Honryousen means “typical fishing boat” and the type was known by several names. These vessels were the work vehicles for farmers and fishermen living in the broad delta near the mouth of the Shimanto River. There were used for fishing, dredging, hauling rice, and transportation in the river and its myriad canals and tributaries. After World War Two, the US Occupation encouraged the draining of canals and replacement with roads. Soon the pickup truck would do the work of these boats and they all but disappeared.

The boat is about twenty-two feet long and built of Japanese cedar. The materials are so large it is essentially just a three-plank boat, the bottom and sides made up of single planks. Nakagawa san was in his med-80s when we worked with him. He had apprenticed under his father building these boats, but by age thirty he had been forced to pivot to more modern designs and worked most of his career building steel dredges. In retirement he has had the opportunity to build a handful of wooden boats for non-profit groups.