| Samurai Movies (17) |
January 27, 2022
|
| [Scenes of Trips] As he could have easily guessed from the title of the movie, 'Yaji Kita dochu Teresko', there were a lot of traveling scenes of Yaji and Kita. Although he didn't know how many people were traveling every day in the Edo Period, he had read that some foreigners, who were allowed to stay in Edo, mentioned that they were very surprised by seeing so many travelers in this country. Actually, in the movie there were a lot of travelers on the roads. Because of 'sankin kotai', each han had to improve the roads in their areas, and then the inn business started to develop. This movie setting was on the road called 'Tokaido' or 'Tokaido 53 tsugi'. 'Tsugi' means station. There were 53 stations between Edo and Kyoto. He researched more about it on the internet: The total distance of the road was 488 km, or 124 ri, and there were about 3,000 inns in all of the 53 stations. A station was called 'shukuba-machi' or simply 'shuku'. They had various services besides inns and restaurants. ・hikyaku Delivery service by human runners. They relayed letters and other light things between stations in order to reach their destinations. ・temma Horse relay system to carry heavier items between stations. In Tokaido's case, the Tokugawa Shogunate ordered and supported each station to maintain 100 horses and laborers to maintain this system, which were operated by private entities. Other services included carrying a palanquin, selling travel gear, medicine, mending travel gear, etc. He had read that at that time going to some shrines were very popular among  citizens. The most famous shrine was 'Ise-jingu', now in Mie prefecture. There was a system for people who couldn't afford traveling. Villagers would save money together and do a lottery, and the winners would travel at this time. As they could only travel very rarely, they used a lot of money during their trips, so inns and other related businesses flourished. In the movie, a female couple dressed in white clothes, were walking with sticks in their hands. He could imagine that they were doing a pilgrimage, traveling on a route of temples or shrines. Pilgrims are called 'ohenro', and a pilgrimage is called a 'junrei', meaning 'visiting spirits'. Shikoku is famous for a route of 88 shrines. Travelers wore special things. They wore a kind of trousers called 'momohiki' under a comfortable type of kimono called a 'kosode'. The end of 'kosode' was tucked in the belt called an 'obi'. They wore cotton socks called 'tabi', then 'waraji', straw woven shoes. They wore a kind of glove which only covers the back of one's hands to protect against the sun. They had a water bottle, which was a bamboo cut at both joints and had a small hole at the end and put a wooden plug into it. They wore bamboo woven hats. They used a 'huroshiki', a large square cloth, to tie up their belongings so they could carry it on their backs. They had a bamboo woven trunk called a 'kori' if they needed to carry anything more. And the most important item was a pass, it was called 'tsuko-tegata'. 'Tsuko' means 'passing', 'tegata' means 'certificate'. He had read that a village leader, called a 'shoya', had a role in issuing the document. This person had to ask the authorities to get approval before issuing it. There was a scene that had Mr. Yaji leaving a room and saying to get the certificate in a light tone. So it might not have been so difficult to get a certificate. But, he also had read that fabricating documents was a severe punishment. In some scenes, there were some women who were traveling alone, so maybe safety for travelers was kept at a certain degree. Travelers mainly walked. The 53 stations were located in a span of 488km, so every station was spaced about 10 km apart. The travelers on the Tokaido needed to rest and get supplies to keep their energy. (To be continued ...) |
| |
No.463
*besides :以外に
*entity :実体、セクター
*palanquin :駕籠（かご）
*gear :道具、服装品、持ち物
*flourish :?栄する
*pilgrimage :巡礼
*tuck in :入れる
*belonging :持ち物
*certificate :証明書
*fabricate :偽造する