Kōrokan

The kōrokan (鴻臚館, こうろかん) were guest houses for foreign ambassadors, traveling monks, and merchants that existed in Japan during the Heian period and earlier. These guest houses existed in Kyoto, Osaka, and Fukuoka. Only the location of the kōrokan in Fukuoka is known with precision today; its ruins were discovered on the grounds of Maizuru Castle Park in 1987. 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 for Han dynasty and Qi dynasty temples charged with the responsibility of hosting foreign dignitaries. Though the word is Heian in origin, the kōrokan in Fukuoka and Osaka were already in use in the Asuka period.