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 (28 tons), in addition to porcelains and other cargo. Discovered and excavated in the late 20th century, the shipwreck provides numerous valuable insights into medieval maritime trade, ceramics styles, currency, etc.

Some scholarship indicates the ship likely had been commissioned by the Kyoto temple Tôfuku-ji, in order to obtain Chinese coins and goods to help fund the rebuilding of the temple, which was severely damaged in a 1319 fire.

References

• 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.