Requires
Enables
Basic Building Statistics (can be modified by difficulty level, arts, skills, traits and retainers)
- Cost: 2530
- +2 trade routes possible (sea)
- +400 to wealth from ports in this province
- +10 per turn to town growth from ports within this province
- Improves export capacity (increases trade values) by +160
- Recruitment capacity (ship under construction): +1
Description
The sea-road is wide, and leads everywhere.
Although few nobles would ever admit it, trade is vital to a family's success in war and politics. Trade pays for the strength and influence needed for other two activities. A busy port encourages growth in the rest of the province's economy. Despite the wealth that merchants created, they were not well-regarded in medieval Japanese society. Warriors and nobles were, of course, at the top of the social structure. Farmers and fishermen were commoners, entitled to respect for their work, but without power or status. Merchants, however, had a much lower position because they did no useful, honest "proper" work. Their money was very welcome of course, but not the merchants themselves. The money men would eventually have the last laugh, though, when Japan opened up to the modern world.