Changes

*''Japanese'': 北前船 ''(kitamaebune)''

*''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]] ([[Hokkaido|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.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 129.</ref>

The ''kitamaebune'' were cargo ships which ran from the mid-[[Edo period]] into the [[Meiji period]], connecting [[Osaka]] and [[Ezo]] ([[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]]) via various ports in the [[Inland Sea]] and the [[Sea of Japan]] coast. Their route, the Western Sea Circuit, or ''nishi-mawari kôro'', was the longest, and busiest (in terms of volume of goods) of the three major domestic maritime shipping routes, in contrast to the [[Kamigata Shipping Route]], or ''Kamigata kôro'', connecting Osaka and [[Edo]], and 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.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 129.</ref><ref>Moriya, Katsuhisa. Ronald Toby (trans.) "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) ''Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan''. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. pp97-123.</ref>

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.

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.

*"[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8C%97%E5%89%8D%E8%88%B9 Kitamaebune]," ''Sekai daihyakka jiten'' 世界大百科事典, Hitachi Solutions, 2012.

*"[http://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%8C%97%E5%89%8D%E8%88%B9 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.

*Gallery labels, Gallery 3: Early Modern Japan, National Museum of Japanese History, Sakura, Chiba, July 2013.

[[Category:Ships]]

[[Category:Ships]]

[[Category:Economics]]

[[Category:Economics]]

[[Category:Edo Period]]

[[Category:Edo Period]]