Another space created by the dreams of men who crossed the rough sea～port towns and the settlements for the owners of Kitamebune ship～

1 Feb 2022

During the Edo period (1603-1867), the westbound sea route linking the areas of Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, and western Japan was accounted for one of the major economic arteries of the period, and some merchant ships which took this route were referred to as “Kitamaebune”. Those ships helped transport commodities such as rice, and the owners of the ships themselves made their profits through the buying and selling of various merchandise which they purchased at ports; this is described as a “moving general trading company”. A lot of the remaining ports and the ship owners’ settlements along the coast of the Sea of Japan and Seto Island Sea bring to life the magnificent world of the Kitamaebune.

Hokkaido Prefecture (Hakodate City, Matsumae Town, Otaru City, Ishikari City),
Aomori Prefecture (Ajigasawa Town, Fukaura Town, Noheji Town),
Akita Prefecture (Akita City, Nikaho City, Oga City, Noshiro City, Yurihonjo City),
Yamagata Prefecture (Sakata City, Tsuruoka City),
Niigata Prefecture (Niigata City, Nagaoka City, Sado City, Joetsu City, Izumozaki City),
Toyama Prefecture (Toyama City, Takaoka City),
Ishikawa Prefecture (Kaga City, Wajima City, Komatsu City, Kanazawa City, Hakusan City, Shiga Town),
Fukui Prefecture (Tsuruga City, Minamiechizen Town, Sakai City, Obama City),
Kyoto Prefecture (Miyazu City), Osaka Prefecture (Osaka City, Izumisano City),
Hyogo Prefecture (Kobe City, Takasago City, Shinonsen Town, Ako City, Sumoto City, Himeji City, Tatsuno City),
Tottori Prefecture (Tottori City),
Shimane Prefecture (Hamada City),
Okayama Prefecture (Kurashiki City),
Hiroshima Prefecture (Onomichi City, Kure City, Takehara City),
Kagawa Prefecture (Tadotsu Town)