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Kamagari was a major [[Inland Sea]] port in [[Aki province]], on the westernmost of a short string of islands including Shimo- and Kami-Kamagari Islands, [[Teshima]], and [[Mitarai|Ôsaki-Shimojima]]. Today known as Shimo-Kamagari, and administered as part of [[Kure]] City, it is located just south of the mainland of Kure City. [[VOC|Dutch]], [[Korean missions to Edo|Korean]], and [[Ryukyuan missions to Edo]], as well as ''daimyô'' traveling on ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' and other officials and elites regularly stopped at Kamagari. It was an officially designated ''[[kaieki]]'' (maritime post-station).

Kamagari was a major [[Inland Sea]] port in [[Aki province]], on the westernmost of a short string of islands including Shimo- and Kami-Kamagari Islands, [[Teshima]], and [[Mitarai|Ôsaki-Shimojima]]. Today known as Shimo-Kamagari, and administered as part of [[Kure]] City, it is located just south of the mainland of Kure City. [[VOC|Dutch]], [[Korean missions to Edo|Korean]], and [[Ryukyuan missions to Edo]], as well as ''daimyô'' traveling on ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' and other officials and elites regularly stopped at Kamagari. It was an officially designated ''[[kaieki]]'' (maritime post-station).

As at many other port towns in the area, rather than having wooden wharfs extending out over the water, the most central part of Kamagari's harbor was lined with stone steps known as ''gangi'' (雁木). Boats would come right up to these steps, and thus directly into the town. Lodgings, shops, and warehouses lined the main street along the harbor. Different sections of the steps were reserved for the use of different elite groups - members of Korean missions, and their [[Tsushima han]] escorts, would tie up their boats in one spot, while the lord of [[Hiroshima han]] would use a different section of the steps, some meters away. The main ''[[honjin]]'' of the town, then run by the Tagaya family,<ref>''Shimo-Kamagari chôshi: zusetsu tsûshi hen'', Kure, Hiroshima: Kure shiyakusho (2007), 72.</ref> and today maintained as a small art museum (the Sannose go-honjin geijutsu bunkakan), was one such building.

As at many other port towns in the area, rather than having wooden wharfs extending out over the water, the most central part of Kamagari's harbor was lined with stone steps known as ''gangi'' (雁木). Boats would come right up to these steps, and thus directly into the town. Different sections of the steps were reserved for the use of different elite groups - members of Korean missions, and their [[Tsushima han]] escorts, would tie up their boats in one spot, while the lord of [[Hiroshima han]] would use a different section of the steps, some meters away.

 

Lodgings, shops, and warehouses lined the main street along the harbor. The main ''[[honjin]]'' of the town, then run by the Tagaya family,<ref>''Shimo-Kamagari chôshi: zusetsu tsûshi hen'', Kure, Hiroshima: Kure shiyakusho (2007), 72.</ref> and today maintained as a small art museum (the Sannose go-honjin geijutsu bunkakan), was one such building. An adjacent building, today known as the ''Matsumoto ke jûtaku'' (Matsumoto family home), dates back some 250 years and is believed to have been originally used as the home of [[Hiroshima han]] officials who oversaw the town's ''chaya''.<ref>Plaques on-site at Matsumoto-ke jûtaku, Kamagari.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/36403196382/sizes/h/]</ref>

Korean missions, arriving in Kamagari by boat, disembarked at these stone steps, and then processed down red carpets laid down all along this main street (running parallel to the stone steps), and along roads leading away from the water, past the ''honjin'' and then to their lodgings. The top-ranking Korean officials stayed at the Upper Teahouse (''ue no chaya''), located behind the ''honjin'', while middle-ranking officials stayed at the Lower Teahouse (''shimo no chaya''), on the opposite side of a narrow road leading in, away from the water. While these two ''chaya'' are no longer extant, the ''honjin'' is maintained as an art museum, and these roads, along with the stone steps, and several other historical buildings, are still extant, and the path walked by Korean or other elite visitors to the town can thus still be seen. This road, extending path the ''honjin'', between the two ''chaya'', leads to a small branch shrine of [[Itsukushima Shrine]]. A side street, running roughly parallel to the shoreline, then runs from there to a Buddhist temple known as Gugan-ji (弘願寺).

Korean missions, arriving in Kamagari by boat, disembarked at these stone steps, and then processed down red carpets laid down all along this main street (running parallel to the stone steps), and along roads leading away from the water, past the ''honjin'' and then to their lodgings. The top-ranking Korean officials stayed at the Upper Teahouse (''ue no chaya''), located behind the ''honjin'', while middle-ranking officials stayed at the Lower Teahouse (''shimo no chaya''), on the opposite side of a narrow road leading in, away from the water. While these two ''chaya'' are no longer extant, the ''honjin'' is maintained as an art museum, and these roads, along with the stone steps, and several other historical buildings, are still extant, and the path walked by Korean or other elite visitors to the town can thus still be seen. This road, extending path the ''honjin'', between the two ''chaya'', leads to a small branch shrine of [[Itsukushima Shrine]]. A side street, running roughly parallel to the shoreline, then runs from there to a Buddhist temple known as Gugan-ji (弘願寺).