyth and engraved by F. Finden to illustrate Captain Beechey's narrative, published at London in 1831.<br>Note: This ship is either a <i>shinko-sen</i>, <i>kai-sen</i>, or <i>maran-sen</i>. <i>Shinko-sen</i> were
used for international trade, mainly with China (Ming and Qing Dynasty), while the Ryukyuan <i>kai-sen</i> were often second-hand <i>shinko-sen</i>, repurposed for local trade between Satsuma and Ryukyu once the armaments had been taken off. A <i>shinko-sen</i> could also be called <i>To-sen</i>, or ‘Chinese ship’, as they were predominantly used for international maritime trade between Naha, the capital port of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and Fujian (Fuzhou) in China. Between AD 1383 and around 1450, <i>shinko-sen</i>-type vessels were granted to the Kingdom by the Ming when Ryukyu became a tributary state. Another ship type, <i>maran-sen</i> were middle to small-sized wooden junks made by Ryukyuan merchants for domestic trade, mostly within the Ryukyu Kingdom. The Ryukyuan <i>kai-sen</i> and <i>maran-sen</i> share the same basic ship structure as the <i>shinko-sen</i> and they were used up to the 18th century for local trade by private merchants between Naha and Kagoshima, the capital of Satsuma Domain in the southern part of Kyusyu Island. The construction of <i>maran-sen</i> started in the early 18th century. <i>Shinko-sen</i> and <i>kai-sen</i> are the largest with their hulls as long as 34.8 m, and 9.7 m in the beam, while <i>maran-sen</i> vessels are much smaller with a maximum hull length of only 14.2 m and beam of 5.4 m.<br><br>Owing to its size and purpose, the ship in the picture is likely a <b>shinko-sen</b>.
William Smyth (sketch)<br>F. Finden (engraving)<br>Frederick William Beechey (book author)
1831
Beechey, Frederick William (1831). <i>Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait, to co-operate with the Polar expeditions : performed in His Majesty's ship Blossom, under the command of Captain F. W. Beechey, in the years 1825, 26, 27, 28</i>. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley.<br><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://archive.org/details/narrativeofvoyag02beec/page/n191/mode/2up">https://archive.org/details/narrativeofvoyag02beec/page/n191/mode/2up</a>