[Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture] Even wealthy merchants with more financial power than feudal lords have appeared? The port of Sakata was filled with Kitamaebune ships.

Sakata (Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture) is a town that developed as a port town at the mouth of the Mogami River. During the Edo period, merchant ships from Osaka, Shikoku, Chugoku, western Japan, and the two islands of Kyushu all docked here, trading products from the Tou-Hokuriku area, and making a profit by trading money.The town flourished. It flourished due to the Kitamae-bune trade, so much so that it was written that "I ran out of pens" (Togoku Travel Story by Matsui Jukakusai/Honma Art Museum).

The rice from the Shonai Plain and the safflower collected from the Mogami River brought wealth.

Sakata functioned as the largest port in the Tohoku region because it was surrounded by the breadbasket and Shonai plains in front of it, allowing it to ship high-quality products such as rice, and because it was located at the mouth of the Mogami River. This is due to the fact that it was a gathering place for Yamagata's specialty safflower, which was produced upstream. Safflower is a plant that is used as a dye for silk textiles, and the safflower dye produced in Yamagata is called ``Mogami Safflower'' and was hailed as the finest product in Kyoto and Osaka, the largest consuming areas, and was traded at extremely high prices.

Kitamaebune during the Edo period sailed through Hokkaido, Tohoku, Hokuriku, San'in and the Sea of ​​Japan, making round trips from Shimonoseki via the Seto Inland Sea to Osaka and, in some cases, Edo. The Kitamae ships that stopped at Sakata carried rice, safflower, seafood, and other goods to Osaka, and returned from Kansai with luxury items, dolls, and other fashionable items from the capital that were not found in the countryside.

Kitamaebune earned as much as 100 million yen in one round trip.

In Sakata, wealthy merchants who made their fortunes from trading on Kitamae-bune were lined up, and large landowners dominated the area. In the mid-Edo period, there were 97 shipping wholesalers, and it is said that their storehouses were filled with goods worth 2 million ryo (approximately 200 billion yen).

The Kitamae-bune, nicknamed the ``Sengoku-bune'' because it could carry as much as 150 tons of rice at a time, is said to have earned as much as 1,000 ryo (approximately 100 million yen) on a single round trip. There are no Kitamae-bune extant, but a 1/2 scale model is on display at Hiyoriyama Park in Sakata City.

Hiyoriyama Park is located on a small hill overlooking the port of Sakata, and in addition to the Kitamaebune, there are exhibits such as Japan's oldest wooden hexagonal lighthouse and square stones.

INFORMATON

• Name: Hiyoriyama Park
• Location: Outside 1-127 Minamishinmachi, Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0234-26-5745 (Sakata City Maintenance Division)
• Freedom to stroll
• URL: Hiyoriyama Park
• access:
• Railway/About 6 minutes by car from JR Uetsu Main Line Sakata Station
• Car: Approximately 17 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Sakata IC

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Sakata, where the culture of the heyday of the Kitamaebune era remains strong.

Demand for Kitamae-bune disappeared in the latter half of the Meiji period, when the distribution of goods shifted from sea transport to land transport due to the opening of railways. After that, Sakata no longer depended on Kitamaebune ships, but instead became a transportation hub on the Sea of ​​Japan side of the Tohoku region by land and sea, successfully modernizing the port and attracting factories, achieving further development.

Although Sakata City has rapidly modernized, the city still retains the buildings and culture of the time when the city flourished with Kitamaebune.

Sankyo Warehouse, a rice warehouse from the Edo period that is still used as an agricultural warehouse

Sankyo Soko is a building that represents Sakata, which was once a busy rice shipping port. This rice storage warehouse was built in 1893 (Meiji 26) by the Sakai family, the lords of the Shonai domain during the Edo period, and consists of 12 white-walled earthen warehouses. It has a storage capacity of 10,800 tons (180,000 bales) of rice, and the wisdom of its predecessors was put to use, such as lining the back with zelkova trees to prevent high temperatures in the summer, and a double-layered roof to prevent moisture inside. This is a low temperature warehouse.

INFORMATON

• Name: Sankyo Warehouse
• Location: 1-1-20 Yamaicho, Sakata City

[Sakata City Tourism and Product Center “Sakata Dream Club”]

• Phone number: 0234-24-2233 (Sakata Tourism and Products Association)
• Opening hours: 9:00-17:00 (until 14:30 from December to February)
• Closed: January 1st
• Free admission
• URL: Sakata City Tourism and Product Center “Sakata Dream Club”

[Shonai Rice History Museum]

• Phone number: 0234-23-7470
• Opening hours: 9:00-17:00 (until 16:30 in December)
• Closed: December 29th to the end of February
• Admission fee: 300 yen for adults, 200 yen for junior high and high school students, 150 yen for elementary school students
• URL: Shonai Rice History Museum

*The exterior of the warehouse can be viewed at all times.

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The Honma family gave a mansion to the feudal lord.

The "Old Honma Family Residence" is a new residence built by the Honma family in 1768 for the Sakai family, the lord of the domain, as a lodging facility for the patrol officers from the Edo shogunate (shogunate patrol envoys). After the envoy returned to Edo, it was used as the residence of the Honma family until 1945.

The main residence is an unusual building that combines the structure of a samurai residence and a merchant's house, and the Honma family lived in the merchant's house. In addition to the residence, the Nagaya Gate, which was open only to special guests, the Yakuin Gate, where the family came and went, and the garden, remain almost as they were when they were built, and have been designated as cultural assets by Yamagata Prefecture.

There is a ``store'' across the street from the main residence, where ledger counters, weights and measures, daily necessities, and other items are displayed.

INFORMATON

• Name: Former main residence of the Honma family
• Location: 12-13 Nibancho, Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0234-22-3562 (former main residence of the Honma family), 0234-23-0809 (annex [store]), 0234-23-5422 (secretariat)
• Opening hours:
• 　　March-October/9:30-16:30
• 　　November - February / 9:30 - 16:00
• Closed: Mid-December to late January
• Admission fee: 800 yen for adults, 300 yen for junior high and high school students, 200 yen for elementary school students, 1,600 yen for common admission ticket with Honma Art Museum
• access:
• Railway/About 6 minutes by car from JR Uetsu Main Line Sakata Station
• Car: Approximately 15 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Sakata IC
• URL: Former main residence of the Honma family

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Honma Art Museum, a villa built for the feudal lord's rest and its garden           

The Honma Museum of Art consists of the villa ``Seienkaku'' and the garden ``Kakubuen'' built in 1813 by Kodo, the fourth head of the Honma family. It was opened to the public as an art museum in 1947 (Showa 22).

``Seienkaku'' was built as a resting place for the Sakai clan, the lord of the Shonai domain, when they inspected the territory.Since the Meiji period, it has been used as a lodging facility for important people such as the imperial family, and has been called the ``state guest house of Sakata.'' Ta.

``Tsurumaien'' was built as a garden for ``Seienkaku'', and while walking around the large pond called Chisenkaiyu-shiki-style garden with Mt. Chokai as a backdrop, It is a garden where you can enjoy the scenery. The stones used in the garden include blue stones from Iyo (Ehime Prefecture) and red stones from Sado (Niigata Prefecture), which were transported by Kitamaebune. The name ``Tsurumaien'' was given by the feudal lord, and ``Tsurumaien'' has been designated as a national scenic spot as the Honma Clan Villa Garden.

The Honma Museum of Art has a new wing (built in 1968) as well as Seienkaku and Tsurumaien.The new wing exhibits Japanese and Oriental antiques collected by the Honma family, as well as works in a wide range of genres collected after the museum opened. It has been.

INFORMATON

• Name: Honma Art Museum
• Location: 7-7 Onaricho, Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0234-24-4311
• Opening hours:
• 　　　April to October/9:00 to 17:00 (last entry 16:30)
• 　　　November to March/9:00 to 16:30 (last entry 16:00)
• closing day:
• 　　　December to February/Tuesday/Wednesday (the next day if it is a holiday)
• Admission fee: General 1000 yen, high school and university students 450 yen, free for junior high school students and younger
• access:
• Railway/Approximately 5 minutes walk from JR Uetsu Main Line Sakata Station
• Car: Approximately 15 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Sakata IC
• URL: Honma Art Museum

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"Sakata Festival" has a deep connection with Kyoto Gion Festival

The ``Sakata Festival'' is based on the regular festivals of Kamihie Shrine and Shimohie Shrine, the guardian deities of Sakata that began in 1609. It was called "Sanno Umatsuri".

In 1769, the head of the Honma family, a wealthy merchant, created gorgeous floats for the Sanno Festival, using the Yamaboko floats of Kyoto's Gion Festival to add flair to the festival, and this idea took hold and became the festival we see today, where floats are paraded around. It is said that it became Since its inception in 1609, the Sanno Festival has never been canceled, even in the face of the great disaster that struck Sakata. The Sanno Festival has been held as the "Sakata Festival" since 1979. (In 2021 and 2022, only the festival was held as a Shinto ritual due to the new coronavirus pandemic.)

The Sakata Festival can be said to be a fusion of local festivals and Kyoto culture transported by Kitamaebune.

INFORMATON

• Name: Sakata Festival
• Venue: Sakata City
• Phone number: 0234-26-5759 (Sakata City Regional Revitalization Department Exchange Tourism Division)
• Event period: May 19th to May 21st
• access:
• Railway/Get off at Sakata Station on the JR Uetsu Main Line
• By car: From Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Sakata IC to Sakata city
• URL: Sakata Festival

INFORMATON

Sakata City Tourism and Products Association

• Phone number: 0234-24-2233
• URL: Sakata, a minato town that prospered with Kitamaebune