Changes

''Denma'' were post-horses used to carry luggage and packages along the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] and other [[highways]] in the [[Edo period|early modern period]]. Horses were typically used only between one [[post-station]] (''shukuba'') and the next; after arriving in each post-station, couriers or porters would change for new horses at the town's ''[[toiyaba]]''.  

''Denma'' were post-horses used to carry luggage and packages along the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] and other [[highways]] in the [[Edo period|early modern period]]. Horses were typically used only between one [[post-station]] (''shukuba'') and the next; after arriving in each post-station, couriers or porters would change for new horses at the town's ''[[toiyaba]]''.  

Horses were divided into three general categories based on the amount of weight they could be used to carry. ''Honma'' 本馬 and ''norikake'' 乗掛 horses were typically used to carry up to 40 ''kanme'' (approx. 150 kg) worth of materials, or 20 ''kanme'' and a rider, while ''karajiri'' 軽尻 horses were used to carry either a rider and a small amount of weight, or up to 20 ''kanme'' worth of cargo.<ref>"[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%BB%BD%E5%B0%BB-467394#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89 Karajiri]," ''Digital Daijisen''.; "[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E9%A6%AC-632560 Honma]," ''Digital Daijisen''.; "[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B9%97%E6%8E%9B%E3%83%BB%E4%B9%97%E6%87%B8-2073288 Norikake]," ''Nihon kokugo daijiten''.</ref> ''Honma'' and ''norikake'' horses were typically the same cost to rent, and ''karajiri'' typically cost roughly 2/3 of that price.

Horses were divided into three general categories based on the amount of weight they could be used to carry. ''Honma'' 本馬 and ''norikake'' 乗掛 horses were typically used to carry up to 40 ''kanme'' (approx. 150 kg) worth of materials, or 20 ''kanme'' and a rider, while ''karajiri'' 軽尻 horses were used to carry either a rider and a small amount of weight, or up to 20 ''kanme'' worth of cargo.<ref>"[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%BB%BD%E5%B0%BB-467394#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89 Karajiri]," ''Digital Daijisen''.; "[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E9%A6%AC-632560 Honma]," ''Digital Daijisen''.; "[https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%B9%97%E6%8E%9B%E3%83%BB%E4%B9%97%E6%87%B8-2073288 Norikake]," ''Nihon kokugo daijiten''.</ref> ''Honma'' and ''norikake'' horses were typically the same cost to rent, and ''karajiri'' typically cost roughly 2/3 of that price. Porters typically carried about five ''kanme'' (20kg) each, and cost about half the price of renting a ''honma'' or ''norikake'' horse.

Porters typically carried about five ''kanme'' (20kg) each, and cost about half the price of renting a ''honma'' or ''norikake'' horse.

That said, for merchants and ordinary travelers, prices were typically negotiable to some extent.<ref>This was called ''aitai chinsen'' 相対賃銭.</ref> For those traveling on official business, they either paid rates set by the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] (''osadame chinsen'') or, with the right papers, they were entitled to be provided with porters, post-horses, and other services for free. These set prices rose considerably by the end of the Edo period; rates during the [[Bakumatsu]] (1850s-60s) were often as much as 7 1/2 times as much as in the 1710s.<ref>Gallery labels, Futagawa-juku honjin shiryôkan, Toyohashi, Aichi.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/45579137824/sizes/4k/]</ref>

This relay system was known as ''shukutsugi'' 宿継, and it is from this that the typical Japanese name for the 53 "stations" of the Tôkaidô - ''Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi'' - derives.

This relay system was known as ''shukutsugi'' 宿継, and it is from this that the typical Japanese name for the 53 "stations" of the Tôkaidô - ''Tôkaidô gojûsan tsugi'' - derives.