Wonders conveyed via the Kitamae Shipping Route
The Edo Period (1603-1868) saw Sakata flourish as a commercial city and start monopolizing all trade that
took place on the Japan Sea side of the country, since it was on the westbound Kitamae shipping route.
The Kitamaebune was a key shipping route and economic artery in Japan from the Edo Period to the Meiji
Era. Ships left Osaka, then traversed the Seto Inland Sea and Kanmon Straits to ports in Hokuriku on the Japan Sea before the onward journey to Hokkaidō. Setting off from the port of Sakata, vessels laden with
safflower from inland regions and rice transported in bulk via the Mogami River waterways headed for the Kyoto/Osaka area and Edo (Tokyo) and brought back various goods as well as a wealth of cultural elements on the return leg. Many of the Kyoto dolls, including the Hina dolls found in the Shōnai area, were introduced to wealthy merchant families through the trade of the Kitamae ships.