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''Honjin'' were a special type of elite inn maintained in [[post-towns]] and port towns of [[Edo period]] Japan. They were most typically used by ''daimyô'' traveling on ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' journeys, but also regularly served as lodgings for traveling court nobles (''[[kuge]]''), shogunate officials, members of the imperial family, and prominent religious figures (e.g. abbots of Buddhist temples, Shinto priests), as well as for envoys from foreign kingdoms such as [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo|Ryûkyû]].<ref>If the ''honjin'' at [[Futagawa-juku]] might be taken as a representative example, in an average year, more than half of the ''honjin's'' guests were ''daimyô''; ''[[bugyo|bugyô]]'', ''[[daikan]]'', and other shogunate officials comprised just over one quarter of the guests; court nobles around 7%; religious figures around 5%; and the heads of the ''[[Gosanke]]'' houses another five percent. Ina Toshisada 伊奈利定, "Tôkaidô Futagawa juku honjin ni okeru daimyô-ke no riyô," ''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'', 57.</ref> In [[Inland Sea]] port towns, establishments known as ''chaya'' ("teahouses") often served these purposes, in place of or in addition to a ''honjin''.<ref>''Umimichi wo yuku: Edo jidai no Seto Naikai'' 海道をゆく－江戸時代の瀬戸内海－, Museum of Ehime History and Culture 愛媛県歴史文化博物館 (1999), 46. In some cases, the equivalent establishment was known instead as an ''okariya'' ("temporary house"), ''gochisôya'' ("reception house"), or by various other names. ''Umimichi wo yuku'', 119.</ref>

''Honjin'' were a special type of elite inn maintained in [[post-towns]] and port towns of [[Edo period]] Japan. They were most typically used by ''daimyô'' traveling on ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' journeys, but also regularly served as lodgings for traveling court nobles (''[[kuge]]''), shogunate officials, members of the imperial family, and prominent religious figures (e.g. abbots of Buddhist temples, Shinto priests), as well as for envoys from foreign kingdoms such as [[Ryukyuan embassies to Edo|Ryûkyû]].<ref>If the ''honjin'' at [[Futagawa-juku]] might be taken as a representative example, in an average year, more than half of the ''honjin's'' guests were ''daimyô''; ''[[bugyo|bugyô]]'', ''[[daikan]]'', and other shogunate officials comprised just over one quarter of the guests; court nobles around 7%; religious figures around 5%; and the heads of the ''[[Gosanke]]'' houses another five percent. Ina Toshisada 伊奈利定, "Tôkaidô Futagawa juku honjin ni okeru daimyô-ke no riyô," ''Honjin ni tomatta daimyô tachi'', 57.</ref> In [[Inland Sea]] port towns, establishments known as ''chaya'' ("teahouses") often served these purposes, in place of or in addition to a ''honjin''.<ref>''Umimichi wo yuku: Edo jidai no Seto Naikai'' 海道をゆく－江戸時代の瀬戸内海－, Museum of Ehime History and Culture 愛媛県歴史文化博物館 (1999), 46. In some cases, the equivalent establishment was known instead as an ''okariya'' ("temporary house"), ''gochisôya'' ("reception house"), or by various other names. ''Umimichi wo yuku'', 119.</ref>

Though well-apportioned, permanent establishments, ''honjin'' served metaphorically as the headquarters of a ''daimyô'' as military commander, a fact reflected in the term itself, which literally means "main encampment" or "chief tent." This functions as one element of the metaphor of ''sankin kôtai'' - despite it being a practice of a period of peace - as a military action; that is, of ''sankin kôtai'' as a military march, the movement of a lord's troops from his home domain to [[Edo]] as part of the fulfillment of that lord's feudal obligations to ''his'' lord (the shogun).

Though well-apportioned, permanent establishments, ''honjin'' served metaphorically as the headquarters of a ''daimyô'' as military commander, a fact reflected in the term itself, which literally means "main encampment" or "chief tent."<ref>''Umimichi wo yuku'', 120.</ref> This functions as one element of the metaphor of ''sankin kôtai'' - despite it being a practice of a period of peace - as a military action; that is, of ''sankin kôtai'' as a military march, the movement of a lord's troops from his home domain to [[Edo]] as part of the fulfillment of that lord's feudal obligations to ''his'' lord (the shogun).

A ''honjin'' might house a ''daimyô'' along with as many as sixty of his higher-level retainers, but rarely if ever housed an entire ''sankin kôtai'' mission; not only were few (if any) ''honjin'' large enough to accommodate that many people, but the idea of lower-ranking followers sharing the same lodgings with the lord went against social norms. ''Honjin'' were often accompanied by secondary establishments known as ''waki-honjin'', where additional members of an elite group might stay; for example, when the lead ambassador (''seishi'') of a Ryukyuan embassy stayed at a ''honjin'', his vice- or deputy envoy (''fukushi'') typically stayed at the town's ''waki-honjin'', along with other members of the embassy above a certain rank, while the remaining, lower-ranking, members of their mission were given lodgings at ''[[hatagoya]]'' - a more regular sort of inn, frequented by individual samurai and commoner travelers. Lower-ranking members of a mission might also be housed in private homes, Buddhist temples, or Shinto shrines.

A ''honjin'' might house a ''daimyô'' along with as many as sixty of his higher-level retainers, but rarely if ever housed an entire ''sankin kôtai'' mission; not only were few (if any) ''honjin'' large enough to accommodate that many people, but the idea of lower-ranking followers sharing the same lodgings with the lord went against social norms. ''Honjin'' were often accompanied by secondary establishments known as ''waki-honjin'', where additional members of an elite group might stay; for example, when the lead ambassador (''seishi'') of a Ryukyuan embassy stayed at a ''honjin'', his vice- or deputy envoy (''fukushi'') typically stayed at the town's ''waki-honjin'', along with other members of the embassy above a certain rank, while the remaining, lower-ranking, members of their mission were given lodgings at ''[[hatagoya]]'' - a more regular sort of inn, frequented by individual samurai and commoner travelers. Lower-ranking members of a mission might also be housed in private homes, Buddhist temples, or Shinto shrines.