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''Sabani'' are a traditional style of Okinawan fishing canoe, paddled with wooden oars and/or sailed with a junk-style folding sail. Though fishermen today almost exclusively use more modern boats to make a living, ''sabani'' are still built in the traditional manner and used recreationally, for fishing, paddling, sailing, and racing, especially in [[Itoman]], a city in the southern portion of [[Okinawa Island]].

''Sabani'' are a traditional style of Okinawan fishing canoe, paddled with wooden oars and/or sailed with a junk-style folding sail. Though fishermen today almost exclusively use more modern boats to make a living, ''sabani'' are still built in the traditional manner and used recreationally, for fishing, paddling, sailing, and racing, especially in [[Itoman]], a city in the southern portion of [[Okinawa Island]].

''Sabani'' take their name from ''saba[fuka]'', referring to the oils taken from the gall bladders or other innards of sharks and used as a sealant in constructing the boats, and ''funi'', the [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]] word for "boat." This shark-derived sealant protects against the rotting of the wood, and turns black when it oxidizes, producing the typical black color of ''sabani'' hulls.<ref>Yamagata Kinya 山形欣哉, “Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen no mokei seisaku” 失われた琉球船の模型製作, ''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), 27, 40.</ref>

There are several theories as to the origin or meaning of the term. Some suggest that ''sabani'' simply take their name from ''sabune'', a Japanese word for a certain type of small boat. Others say ''sabani'' take their name from ''saba[fuka]'', referring to the oils taken from the gall bladders or other innards of sharks and used as a sealant in constructing the boats, and ''funi'', the [[Okinawan language|Okinawan]] word for "boat." This shark-derived sealant protects against the rotting of the wood, and turns black when it oxidizes, producing the typical black color of ''sabani'' hulls.<ref>Yamagata Kinya 山形欣哉, “Ushinawareta Ryûkyû-sen no mokei seisaku” 失われた琉球船の模型製作, ''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), 27, 40.</ref>

 

Though historically made as dugout canoes, from a single log, in the [[Meiji period]] ''sabani'' began to be made from multiple planks of wood, joined together.<ref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/9514322174/in/photostream/]</ref>

The sails were traditionally 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>Yamagata, 42.</ref> As in traditional Chinese "junks," the sails of a ''sabani'' are 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 are raised and lowered as part of the sail.

The sails were traditionally 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>Yamagata, 42.</ref> As in traditional Chinese "junks," the sails of a ''sabani'' are 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 are raised and lowered as part of the sail.