Kitamae-bune ships and ship votive paintings Otaru prospered as a port of call for Kitamae-bune ships from the Kanto region. The Kitamae-bune were merchant ships that traded goods between the ports of Osaka, Hokuriku, and Hokkaido via the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan from the mid-Edo period to the mid-Meiji period. From the Kōbu region (Kyoto, Osaka, and surrounding areas), all sorts of daily necessities such as rice, salt, sugar, sake, iron, textiles, and cotton were exchanged, and from Hokkaido, many goods such as kelp, herring, herring roe, and salmon were traded. Many votive paintings of ships, donated by the sailors of the Kitamae-bune (North Sea merchant ships) to pray for safe voyages, are preserved in temples and shrines in Otaru City. Some of these have been designated as constituent cultural properties of the Japanese Heritage. The ship votive paintings are important historical documents because they depict ships and sails in meticulous detail and include the ship's name and the name of the person who donated it. They are also valuable Kitamae-bune heritage assets with artistic appeal. Baumkuchen baked in an Otaru tile kiln The former Otaru Warehouse Main Building, which houses the Otaru Department Store UNGA↑, was built 130 years ago by Sonzaemon Nishide and Shohachi Nishitani, who were owners of Kitamae-maru ships. It was the first commercial warehouse in Hokkaido and still retains its tiled roof with a shark fin finial. In Otaru at that time, when fires were common, tiles were used on the roofs of warehouses and wealthy stores in competition with each other. The tiles, which were transported as building materials, were loaded into the bottom of the Kitamae-maru ships to prevent capsizing and to balance the center of gravity. UNGA↑ was inspired by the "Kitamade-bune" ships of that era, and expressed the image of tiles stacked on the bottom of the ship with the layers of the Baumkuchen and the crunchy texture of the caramel, creating the "Kawarayaki Baum." Please enjoy it with the package, which is inspired by the ship votive tablets. Baumkuchen baked in an Otaru tile kiln
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