Sinan shipwreck

• Japanese: 新安沉船 (Shin'an chinsen)

The Sinan shipwreck was that of a ship from Ningbo which sank off the Korean coast in 1323, carrying some 8,000 strings of coins, in addition to porcelains and other cargo. Discovered and excavated in the 1980s, the find was noted for its unusually nearly intact cargo. The shipwreck provides numerous valuable insights into medieval maritime trade, ceramics styles, currency, etc.

The ship contained numerous wooden tablets featuring Japanese names, including one of a kanjin hijiri working to collect funds for construction efforts at the Kyoto temple Tôfuku-ji, which had been severely damaged in a fire in 1319. The cargo also included numerous works of porcelain and celadon, and roughly 28 tons of Song Dynasty coins, loaded into the keel as ballast.

References

• Amino Yoshihiko, Alan Christy (trans.), Rethinking Japanese History, Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan (2012), 147.
• Richard von Glahn, "The Ningbo-Hakata Merchant Network and the Reorientation of East Asian Maritime Trade, 1150-1350," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 74:2 (2014), 272, 279.