Yesterday, my son and I went to a nearby Japanese traditional sweets shop and found an interesting item on display.
It was a model of a Kitamae-bune.(北前船）
From the Edo period to the Meiji period, the Kitamae route supported logistics as a major artery of the sea.
The Kitamae-bune was, so to speak, a "general trading company on the sea. From the Japanese mainland, the ships loaded all kinds of daily commodities such as rice, salt, sugar, sake, vinegar, iron, cotton, medicine, fabrics, and clothing, and then sailed northward toward the Sea of Japan, trading them as they went.
Although the "Kitamae-bune" declined by the end of the Meiji period (1868-1912) with the advance of large steamers, and railroads, there are still reminders of the prosperity of those days in various parts of Japan. In the Izumi area where I live, cotton and other goods were loaded onto ships.
I think that in the olden days, people really had a richer life with better quality goods in circulation than today~
Do you know Kitamae-bune?
