Horseman - Umakata

A businessperson who transports people and goods on horseback. Also called Mago (horse boy), in the Middle Ages they were called Bashaku (horse hire). In Japan, where vehicle transportation was underdeveloped, land transportation mainly relied on the backs of oxen and horses. In ancient times, the post horse system and the denma system were established along key transportation routes to transport public figures and tributes. There is a long history of people living along the roads being levied as "human and horse labor", but the first self-employed "bakata" (horse riders) to appear under post station wholesalers were the medieval "bashaku", and their emergence was supported by the development of commodity distribution. During the Muromachi period, there were groups of bashaku at key points along land routes, such as between Kyoto and Hokuriku, and between Nara and Osaka, who were mainly involved in transporting goods, and sometimes even became the main driving force behind "doikki" (peasant uprisings). In the early modern period, domestic transportation suddenly became active, and the system of highways and post stations was established, so many horsemen were gathered in post towns along the main highways under the control of cargo relay wholesalers. Eventually, they surpassed the transport of goods by farmers in the post towns, who had been requisitioned mainly for official business, and became the main players in land transportation, along with palanquin carriers, porters, and cattle drivers. Meanwhile, on side routes and mountain passes, mountain farmers began to make a living as horsemen. The customs of horsemen along the highways became an indispensable subject for early modern travel literature, and horsemen's inns and horsemen's teahouses were also characteristic features of early modern post towns. In the Meiji period, vehicle transportation gradually became more common as roads were improved, but before the introduction of the automobile, horse drivers continued to play an important role for a long time in the form of horse-drawn cart pullers, and the role of horse drivers for stagecoaches that ran on roads off the railway lines was also a new role for horse drivers.

[Toshimi Takeuchi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

馬背で人や荷物を運ぶ業者。馬子(まご)ともいい、中世では馬借(ばしゃく)といった。車両輸送の未発達だった日本では、陸上の運輸は主に牛馬の背に頼ってきた。そして交通の要路に、公人の往来や貢租などの輸送のため、古くは駅馬制、下っては伝馬の制度が設けられた。沿道の人民に「人馬出役」が賦課されてきた歴史は久しいが、専門自営の「馬方」が宿駅問屋のもとに生じてくるのは、中世の「馬借」の類が最初で、商品流通の発展に裏づけられての発生であった。室町期には京都―北陸間、奈良―大坂間など陸路の要所に馬借の集団があって、もっぱら荷駄運送の業にあたり、ときには「土一揆(どいっき)」の主動力にさえなった。近世に下ると国内交通がにわかに活発になり、街道・宿駅の制も整ってきたので、主要街道の宿場町には荷継問屋の統制下、多くの馬方が集められた。そしておもに公用に徴発されてきた宿場農民の駄背輸送をやがてしのぎ、駕籠(かご)かき、歩荷(ぼっか)、牛追いなどとともに陸上交通運輸の主役になっていく。一方、脇往還(わきおうかん)や峠越しの山道にも、山間農民の「馬方稼ぎ」が盛んになっていった。近世の道中物文芸でも街道筋の馬方風俗は欠かせぬ題材となり、また馬方宿、馬方茶屋の類は近世宿場の特徴的な風物でもあった。明治期に入り、道路の整備に伴い車両輸送がしだいに本格化していくが、自動車導入前は「荷馬車挽(ひ)き」の形で馬方稼ぎはなお久しく重要な役割を務め、鉄道路線に外れた街道を走る乗合馬車の「馬手」もまた馬方の新しい転身であった。

［竹内利美］

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