Esashi

Esashi lies on the northern coast of Ezo, facing the Sea of Okhotsk. Its name is understood to come from an Ainu word for a cape. Japanese merchants reached the Sōya coast to trade with Ainu communities before the Matsumae domain formally established its trading district there in the late seventeenth century. Ships brought goods to exchange for local products, linking this remote shore with the trading networks of the southern island.