Horse-drawn carriage - basha

A general term for vehicles pulled by horses to transport people or luggage. There are many different types, including carriages, wagons, railroad carriages, mail coaches, and private carriages. There are two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles, and the number of horses pulling them can vary from two, four, or eight.

It is said that the horse-drawn carriage was invented in ancient Mesopotamia. It was used mainly as a battle chariot, and in Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other countries, several horses pulled a two-wheeled cart and used it as a chariot as well as for racing. These were simple structures consisting of a two-wheeled cart with seats on the axles for people to sit on. The Han people of ancient China used a four-horse carriage called a shiba as a chariot. Horse-drawn carriages were also used in the Yin dynasty, which preceded this, and two- and four-horse carriages with archers and drivers have been excavated from royal tombs at Yin Ruins. The way horses and carriages were hitched in ancient China was the same as the way reindeer and dogs were hitched to sleds in the north, and was different from the way it was hitched in Mesopotamia.

It was in Medieval Europe that horse-drawn carriages began to play a role as a means of transportation for the general public. Around the 15th century, full-scale covered carriages for transport appeared, and in the late 16th century, large carriages called stage wagons were made in England. Furthermore, with the invention of steel springs, regular stagecoach services began to run. After this, the use of horse-drawn carriages became increasingly popular, and a transportation network of horse-drawn carriages connecting major cities in Europe developed from the late 18th century to the early 19th century. Then, in the early 19th century, railroad carriages that ran on rails appeared in England. Horse-drawn carriages, capable of carrying large amounts of cargo at one time, were used not only in Europe but also in the newly developed United States, and covered carriages played a major role in the history of the Westward Expansion.

The history of horse-drawn carriages in Japan is recent. Horses have been used as a means of transportation since ancient times, and under the ancient Ritsuryo system, a system of post stations was established and station horses were institutionalized. However, these were not used to pull carriages. People rode the horses or carried luggage on their backs. This use of horses without carriages continued until much later. An example of a vehicle powered by animal power was the oxcart. However, only nobles were able to ride in oxcarts, and most common people walked. Only a limited number of people were able to use palanquins or horseback. Luggage was also transported by people or on horseback, and the chuma system of transporting goods from station to station did not involve the use of carriages.

Horse-drawn carriages first appeared in Japan at the end of the Edo period, and were first used by foreigners in the Yokohama Concession for personal use, and by foreign embassies traveling to and from Edo, where the shogunate was located. Having seen the use of horse-drawn carriages in this way, Kawana Kozaemon and several other people from Yokohama applied to operate a stagecoach in February 1869 (Meiji 2), and the applicants jointly started business under the name Narikoma-ya in September 1870. A two-horse carriage carried six passengers, took four hours to travel to Tokyo, and the fare was 75 sen. In 1872, horse-drawn carriages began operating in Tokyo, with a three-zone system between Asakusa Kaminarimon and Shinbashi, at one sen per section. These were two-story carriages pulled by two horses. However, after a carriage overturned and caused a fatality, two-story carriages were banned. Stagecoaches running through Tokyo city used trumpets to warn passengers, which became popular as a new trend at the time, and the 4th generation Rakugo performer Tachibanaya Entaro blew a trumpet on stage, earning him a reputation, and stagecoaches came to be called Entaro carriages. In 1873, the Mail Carriage Company opened, carrying mail and fish between Tokyo and Takasaki in 16 hours. After that, horse-drawn carriage businesses began in various places, and the Mail Carriage Company was also established. In 1881, the Tokyo-Osaka line was completed, and long-distance land transport began. The nobility and high-ranking bureaucrats also began to have their own horse-drawn carriages. In 1882, a railroad horse-drawn carriage service was opened between Shinbashi and Asakusa, and the horse-drawn carriages enjoyed their heyday in the late 1980s and 1990s. However, at the same time as horse-drawn carriages became more popular, railways were opened and their lines were extended, and with the rapid development of electric trains and automobiles, the short history of horse-drawn carriages, mainly around large cities and on major roads, came to an end.

On the other hand, horse-drawn carts, which became popular as a means of transporting luggage in regional cities and rural areas, were called freight carriages and continued to function as such until the 1950s. The spread of automobiles was slow to reach regional areas, and in rural areas, farm horses were bred and used to pull freight carriages. However, with the spread of automobiles, freight carriages were replaced by trucks and other automobiles, and as power was also incorporated into agricultural machinery, horses were used less and less, and freight carriages disappeared. Nowadays, only a few horse-drawn carts are used as a tourist resource, running short distances with tourists on board.

[Tadahiko Kuraishi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

馬に引かせて人や荷物を運ぶ車の総称。乗用馬車、荷馬車、鉄道馬車、郵便馬車、自家用馬車などいろいろの種類がある。二輪車と四輪車があり、それを引く馬の数は二頭立て、四頭立て、八頭立てなどがあった。

　馬車は古代メソポタミアあたりで考え出されたといわれている。その用途はもっぱら戦闘用の戦車としてであり、エジプト、ギリシア、ローマなどでは数頭の馬に二輪車を引かせ、戦車として用いたほか競技用としても使用した。これらは二輪車の車軸の上に腰掛をしつらえて座れるようにした簡単な造りのものであった。古代中国の漢民族は駟馬(しば)とよぶ四頭立ての馬車を戦車として使った。またこれより前の殷(いん)の時代にも馬車は用いられており、殷墟(いんきょ)の王墓からは二頭立て、四頭立ての馬車が射手や御者を乗せたまま葬られているのが発掘されている。中国古代の馬と車のつなぎ方は、北方系のトナカイや犬をそりにつなぐ方法と同じで、メソポタミア辺のつなぎ方とは異なる。

　馬車が一般庶民の交通機関としての役割を果たすようになったのは、中世のヨーロッパにおいてである。15世紀ごろに運搬用の本格的な有蓋(ゆうがい)馬車が現れ、16世紀後半にはステージワゴンとよばれた大型馬車がイギリスでつくられた。さらに鋼鉄のスプリングが発明され、定期駅馬車が走るようになった。これ以後、馬車の使用はますます盛んになり、18世紀末から19世紀前半にかけてヨーロッパの主要都市を結ぶ馬車の交通網が発達した。そして19世紀初頭にはレール上を走る鉄道馬車がイギリスに出現した。一時に多量の荷物を運ぶことのできる馬車は、ヨーロッパだけでなく新開地のアメリカでも用いられ、幌(ほろ)馬車は西部開拓史に大きな役割を果たした。

　日本における馬車の歴史は新しい。運搬の手段として馬は古くから用いられ、古代律令(りつりょう)制においては駅制が整備され、駅馬も制度化された。しかし、これは車を引かせるものではなかった。馬に人が乗ったり、馬の背に荷物を乗せて運んだのである。こうした車を使用しない馬の使用はずっと後まで続いた。畜力による車としては牛車(ぎっしゃ)があった。しかし牛車に乗れる者は貴人に限られ、一般庶民は徒歩がほとんどであった。駕籠(かご)や馬の背を利用できるのも限られた人たちであった。荷物を運ぶのも人や馬の背によって行われ、駅から駅を付け通しする中馬(ちゅうま)制度も車を用いるものではなかった。

　日本における馬車の出現は幕末になってからで、横浜居留地の外人が私用に使ったり、外国の公使館が幕府のある江戸とを往復するために用いたのが最初といわれる。こうした馬車の使用を見た横浜の川奈幸左衛門ら数名が、1869年（明治2）2月乗合馬車の営業を出願し、出願者が共同で成駒屋(なりこまや)という店名で、1870年9月営業を開始した。2頭立てで乗客は六人、東京までの所要時間4時間、運賃は75銭であった。1872年には東京市内でも一区一銭の馬車営業が、浅草雷門と新橋間を三区制として開始された。これは二階建ての馬車で二頭の馬で引いた。しかし馬車が横倒しになり死亡者を出す事故を起こしたため、二階建ての馬車は禁止された。東京市内を走る乗合馬車は警笛としてラッパを吹き鳴らしたが、これは当時の新しい風物として人気を博し、落語家4世橘家(たちばなや)円太郎がこれを高座で吹いて評判をとったため、乗合馬車は円太郎馬車ともよばれた。1873年には郵便馬車会社が開業し、郵便物と魚とを乗せて東京―高崎間を16時間で運行した。その後、各地で馬車営業がおこるとともに郵便馬車会社もおこり、1881年には東京―大阪間の路線も完成し、長距離陸上輸送が開始された。また、華族や高級官僚は自家用馬車をもつようになった。1882年には鉄道馬車が新橋―浅草間に開通し、80年代後半～90年代には馬車の全盛期を迎えた。しかし馬車の普及と並行するように鉄道が開通し、路線が延び、また電車、自動車の急速な発達などによって、大都市周辺や主要街道を中心として馬車の短い歴史は終わる。

　一方、地方都市や農村における荷物の運搬手段として普及した荷馬車は運送馬車とよばれ、昭和20年代までもその機能を保ち続けた。自動車の普及が地方に及ぶのが遅かったこととともに、農村では農耕馬を飼育し、その馬に運送車を引かせることができたという事情もあった。しかし自動車の普及により運送馬車はトラックなどの自動車にとってかわられ、農耕機具にも動力が取り入れられるようになって馬が利用されることは少なくなり、運送馬車も姿を消した。現在はわずかに観光資源として短い距離を観光客を乗せた馬車が走るだけになってしまった。

［倉石忠彦］

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