Sekifuda

• Other Names: 宿札 (yadofuda)
• Japanese: 関札 (sekifuda)

Sekifuda were plaques in either wood or thick hôsho paper inscribed with the name or title of an elite guest, such as a daimyô, and hung at a honjin inn where that guest was staying. Additional sekifuda were also typically hung at the gates to the post-town.

When daimyô, court nobles, shogunate officials, and others traveled during the Edo period, they would have such fuda made up and have them delivered to post-stations so the fuda could be put up before their arrival. Upon arriving at the post-town, these plaques would be displayed on the gates to the town and at the honjin and other lodgings, announcing who was to be staying there. The plaques were typically hung from a tall (roughly three ken or five meter) stalk of bamboo. The number of plaques hung varied in accordance with the rank or status of the guest, with the largest daimyô generally being welcomed with plaques hung at least at both entrances to the post-town and at the honjin, while a smaller daimyô might be welcomed (announced) with plaques hung only at one entrance to town or the other, and at the honjin. Plaques were also sometimes hung at the gates of temples and shrines, toiya warehouses and storefronts, and other sites, though this varied widely.

The plaques themselves were typically roughly 130 cm long by 30 cm wide in wood, or 16 cm long by 8 cm wide in paper.

References

• Kokushitei shiseki Kusatsu-juku honjin, Kusatsu, Shiga: Shiseki Kusatsujuku honjin (2014), 27.