Cruises to Sakata
酒田Yamagata Prefecture, at the mouth of the Mogami river on the Sea of Japan
About Sakata1 upcoming voyage calls at Sakata
Times shown are as scheduled and can change. Weather, sea conditions and port operations may shorten a call or prevent it — always check the latest information from NYK Cruises, and once aboard, from the ship.
About Sakata
The port at the end of the river that carried Yamagata rice to the sea, and one of the great calls of the kitamae-bune — the merchant ships that ran the western circuit from Hokkaido to Osaka in the Edo and Meiji periods. The money that made stayed in the town: a merchant family here was said to be the largest landowner in Japan, and the rice warehouses they built are still standing and still storing rice.
Within reach of the port
The Sankyo warehouses
Nine buildings of 1893, white-walled, holding 10,800 tonnes of rice. Thirty-five zelkova trees over 150 years old stand in a row behind them to keep the summer sun off, and the roofs are doubled against damp — an air-conditioning system with no machinery in it.
Sakata City (official) ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it
The Homma house
Built in 1768 as lodging for a shogunal inspector and lived in by the merchant family who paid for it — so one half is formal samurai architecture and the other half is a merchant's house, joined together.
Sakata City (official) ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it
The Homma Museum of Art
The family's collection and their garden villa of 1813, a few minutes from the station. It was the first museum to open in the prefecture after the war, and the garden borrows the mountains behind the town.
Sakata tourism (official) ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it
Shore excursions
NYK Cruises run their own guided excursions at each port, booked by guests themselves through My ASUKA PLANS — the booking window opens before departure and depends on your cabin class. They are conducted in Japanese. Going ashore independently is always an option.
Official sources
- Sakata tourism (official) ↗in Japanese — your browser can translate it