🧿 Kōrokan

The kōrokan (鴻臚館) were guest houses for foreign ambassadors, traveling monks, and merchants that existed in Japan from the Asuka period to the end of the Heian period. These guest houses existed in Fukuoka, Osaka and Kyoto. The word kōrokan (鴻臚館) was coined in the Heian period by using the first two characters from the Chinese name 鴻臚寺(zh) for Han dynasty and Northern Qi dynasty temples charged with the responsibility of hosting foreign dignitaries. The ruins of the kōrokan in Fukuoka were discovered on the grounds of Maizuru Castle Park in 1987 and designated a National Historic Site in 2004. The guest house in Fukuoka is called Tsukushi Kōrokan (筑紫の鴻臚館), after the name of Tsukushi Province, which is part of Fukuoka Prefecture today