Five harbors

• Built: c. 729-749
• Japanese: 五泊 (go tomari, go haku)

The "five harbors" (J: go tomari or go haku) were five major ports built in the Nara period, to aid in travel and shipping within the Inland Sea. Construction was overseen by the Buddhist monk Gyôki, and the harbors were chosen so as to be roughly one day of travel apart from one another.

They included:

• Kawajiri (at the mouth of the Yodo River, today part of Amagasaki City)
• Ôwada no tomari (later renamed Hyôgo no tsu, and then Kobe)
• Uozumi no tomari (at Akashi)
• Kara no tomari (at the mouth of the Kakogawa; today part of Himeji City)
• Harima Murô no tomari (later called Murotsu; today part of Tatsuno City)

While several of these ports fell out of prominence in later centuries, Hyôgo and Murotsu remained major ports into the Edo period, and Hyôgo (Kobe) remains one of Japan's most major port cities today.

References

• "Gotomari," Britannica kokusai daihyakka jiten, Britannica Japan, 2014.
• "Gotomari," Digital Daijisen, Shôgakukan, Inc.