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I don't want to give too much away, but I'm delving further into Japan in my timeline, The Prince of Peace. One object of fascination are the Red Seal Ships, ocean going ships that mixed western, Japanese,and Chinese designs to create ships that were larger than the average Portuguese Carrack and could even be larger than some of the bigger Galleons the European powers had at their disposal.

Now, Japanese just isn't my forte language wise. I can do naming conventions alright, but thinking outside the box to create a neat name for a certain option is impossible. The Red Seal Ships were known as Shuinsen (朱印船), but I'm looking for alternate terms.

The big difference is the time period. These ships are appearing within the mid 1570s, utilizing pieces of western knowledge, but still resemble traditional boats and Junks used by the Chinese. It's the end of the period that we really start to see the pseudo-Red Seal Ships as they were.

The big reason I'm looking for a different name is the ships in PoP aren't ships for trade; nor are they chartered, at least formally. They aren't even for trade at all. Sure, they can be, and a few number of trading families out of Nagasaki may be using them as such, but the big reason of piracy. The Wakou pirates were notorious for terrorizing the Chinese coast have begun to use these ships with great force, terrorizing not only their old haunts in China, but even starting to appear as far south as the Gulf of Siam and strait of Malacca, preying on Spanish shipping.

One idea I had is Yuureisen (幽 霊船) which is basically ghost/phantom ships, based on the fact that these embolden Wakou often attack at night and in the early morning, appearing right out of the fog. But seems too easy. And again, as chroncicles fearfully write that they literally come from no where out of the: Fog/Mist Ship, Kiri no fune (霧の船) is very possibly tut again it seems... so bland.

So I figured I'd turn to the Japanophiles of AH.com. ;) Anyone got any creative names for the proto Red Seal Ships being used by the Wakou to terrorize East Asia?
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