Kitamaebune

• Other Names: 西廻り航路 (nishi mawari kouro)
• Japanese: 北前船 (kitamaebune)

The kitamaebune were cargo ships which ran from the mid-Edo period into the Meiji period, connecting Osaka and Ezo (Hokkaidô) via various ports in the Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan coast. Their route was known as the Western Sea Circuit, or nishi-mawari kôro, in contrast to the Eastern Sea Circuit, or higashi-mawari kôro, which carried a lesser but still major volume of goods, connecting Osaka and Ezo along the eastern (Pacific) coast of Honshû.

The ships themselves included sengokubune (ships capable of carrying 1,000 koku of rice), as well as benzaisen and donguri-bune. Originally, the ships traveling this route carried roughly 200-500 koku worth of goods, but by the Meiji period, a class of ships carrying up to 2000 koku worth of goods came onto the scene.

Goods from Hokkaidô which were brought to the Sea of Japan coast ports, Inland Sea, and Osaka were chiefly marine goods, including herring, konbu (seaweed), and the like. These goods then circulated further throughout the archipelago, making it even as far as Ryûkyû, and via Ryûkyû, to China, as tribute goods. Meanwhile, goods traveling in the other direction, from Osaka and elsewhere to the Inland Sea, the Sea of Japan coastal ports, and Hokkaidô, included rice, salt, textiles, and saké, as well as Chinese medicine ingredients obtained from China via Ryûkyû.

Many of the ships were owned and operated by merchants based in Osaka or Sakai, but many were also owned and operated by individuals based in ports elsewhere along the route, including some from rather small ports. Several domains, including Toyama and Kaga han, made concerted efforts in the early decades of the 19th century to become prominent regions for the construction of ships which could carry goods along this route.

References

• "Kitamaebune," Sekai daihyakka jiten 世界大百科事典, Hitachi Solutions, 2012.
• Gallery labels, Gallery 3: Early Modern Japan, National Museum of Japanese History, Sakura, Chiba, July 2013.