"Bodhisattva! Another ship's come into port! ..."
"Quick! Unload the cargo! ..."
"The family head bought rice from Yoneya again? Huh! There are oxen and horses on the ship too? Is that... swords, spears, and armor? ..."
"Sukesaburo, stop gawking! Go! Lead the new subjects down and take them to the sheds in the back! ..."
"Yes, Kono Kumigashira! ..."
More than half of April had passed, and spring light shone back upon the earth. The sea breeze was very warm, and the accumulated snow had all melted clean away. Five large Yoneya merchant ships were moored at the port outside Katsuyama Castle, and dozens upon hundreds of samurai and peasant soldiers grew busy once again.
"These merchant ships this time seem bigger than all the previous ones! They can even match that Zheyang Ship from a few years ago, and there are five of them! ..."
Kono Kenichi narrowed his eyes, studying the large merchant ships rarely seen in Ezo Land at the port. They were practically the highest level of Wagoku's native shipbuilding skill, the newly appeared "Benzaisen Ships." And judging by their form—single mast, standing sail, flat bottom—they had clearly been influenced by Tang ships, especially resembling Sand Ships.
Right now, every "Benzaisen" merchant ship in the port had a cargo capacity of 400 koku! Calculated at 120 kilograms per koku, that was roughly a 50-ton load. At the end of this fifteenth century, they could be called true "great ships" of Wagoku!
"A pointed bow and a square stern. One very tall, very large mast, hung with a square upright sail. A very flat bottom, and two rows of oar positions on both sides of the hull, oars and sail used together... The great merchants of Kyoto really are lavish, to actually use such big ships