Fuke Celadon

 

     Fuke port is located at the southernmost tip of Osaka Prefecture along the border between Osaka and Wakayama Prefectures and is known for Fuke Celadon.  The port town doesn't produce celadon.  Then, what is Fuke Celadon?

     The Okinoshima Northern Undersea Ruins is a buried cultural property site located north-northwest of Kamishima Island in the northern waters of Tomogashima Island in the Kitan Strait off the border between Osaka and Wakayama Prefectures.  According to Tokai University Marine Archaeology Program, it was recorded that many pieces of Chinese ceramics from the Ming Dynasty were salvaged in the Edo Period.  A group of sea-raised ceramics called Fuke Celadon is mainly made up of celadon products from the Longquan kiln from the latter half of the 15th century.  It has been pointed out that the reason these were pulled up from the seabed is that they may have come from ships that sank while passing through the Kitan Strait.  The celadon porcelain was traded from Ming China to Japan, which was mediated by Sakai merchants.  There is a need to conduct an underwater archaeological survey to verify this, but due to the depth of the site being more than 50 meters deep and tidal current, no diving survey has been carried out so far.