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Chapter 5 The Crowds of People Traveling This Highway Daily and Gaining Their Livelihood Therefrom 271 An incredible number of people daily use the highways of Japan’s provinces, indeed, at certain times of the year they are as crowded as the streets of a populous European city. I have personally witnessed this on the Tōkaidō, described earlier, apparently the most important of the seven highways, having traveled this road four times. The reason for these crowds is partly the large population of the various provinces and partly that the Japanese travel more often than other people. Here I will introduce the most memorable groups of travelers one meets daily on these roads. Of greatest importance are the processions of the greater and lesser territorial lords, as well as those of the greater and lesser stewards of shogunal cities and provinces, who annually travel up and down this road, that is to say, twice in one year, since they have to appear at the court at a certain time and then have to depart again. They make this journey accompanied by all of their retinue, with a display of as many people and as much expense as their status and wealth permit. To pass the procession of one of the greatest territorial lords takes several days of traveling; since we traveled fast, we would always spend two days passing various groups of the advance party, consisting of lower servants, officials in charge of the baggage, and porters, before finally on the third day we saw the territorial lord himself, traveling in closed formation with his courtiers. It is estimated that the processions of the greatest daimyo consist of about two thousand people,1 those of the shōmyō have half that number, and those of the shogunal stewards of cities and provinces, one or several hundred people, depending on their income and title. If two or more of these large processions traveled at the same time, they would greatly obstruct and inconvenience each other, especially if they were to meet in the same shuku or town, where the available houses are insufficient to accommodate even the personal followers of a single daimyo. To prevent this, important lords reserve the inns and shuku for certain days—the great lords one month ahead, the lesser, one or two weeks in advance—and announce the time they intend to pass in all the villages, towns, and cities. This announcement is written with a few characters on a narrow board and mounted on a fairly tall bamboo pole at the entrance and exit of each village and town, stating on which day of the month this or the other lord will pass through, eat his midday meal, or stay the night. To provide a picture of these processions, we will watch one of a territorial lord pass by, with its advance baggage train, sedan chairs, led horses, and finally the lord’s personal The Procession of a Territorial Lord contingent. However, not one of the most important, such as those from Satsuma, Kaga, Owari, Ki no kuni, or Mito, but that of some other, ordinary daimyo, such as we met at various times; their processions are no different and fit the same description, except for their special pikes, personal crests, number of led horses, bearers of hasamibako,2 porters of sedan chairs and their companions, as well as some arbitrary variations in the order of marching. There are: 1. Several advance parties consisting of quartermasters, scribes, cooks, and their assistants, who prepare the inns for the dignified accommodation of the lord and his courtiers. 2. The lord’s personal luggage, some items transported in packs on horses, each marked with a small personal flag and the name of the owner, some carried in large boxes covered with lacquered leather and painted with the lord’s personal crest. Each piece is accompanied by various attendants to add to the grandeur. 3. A long trail of lesser retinues of the lord’s most senior servants and nobles, accompanied by men carrying pikes, scythes, parasols,3 and small boxes, and grooms leading horses, all according to each man’s birth, rank, and proper station, with the principals in norimono, kago, or riding horses. 4. The lord and his personal escort, marching in an unusual formation, as well as various troops of soldiers, each led by a marshal and consisting of: i. Five horses, some less sprightly than others, each with a groom at the side and...

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