How does this Funadama compare to the one at Furukawaya? Doesn’t the highly decorative nature give off a sense of divinity and godliness? Furukawaya may have been the top Kitamae-bune merchant in town, but they weren’t the only ones in the business. It’s likely that the Funadama of Munakata Shrine was dedicated by a combination of cargo freight concerns in the port town of Nishizu.

What kind of place was Nishizu? We can tell a lot about a place just by looking at its name. Nishizu means “western port,” and after digging a bit further we can find the name comes from the fact that it lies west of a port called Furuzu located at the base of Uchitomi Peninsula.

Munakata Shrine is located in an area called “Minato,” meaning “port.” Though the coastline has shifted since then, this area must have been the coastline at the time and was used as a port before Kitamae-bune even started.

Let’s look at a few more areas near the coastline such as “Komatsubara,” “New Komatsubara,” and “South Takehara.” What can we tell from these place names? The word “new” implies it wasn’t there before, and the word “south” implies the existence of a “north.” In fact, South Takehara used to be located under North Takehara, which is further inland, but when the fishermen who lived there were forced to move to make way for Obama Castle, they took their town name with them as they left. And New Komatsubara was created when a new settlement was formed from the original area and expanded into a new one.

There are many other examples like this where the place name gives you a hint about the history. Nishizu is a place where the names keep their history and withstand the test of time.