The Tokugawa shogunate also received rice from Dewa Province through merchant Kawamura Zuiken in 1672, but it is thought to be a response from these ships.Japanese ships at the time normally could make only one trip per year, but with the arrival of Western schooners in the Meiji era, ships were able to make up to four trips annually.The Meiji Restoration also brought the end of the feudal system and the introduction of the telegraph, removing gaps between regional markets and making it difficult for the shipping routes to make large profits.The national construction of railroads further led to the end of the kitamaebune.Currently, the Shin Nihonkai Ferry is sometimes called the modern kitamaebune, with stops along the old route at Maizuru, Niigata, Akita, Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, and Otaru.
The
Kitamaebune
, photographed pre-1926 by
Iida Yonezō
The
Michinoku Maru
, a modern reconstruction of a
kitamaebune
