kitamaebune

The kitamaebune were wooden sailing ships used for the trade between ports on the Sea of Japan and the central entrepôt of Osaka via the Seto Inland Sea. The kitamaebune trade thrived during the Edo period (1600–1868) and the early part of the Meiji era (1868–1912). Shipowners did not merely offer marine transportation but also conducted trading business, using their own funds to buy rice and other goods, shipping them to Osaka, and selling them there. For the return trip the ships would be loaded with sake, salt, and other goods for sale at ports of call on the Sea of Japan. This trade generated tremendous profits for shipowners, some of whom became able to exert influence on the local feudal rulers. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, as Japan introduced steamships and built railroads, the kitamaebune trade declined and eventually disappeared.