Page 207 - Vol_2_Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaport Trade

178 J. Kimura

Fig. 10.2 Clock of Ieyasu.
Courtesy of Mt. Kuno
Toshogu

(Fig. 10.2). It is important as a cultural and historical asset and as the oldest western
clock that has survived in Japan. The internal mechanism remains the most intact
among those of clocks from the seventeenth century.
Despite the fact that the records about the loss of the San Francisco have been
well examined and the impacts of the sunken ship have been evaluated, archaeo-
logical evidence of the shipwreck is extremely limited. Vivero’s historical accounts
indicate that some of the cargoes of the San Francisco, such as textiles and bees-
wax, reached the shore and the local villagers pillaged the cargoes that washed
ashore. A very early investigation attempting to identify possible salvaged cargoes
in Onjuku took place in the nineteenth-century Meiji Period; it was reported that
apart from a metal pot and ceramics of unknown origin, no wreck artifacts were
found in the town. A 2006 study con!rmed that any remains of the cargoes no
longer existed in the modern Onjuku town of Iwawada (Kimura and Sasaki 2006).
During the 2006 study, the author inspected roof beams inside one of the oldest
houses in Onjuku that were said to be timbers salvaged from the wreckage that
drifted to shore from the San Francisco. No clear evidence was noted in relation to
such provenience. The wood species identi!cation on a specimen cut from one of
the beams shows that the wood is a Japanese native species (Kimura and Sasaki
2006). In 2009 as part of the 400th anniversary of the rescue of the crew of the San
Francisco, the municipal of!ce of Onjuku investigated whether any artifacts of the