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The town's name literally means "hand washing," and depending on the source one refers to, the placename derives from either [[Izanagi]], [[Empress Jingu|Empress Jingû]], or [[Sugawara no Michizane]] having washed their hands there at one time. Numerous rivers, ponds, and other sites across Japan share the same name (sometimes pronounced Mitarashi or Mitarase, but written with the same [[kanji]]).<ref>''Mitarai tsûshi'' 御手洗通志 16 (July 2005), 5, 8.</ref>

The town's name literally means "hand washing," and depending on the source one refers to, the placename derives from either [[Izanagi]], [[Empress Jingu|Empress Jingû]], or [[Sugawara no Michizane]] having washed their hands there at one time. Numerous rivers, ponds, and other sites across Japan share the same name (sometimes pronounced Mitarashi or Mitarase, but written with the same [[kanji]]).<ref>''Mitarai tsûshi'' 御手洗通志 16 (July 2005), 5, 8.</ref>

Mitarai got its start around [[1666]], when the domain granted permission for the construction of divided homes; it's said that as of the 1630s, there was not a single residence,<ref>Or at least no residences of a certain type; presumably there must have been farmhouses of some sort, but according to records from the time, there were no ''yashiki'' 屋敷.</ref>, but only fields and orchards.

Mitarai got its start around [[1666]], when the domain granted permission for the construction of divided homes; it's said that as of the 1630s, there was not a single residence,<ref>Or at least no residences of a certain type; presumably there must have been farmhouses of some sort, but according to records from the time, there were no ''yashiki'' 屋敷.</ref>, but only fields and orchards. As both official (shogunate and ''daimyô'') and merchant ships increasingly began to sail through the center of the Inland Sea, rather than only closer to the coast as they had done in the medieval period, Mitarai was able to grow in centrality and importance.<ref>Kimura Yoshisato 木村吉聡 (ed.), ''Ryukyu shisetsu no Edo nobori to Mitarai'' 琉球使節の江戸上りと御手洗, Shiomachi kankô kôryû Center 潮待ち館観光交流センター (2001), 3.</ref> The town thus quickly grew into a significant port over the course of the 17th to 18th centuries, and all the more so in the early 19th century as the Japan-wide "travel boom" burgeoned. The town grew from some 83 homes as of [[1748]], to 106 homes housing over 530 people twenty years later; by [[1801]], the population had roughly tripled, to over 1,500.<ref>Kimura, 1.</ref> Like many other prominent Inland Sea ports, Mitarai was chiefly home to warehousers, affiliated with wealthy, powerful warehousing guilds in [[Osaka]]; essentially they served as middlemen, buying, storing, and selling a variety of goods which sea captains transported across the Inland Sea and beyond. By the [[Bakumatsu period]], however, many sea captains bypassed the warehousers and simply bought and sold directly with producers in cities like [[Onomichi]] and consumers in places like Osaka. By that time, too, fears of foreign ships led to Mitarai being equipped with shore batteries.

During the [[Edo period]], Mitarai became one of the more typical stops for ''daimyô'' and their entourages to stop during their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' journeys to and from [[Edo]]; [[VOC|Dutch]], [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean]] and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo]] also stopped here, and a ''hengaku'' plaque featuring calligraphy by Ryukyuan envoy [[Ryo Kochi|Ryô Kôchi]] can be found in the temple of [[Manshu-ji|Manshû-ji]] in the town.<ref>Shirarezaru Ryûkyû shisetsu 知られざる琉球使節, Fukuyama-shi Tomonoura rekishi minzoku shiryôkan (2006), 37.</ref> Numerous other notable figures visited Mitarai, including [[Ino Tadataka|Inô Tadataka]] in [[1806]], [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]] in [[1826]], [[Yoshida Shoin|Yoshida Shôin]] in [[1853]], [[Sanjo Sanetomi|Sanjô Sanetomi]] and [[Fall of Seven Nobles Incident|several other court nobles]] in [[1864]].

 

During the [[Edo period]], Mitarai was among the more typical stops for ''daimyô'' and their entourages to stop during their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' journeys to and from [[Edo]]; [[Korean embassies to Edo|Korean]] and [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo]] also stopped here, and a ''hengaku'' plaque featuring calligraphy by Ryukyuan envoy [[Ryo Kochi|Ryô Kôchi]] can be found in the temple of [[Manshu-ji|Manshû-ji]] in the town.<ref>Shirarezaru Ryûkyû shisetsu 知られざる琉球使節, Fukuyama-shi Tomonoura rekishi minzoku shiryôkan (2006), 37.</ref> Numerous other notable figures visited Mitarai, including [[Ino Tadataka|Inô Tadataka]] in [[1806]], [[Philipp Franz von Siebold]] in [[1826]], [[Yoshida Shoin|Yoshida Shôin]] in [[1853]], [[Sanjo Sanetomi|Sanjô Sanetomi]] and [[Fall of Seven Nobles Incident|several other court nobles]] in [[1864]].

Like many such port towns, Mitarai was home to a number of [[prostitution|brothels]], catering to sailors and travelers. Hiroshima domain authorities paid little attention to regulating or forbidding prostitution; Mitarai competed with other neighboring ports which offered other entertainments, including plays, lotteries, and teahouses. There were four main brothels in Mitarai: the Sakaiya, Wakaebisuya, Tomitaya, and Ebiya. In the mid-18th century, the town had a population of just over 500, of whom roughly 100 were indentured women. However, by the 19th century, this proportion dropped considerably. In the 1860s, the Wakaebisuya, which employed around a hundred women by itself at its peak time, now had only around a dozen; meanwhile, the other brothels were on the brink of closing.

Like many such port towns, Mitarai was home to a number of [[prostitution|brothels]], catering to sailors and travelers. Hiroshima domain authorities paid little attention to regulating or forbidding prostitution; Mitarai competed with other neighboring ports which offered other entertainments, including plays, lotteries, and teahouses. There were four main brothels in Mitarai: the Sakaiya, Wakaebisuya, Tomitaya, and Ebiya. In the mid-18th century, the town had a population of just over 500, of whom roughly 100 were indentured women. However, by the 19th century, this proportion dropped considerably. In the 1860s, the Wakaebisuya, which employed around a hundred women by itself at its peak time, now had only around a dozen; meanwhile, the other brothels were on the brink of closing.