Dr. Nishimura's unfinished work
From the shipwreck in Binh Chau (Quang Ngai), Dr. Nishimura and his colleagues quietly salvaged and collected hundreds of bags of valuable antiques. He shared with his wife, Mrs. Nishio Noriko, his intention to collect and form the Vietnam Maritime Culture Museum to "tell" the stories of bustling trade on the docks and boats at Vietnamese seaports in the past. However, an unexpected accident prevented Nishi from completing his plan.
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However, when Dr. Nishimura lay in Kim Lan (Hanoi), a group of Japanese archaeologists gathered to follow in his footsteps, with the desire to go to the end of the scientific path of Vietnamese maritime culture.
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| Ms. Noriko presents Nishimura's unfinished work and new discoveries by the Nishimura Project group. |
“Nishi's Wish”
Ms. Noriko, Dr. Nishimura's wife, said: Mr. Nishimura also believes that the cultural heritage of the shipwreck in Binh Chau is very important, especially the system of artifacts. Mr. Nishi saw the value of this document and saw the need to conduct thorough research to expand the information layers of the data from the artifacts in the shipwreck.
According to Noriki, Dr. Nishimura visited Quang Ngai province many times to research documents from around 2011 until his death. Nishi intended to salvage, classify and re-count the artifacts, research the origin of the ship, the ship's expected voyage, clarify the place of production of the artifacts, the system of goods to form a system of documents on maritime navigation through Vietnam's sea as well as Vietnamese trading ports in the 9th century (the estimated time the ship sank).
From that foundation, Nishi intended to build the Vietnam Maritime Culture Museum. However, an unexpected accident in June 2013 caused the project he devoted himself to and worked so hard to "sink" with the ship on Binh Chau beach.
“We do not want to see the work of our husband, colleague, teacher, and friend unfinished like that,” said Noriko. “From Nishi’s work and wishes for the shipwrecked relic in Binh Chau sea, we created the Nishimura Project group to pay tribute to Nishi and continue the path of searching for scientific truth that Nishi has not yet completed. The Nishimura Project group includes: Nishio Noriko, Aoyama Toru (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies), Kimura Jun, Nogami Takenori...”.
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| Valuable artifacts on the sunken ship salvaged by Nishimura in Quang Ngai sea. Photo: Nishimura Project |
Vietnamese maritime culture
Dr. Nguyen Viet, who also researched shipwrecks in the Binh Chau sea area, assessed the importance of the shipwreck that Nishimura studied: In researching sovereignty, we are lacking ships. Dong Son artifacts only give us drawings. Meanwhile, in the East Sea, ships appeared early. The traces of their presence are only left in Luy Lau, Chiem Thanh... So this ship from around the 9th century is very important in clarifying Vietnamese maritime culture.
“The ship that Nishi and I studied is still relatively complete,” Dr. Nguyen Viet continued. “For example, each connecting wire is still quite intact, and the wood of the ship’s hull is still very good. In my opinion, through this way of building the ship, we can predict its origin from the Arabian region. It departed from a relatively specific port in the Persian Gulf.”
According to Dr. Nguyen Viet, the appearance of the shipwreck from a very far place along with the artifacts collected by Nishimura and his colleagues can clearly prove that the Sa Ky estuary was very busy in the 9th - 10th century. And Quang Ngai was a good stop for getting fresh water as well as trading forest products of international merchant ships. This was also the center of ancient Champa, a powerful maritime kingdom. At the same time, Vietnam was an important stop on the international maritime route with other famous ports in the Van Don area, Sam Son, Lam river mouth, Oc Eo, Phu Nam, Cu Lao Cham,...
“From the artifacts and unfinished works that Nishi devoted to his last breath, we can clearly see that one of the important elements of Vietnamese culture is maritime culture,” said Dr. Nguyen Viet. “And archaeological discoveries have shown that the East Sea has been the lifeline of the Vietnamese people for a long time. The artifacts from the shipwreck that Nishimura studied once again remind the Vietnamese people that they must protect their ancestors’ sea at all costs to protect sovereignty and prosperity.”
Dr. Nishimura Masanari (1965-2013) was a researcher at Kansai University, Osaka University, a member of the Vietnam Archaeological Association, a research collaborator at the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology, an Executive Member of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association IPPA, founder of the Southeast Asia Cultural Heritage Foundation, and founder of the Community Archaeology Museum in Kim Lan village (Hanoi). Dr. Nishimura Masanari was awarded the Medal for the Cause of Social Sciences by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the Bui Xuan Phai Award for the Love of Hanoi 2013 in the category of Work for the Love of Hanoi and the Friendship Medal. |
(To be continued)
According to TT&VH
