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*''Other Names'': 早舟 ''(hayabune)''
*''Other Names'': 早舟 ''(hayabune)'', 玄関船 ''(genkan bune)''
*''Japanese'': 関船 ''(sekibune)''
*''Japanese'': 関船 ''(sekibune)''
==Name==
==Name==
The origins of the name ''sekibune'' are unclear, though it is often said to derive from some association with their use in defending checkpoints (''[[sekisho]]'') from pirates, and/or helping to enforce the tolls and inspections at the checkpoints. In any case, it seems that the name was not fixed until the Edo period, and so the style of ship now known as ''sekibune'' may have been known by a number of names during the Sengoku period; one 1761 source, the ''Wakan sen'yô shû''<!--和漢船用集-->, suggests that they only came to be called ''sekibune'' around one hundred years earlier, and that prior to that they were called Takao-fune.
The origins of the name ''sekibune'' are unclear, though it is often said to derive from some association with their use in the [[Inland Sea]] and elsewhere in western Japan, in enforcing the tolls and inspections at maritime checkpoints (''[[sekisho]]''), and defending the checkpoints from pirates. In any case, it seems that the name was not fixed until the Edo period, and so the style of ship now known as ''sekibune'' may have been known by a number of names during the Sengoku period; one 1761 source, the ''Wakan sen'yô shû''<!--和漢船用集-->, suggests that they only came to be called ''sekibune'' around one hundred years earlier, and that prior to that they were called Takao-fune.
==Design==
==Design==
The [[Tokugawa shogunate]] instituted a series of policies in [[1609]] aiming to curtail the naval strength of the ''daimyô'', banning them from possessing ships of over 500 ''[[koku]]'' in size (tonnage), and banning the ''daimyô'' of western Japan in particular from maintaining ''atakebune''.<ref name=farris/> This left the ''sekibune'' as the strongest ships in most ''daimyô's'' fleets. Some built larger 70-oar ''sekibune'' at that time, organizing their fleets around these as flagships.
The [[Tokugawa shogunate]] instituted a series of policies in [[1609]] aiming to curtail the naval strength of the ''daimyô'', banning them from possessing ships of over 500 ''[[koku]]'' in size (tonnage), and banning the ''daimyô'' of western Japan in particular from maintaining ''atakebune''.<ref name=farris/> This left the ''sekibune'' as the strongest ships in most ''daimyô's'' fleets. Some built larger 70-oar ''sekibune'' at that time, organizing their fleets around these as flagships.
Many of the western ''daimyô'' then came to use these larger ''sekibune'' in their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' (alternate attendance) journeys. They fixed them up to be luxurious seagoing ''gozabune'', and sailed them on the round-trip between their [[han|domains]] and [[Osaka]], where the entourage would switch to riverboats to go to [[Fushimi]] ([[Kyoto]]), and then the rest of the way to [[Edo]] overland. The shogun's luxury ship, the Tenchi-maru, was also a model example of an ''omeshi-sekibune''.
Many of the western ''daimyô'' then came to use these larger ''sekibune'' in their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' (alternate attendance) journeys. They fixed them up to be luxurious seagoing ''gozabune'', and sailed them on the round-trip between their [[han|domains]] and [[Osaka]], where the entourage would switch to riverboats to go to [[Fushimi]] ([[Kyoto]]), and then the rest of the way to [[Edo]] overland. The shogun's luxury ship, the 76-oar Tenchi-maru, was also a model example of an ''omeshi-sekibune''.
Thus, in contrast to the ''[[benzaisen]]'' which were the typical vessels in commercial shipping in the Edo period, ''sekibune'' were the standard martial ship.
Thus, in contrast to the ''[[benzaisen]]'' which were the typical vessels in commercial shipping in the Edo period, ''sekibune'' were the standard martial ship. Also unlike the ''benzaisen'', which incorporated advances and developments in maritime technology, the ''sekibune'' remained unchanged over the course of the period. This is said to have been the result of the ''Pax Tokugawa'', that the ''daimyô'' no longer had a need to develop military advances.
The ''sekibune'' began to be discarded in the [[Bakumatsu period]], as some ''daimyô'' began to acquire steamships and other modern warships. The shogunate discarded its ''sekibune'', including the ''Tenchi-maru'', in [[1862]].
==References==
==References==
*"Sekibune," ''Nihon kokugo daijiten''.
*"Sekibune," ''Nihon kokugo daijiten''.