Khubilai Khan 1281 Fleet Shipwreck Timber Study, Japan

The site of the loss of the Khan’s invading fleet of 1281, which according to legend was destroyed by a “divine wind,” (kamikaze in Japanese) was first discovered by engineer Torao Mozai in the early 1980s where fishermen had snagged relics for centuries. Scientific excavation of the site by Japanese archaeologists led by Kenzo Hayashida, director of the Kyushu Okinawa Society for Underwater Archaeology (KOSUWA) and now an INA research associate, located stone and wooden anchors, ship parts and many other artifacts in the late 1990s and through to 2004. Ongoing study and analysis of the artifacts continues, as does analysis of the remains of the hulls by research associates Randall Sasaki and Jun Kimura. 

Shipwreck Central Feature
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