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 Relation Among Hokkaido, Osaka and Ishikawa
　
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
Osaka was called "the Kitchen of the Country" in the Edo Period. Here, kombu (or sea tangles) shops are abundant.

Why did "kombu", which is produced only in Hokkaido and parts of the Tohoku districts take root in such a distant city as Osaka?

The answer to this question is. "Kitamae ships".

Such a vessel is a trading ship which carries the products of Hokkaido and Tohoku to Osaka and Kyoto through the Sea of Japan.

An interview with Mr. Ryushin Makino:
The word, "Kitamae" was used by people of the Sanyo region, to refer to the districts. In the same way, they used "Kamigata" to designate Kyoto and Osaka, and referred to the Kyushu districts as "Shimoguchi". The districts on the Sea of Japan side were known as "Kitamae", which means the ground. So Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui and Niigata can all be called the Kitamae area. Thus it seems Kitamae ship owners, in principle, were all from those districts.

　
　
　
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