Clouds

During the Edo period, this referred to travelling porters with no fixed address who made a living by transporting goods, ferrying people across rivers, and carrying baskets at post stations, ferry docks, and along the highways.

Also written as Kumosuke or Kumosuke, there are several theories about the origin of the word, including that it comes from the fact that they have no fixed address like floating clouds. In the early modern period, when farmers began to pay their subsidies to the local government officials in exchange for labor, post towns, which could no longer rely on farmers' labor, needed full-time laborers. In 1686 (Jokyo 3), the shogunate issued a circular allowing the employment of vagrants of known origin as day laborers. These post town laborers were paid a fixed wage by the shogunate from the wholesaler's shop, lived in laborers' rooms behind the wholesaler's shop, and were under the control of a room chief. They were also called room laborers. Kumosuke, who committed extortion and murder on the roads and was considered a homeless villain like the "Goma no Hai," was a separate individual from these post town laborers. The songs that Kumosuke sang while carrying luggage and palanquins on his way are called Kumosuke songs.

[Hiroko Katagiri]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸時代に、宿駅、渡し場、街道筋を舞台に、荷物の運搬や、川渡し、賀籠(かご)かきなどを生業とした、住所不定の道中人足をいう。

　雲介、蜘蛛助とも書き、浮き雲のように住所が定まらないからなど、語源にはいくつかの説がある。近世に農民が助郷(すけごう)の夫役(ぶやく)を代銭納するようになると、農民の労働力に依存できなくなった宿場では、専従の人足を必要とした。1686年（貞享3）幕府は廻状(かいじょう)で、出所の知れた浮浪人の日雇人足への採用を許可している。この宿場人足は、幕府の御定賃銭を問屋場(といやば)から支払われ、問屋場裏の人足部屋に起居し部屋頭(がしら)の支配を受け、部屋人足ともよばれた。道中筋でたかりや人殺しなどを行い、「ごまのはい」と同じく無宿の悪漢とされた雲助は、この宿場人足とはいちおう別の、個人の営業によるものである。荷物や駕籠を担いで道中を行くとき雲助が歌った唄(うた)を雲助唄という。

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