Overview: Fukuoka, the largest city in southern Japan, was a merchant town in ancient times that prospered with foreign trade. It gained two distinctive features in the dawn of the Edo Period (1603 – 1868), when a special district for samurai warriors was established next to the time-honored merchant town. Fukuoka has since nurtured and passed down their respective cultures. Today, you can glimpse such inheritances in amazing spinning top performances and yabusame, the art of mounted archery.