Database: Tsuruga

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The small port of Tsuruga, located on the eastern shore of Wakasa Bay in the former province of Echizen was the main harbor connecting the provinces of Hokuriku and the northeastern coast of the Sea of Japan to Kyoto. Beginning in the 8th century, the port served as a point of entry for embassies from the Korean Balhae (Parhae) kingdom. The embassies received an official welcome at Tsuruga before travelling to the capital by land. Later, the port was frequented by merchants from the Song empire. Products (royalty revenues) from the Hokuriku provinces were unloaded at Tsuruga prior to being sent to Kyoto by land, or sometimes by way of Lake Biwa. The port was later controlled by the Ashikaga shogunate. In the 16th century it was dominated by the Asakura clan, who supported a funadoza (boatmans' guild) run by toimaru (wholesale merchants) who managed the administration of the port and its trade. In 1573, Oda Nobunaga seized control of Tsuruga. The city reached its peak in the Edo period as a storage site for goods arriving from the fiefs of Hokuriku and Tōhoku, which were later sent to Kyoto or further on to Osaka by way of the Yodo River.