Ushimado

• Japanese: 牛窓 (Ushimado)

Ushimado was a major Inland Sea port town in Okayama han, which regularly saw kitamaebune merchant ships, daimyô fleets on sankin kôtai journeys, and Dutch, Ryukyuan, and Korean embassies to Edo, as well as more everyday traffic. Ushimado was also the chief departure point for pilgrims seeking to sail from Honshû to Shikoku to visit Konpira Shrine. Ushimado is today part of Setouchi City, Okayama prefecture.

Okayama han maintained a chaya ("teahouse") in the town which served the function of a honjin, providing lodgings for daimyô, shogunate officials, foreign envoys, and the like who passed through the town. Korean missions were frequently entertained and/or lodged at the Buddhist temple Honren-ji, which dates to the 15th century, and today features a number of buildings which have been designated Important Cultural Properties.

References

• Umimichi wo yuku: Edo jidai no Seto Naikai 海道をゆく－江戸時代の瀬戸内海－, Museum of Ehime History and Culture 愛媛県歴史文化博物館 (1999), 46.