Mikawa, Hakusan City, located at the mouth of the Tedori River that flows from Mt.Hakusan, has been a national leading port town in Japan since the Muromachi period. During the Edo period, the shipping business that transported goods including rice of the Kaga clan developed and reached its peak during the era of Kitamae-bune.
At an annual spring festival of the Fujitsuka Shrine “Okaeri Festival”, a gorgeous mikoshi (a portable shrine) donated by the Kitamae-bune’s shipowner is enshrined at the temporary shrine called otabisho, and 13 gorgeous floats using the techniques of “Mikawa Buddhist Altar”, which transported by the Kitamae-bune to various places, parade through the town.
Also, after crossing the Tedori River, there is the “Kuretake Bunko”, which keeps and publishes 20,000 books of Gentaro Kumada the Third, a shipowner who was active in the Meiji era, and you can know the financial strength of the Kitamae-bune shipowner.
ports of call
Cultural Properties of Hakusan City
The Fujitsuka Shrine
A Shinto shrine where the shipowners of Kitamae-bune paid visits and there are remnants of votive goods.
Votive goods of the Fujitsuka Shrine
A votive tablet and a model of Kitamae-bune which the shipowners of Kitamae-bune used to dedicate prayers for the safety of voyages.
Gonshu (Sacred sake)
A song sung at a banquet held by the shipowner of Kitamae-bune.
Mikawa Okaeri Festival
An annual spring festival of the Fujitsuka Shrine. The mikoshi (the portable shrine) that Kitamae-bune shipowners donated is enshrined in the temporary shrine called otabisho, and floats which produced by the techniques of Mikawa Buddhist Altar, which transported to various places by the Kitamae-bune, parades through the town.
Mikawa Buddhist Altar
Buddhist Altar which used the technique of sabitsuke (foundation process using polishing powder and raw lacquer) and tsuikoku (technique having black lacquer) to withstand for voyage by Kitamae-bune.
Pufferfish ovaries pickled in rice bran
Fermented food based on ingredients transported by Kitamae-bune. This is a delicacy detoxicated the deadly poisonous "ovaries of pufferfish" and it has been passed down since the Edo period.
(Roots of Ishikawa Museum) Documents Relating to Kitamae-bune
A group of old documents relating to Kitamae-bune shipowner's village Motoyoshimachi and Materials Relating to Kitamae-bune.
The Imaminato Shrine
A Shinto shrine where shipowners of Kitamae-bune paid visits and there are remnants of votive goods. There are many stone structures dating back to the Edo period, and the stone material were transported by Kitamae-bune.
Materials collection of Kuretake Bunko
Collected materials of Kitamae-bune shipowner Kumada Family and a group of old documents relating to Minatomachi of Kitamae-bune shipowners’ settlement.
