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Joyous Junk

Lakes resting one on the other: The image of The Joyous. Thus the superior man joins with his friends For discussion and practice. These lines from the I Ching describe hexagram 58 - Tui, The Joyous, The Lake. The two trigrams are the same, water resting atop water. The weak top line of the trigram represents the yielding quality of water. The two bottom lines are strong, describing the power of water and the darkness of the depths. The lines could also easily describe a boat with its structure atop the water subject to the vagaries of the elements, and its hull below the waterline providing strength and balance. The word junk is an English corruption of the Javanese word for ship, jong. Most junks are large ocean going vessels, but mine is a smaller sand ship. First built in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-446 BC), Chinese sand ships had reached Java by the Song Dynasty (960-1279). In the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) some of these ships could carry up to 1200 tons. During the Qing dynasty there were over 100,000 sand ships in use in Chinese waters. The sand ship is sometimes called a square boat, due to the shape of both ends. These boats have a flat bottom and a low freeboard - the side of the boat between the water and the deck. These features make them perfect for navigating rivers and inland waterways, though they were used for ocean trade as well. Most sand ships have leeboards fitted to each side for stabilization, but I've left mine ashore for now so I won't take up so much space at the mooring. If you've ever done any sailing, you'll immediately appreciate the advantage of the junk rigging, which allows the boat to sail directly into the wind, since the sails can be moved inward, parallel to the center of the vessel. Tacking back and forth in a western type sailboat across a waterway as narrow as is the Canal in some places would take about forever when the wind isn't right. The sails have an elliptical cut and curve slightly from the inserted bamboo battens which add to their strength. My sails aren't likely to rip to pieces in a heavy blow because the battens limit most tears to the cloth between each stay. It's no fun trying to tie the halves of a western jibsail together in the wind and pouring rain. See the red flags flying from my masts? Storms are caused by a cloud dwelling dragon who often flies into a temper. His rages can be cooled and he might even come to a sailor's aid when he sees brightly colored flags and red ones are his favorites. A good sailor is always prepared for these things. To see a diagram of the junk rigging, plus terms used for its parts, scroll about halfway down the page HERE. You can learn more about oceangoing junks on Xena's Big Eyed Chicken Sources: Richard Wilhelm, translator. The I Ching. Princeton University Press, 1967. China Culture.org Wikipedia-Junk Ship Image by Thomas Schoch adapted by Feiyan Zhou in accordance with the GNU Free Documentation License

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