Nippon Maru (1984)

Nippon Maru is a Japanese training sailing ship, operated by the Japan Agency of Maritime Education and Training for Seafarers under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Sumitomo Heavy Industries built her at Uraga in Kanagawa, and she was launched on 15 February 1984 with the then Crown Prince Akihito present. She was commissioned on 16 September 1984 by the former National Institute for Sea Training, as the replacement for the barque of the same name built in 1930. She is a four-masted barque, 110.1 metres long with a beam of 13.8 metres and a draft of 6.5 metres, carrying 36 sails with a total sail area of 2,760 square metres, plus two 1,500-horsepower diesel engines for auxiliary use. Her crew is 70 with room for 120 trainees, and she has won the Boston Teapot Trophy three times. Her builder describes her as the first large sailing vessel fully designed and built in Japan.