Port of Tabira, Maritime port in Hirado, Japan

The Port of Tabira sits along the Hirado Strait and serves as a mooring place for fishing boats and small trading vessels. Docks and berths line a natural bay surrounded by rocky shores and forest.

In the Edo period the Hirado domain built the Hirado Okan road, and a guard post (bansho) was set up at Hino'ura, its starting point, to check passengers boarding ferries to Hirado. In 1918 Tabira Transport launched the first motorboat service between Tabira and Hirado; in 1934 the port was designated and the bay was filled in for a fish market and ice plant. The ferry link to Hirado ended in 1984, a year after the Hirado Bridge opened in 1977.

Local fishers work here every day, and their catches supply local restaurants and food makers with fresh ingredients. This fishing tradition shapes daily life at the port and connects the water, the people, and the food they prepare.

The terminal building faces the strait in Yamauchi-men, Tabira-chō; its bus stop was renamed Tabira Port on 1 April 2023. Buses run to Sasebo, Matsuura and Hirado Bridge, and the Tabira-Hirado ferry calls at the pier. The Hirado Seto Market nearby opens 8:00-18:00, closed the second Wednesday and 1-4 January.

Before motorized boats, fast currents made the Hirado Strait a difficult passage, and Tabira served as a base for pilots who guided ships through it. The port also appears in timetables and tourist maps as "Hiradoguchi", after the nearby station.