Kitamae Ships〜The Story of a Future Sea Route〜 Portal Site of Culture - DIGITAL ARCHIVES OF ISHIKAWA JAPAN - 　
The Story of a Future Sea Route Kitamae Ship's Journey Network of Kitamae Ship's
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The Story of a Future Sea Route A Background of the Kitamae Ships
　
Digest movie
Introduction
Relation Among Hokkaido, Osaka and Ishikawa
A Background of the Kitamae Ships
The Kitamae Ship Owners and the Structure of the Kitamae Ships
The Success Story of Gohei Zeniya
Economic Arteries Built Up by the Kitamae Ships
Culture Brought by the Kitamae Ships 1: Food
Culture Brought by the Kitamae Ships 2: Worship, Art, and Science
The Sea Route and Networks
"Kitamae ships" launched into the Sea of Japan as trading vessels around the latter half of the 18th century.

In those days, the Japanese government was situated in Edo (the present-day Tokyo) but the center of the economy was in the Kamigata region of Osaka and Kyoto.

Goods from Ezochi, which is present-day Hokkaido, and from the Tohoku districts, were shipped to Kamigata,

Mostly through the Fukui ports of Tsuruga and Obama.

From these two ports, goods were carried by land to Lake Biwa and loaded onto a "Maruko ship", which was a trading ship of Lake Biwa. Then the goods were sent to Kyoto and Osaka.

However, as this route went by sea and land many times, the cargo was often damaged and transporting costs went high. So, people started to explore a new route.
　
　
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