Hakata
- Japanese: 博多 (Hakata)
Hakata, today part of modern-day Fukuoka City, was the chief port on Kyushu throughout the pre-modern period (up until the imposition of maritime restrictions by the Tokugawa shogunate in the 1630s). In the Heian period, it was the only port in the Japanese archipelago where the Heian Imperial court officially permitted foreign trade, though many other ports saw vibrant unofficial trade (i.e. smuggling) throughout the period.
An official lodging known as the Kôrôkan was maintained in Hakata in the Heian period to house foreign merchants. For much of the Heian period, Chinese and Korean merchants were restricted to this compound, but by the end of the period a Chinese community had become established in the port city.[1]
The Shôfuku-ji in the city is sometimes said to have been the first Zen temple ever established in Japan.[2]
In the Edo period, the neighboring castle-town of Fukuoka was the seat of the ruling daimyô of the Kuroda clan; the two cities eventually merged, by the end of the period. The Kuroda appointed machi bugyô (town magistrates) to oversee the administration of the two cities.[3] As it was such a major port, a number of domains, such as Tsushima han, maintained offices in the city.[4]
References
- ↑ Geoffrey Gunn, History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000-1800, Hong Kong University Press (2011), 213.
- ↑ Timon Screech, Obtaining Images, University of Hawaii Press (2012), 116-117.
- ↑ Arne Kalland, Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan, University of Hawaii Press (1995), 20.
- ↑ Robert Hellyer, Defining Engagement, Harvard University Press (2009), 91-92.