Kaga Coast

The Kaga coast became the home country of sailors and shipowners working the Japan Sea route to Osaka and Ezo. Hashitate began as a settlement combining farming and fishing. From the middle Edo period, some fishermen found employment aboard merchant ships through Ōmi merchants, then gradually established themselves as independent owners of kitamaebune trading vessels.

These ships carried cargo between ports rather than simply conveying one consignment for a fixed fee. Their owners bought and sold goods along the route, drawing profit from differences between regional markets. The coast's connection with shipping did not always mean that large vessels lay at the owners' doorstep. Hashitate lacked an anchorage suitable for the biggest ships, and some owners kept their vessels at Osaka. Crews could therefore leave their home village overland before joining the maritime circuit. Farming households, seafaring labour and merchant capital became closely connected along this stretch of Kaga shore.