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The sails, like those of ''[[sabani]]'' (Okinawan fishing canoes), were made in a manner closely related to that used in China. Thin slats of bamboo were interwoven to form a six-sided lattice, a pattern or method known in Japanese as ''mutsume ami'' (六つ目編み). Branches, leaves, or grasses were then interwoven into the lattice to form a relatively solid sheet which could catch the wind.<ref>''Kaiyô Kokka Satsuma: Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen fukugen'' 海洋国家薩摩－失われた琉球船復元, Kagoshima: Shôkoshûseikan (2005), 42.</ref> As in traditional Chinese "junks," the sails were held up not just by one or two static standing crossbars (as in European sailing ships), but rather by a series of numerous bamboo cross-bars which were raised and lowered as part of the sail.
The sails, like those of ''[[sabani]]'' (Okinawan fishing canoes), were made in a manner closely related to that used in China. Thin slats of bamboo were interwoven to form a six-sided lattice, a pattern or method known in Japanese as ''mutsume ami'' (六つ目編み). Branches, leaves, or grasses were then interwoven into the lattice to form a relatively solid sheet which could catch the wind.<ref>''Kaiyô Kokka Satsuma: Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen fukugen'' 海洋国家薩摩－失われた琉球船復元, Kagoshima: Shôkoshûseikan (2005), 42.</ref> As in traditional Chinese "junks," the sails were held up not just by one or two static standing crossbars (as in European sailing ships), but rather by a series of numerous bamboo cross-bars which were raised and lowered as part of the sail.
Fringed banners in red and yellow, with a red sun at the center, served as an emblem of the Ryûkyû Kingdom (the king of Ryûkyû was often referred to as ''[[tedako]]'', or "son of the Sun"). Though the use of yellow was officially restricted in [[Qing Dynasty]] China, it being a color symbolic of the Imperial establishment, these banners were one way in which Ryûkyû expressed its own identity as an independent kingdom, and the Qing are said to have raised no objections to Ryûkyû employing Imperial shades of yellow on their ships' banners in this way.<ref>''Kaiyô Kokka Satsuma: Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen fukugen'', 47.</ref>
A number of streamers were flown from the top of the mast and from the rear of the ship. They are said to have been intended to resemble or invoke the shape of ''[[koi]]'', ''[[dojo (fish)|dojô]]'', or other fish.<ref>''Kaiyô Kokka Satsuma: Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen fukugen'', 45.</ref>
A number of streamers were flown from the top of the mast and from the rear of the ship. They are said to have been intended to resemble or invoke the shape of ''[[koi]]'', ''[[dojo (fish)|dojô]]'', or other fish.<ref>''Kaiyô Kokka Satsuma: Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen fukugen'', 45.</ref>