All of my questions relate to the alternate attendance policy. I've heard that traveling daimyo were only allowed to stay at specific (very expensive) inns on the way back and forth between Tokyo to force them to waste resources. Were these state run, and if not, how were these inns chosen? Was there actually something like an approved list of inns to stay at? What kind of services did they provide- were they actually a luxury experience, or just price gouged? Besides traveling samurai, who else would stay at these- or were they exclusive to samurai? Would they plan their visits months in advance or would it just be when they felt tired? (I've also heard that they were only allowed to travel set distances each day).
Thanks in advance!
There was indeed a class of inns designated for daimyo's stay, and it was called honjin. There were several honjin at every shukuba town on major roads. They also accommodated shogunate officials, Imperial princes and kugyō. Commoners stayed at hatago (with meals) or kichin-yado (without meals). Honjin were operated by prominent families in each shukuba town, and their statuses were passed down through generations. They usually held an important post such as nanushi (head of town) or toiya (responsible for horse transportation), and earned extra income by farming, trade, sake brewing or other businesses.
Tozama daimyo were required to arrive in Edo in 4th lunar month, and to submit their arrival date in 11th lunar month of the previous year. In planning, they selected tomo-garō (accompanying karō) in charge of the travel, and made reservations in the form of kaijō (circular letter), usually from 50 days to a year in advance. Each daimyo had their favorite jō-honjin for regular use. The inns replied by ukesho (acceptance document), and provided floor plans. Before daimyo's arrival, their officials visited the inns for inspection, negotiated about the price, and gave them sekifuda nameplates to put up on the day of their stay. Of course, these procedures varied with different daimyo and occasions.
In the Kaga domain's case in 1764, they set up yado-wari-sho (inn allocation office) on 13th day of 2nd month, and yado-goshirae-yakusho (inn preparation office) on 3rd day of 3rd month, before departure on the 28th day of 3rd month. Domains which took the Tōkaidō route needed more time for preparation. This is the ukesho which Kanagawa-juku honjin Ishii Genzaemon presented to the chūgen of Ichigaya Oyakata (supposedly the Owari domain) on 10th day of 4th month of the year of the Rooster (1849 or 1861). This is the ukesho which Kusatsu-juku honjin Tanaka Kuzō issued on the 13th day of the 8th month to confirm the Obi domain's stay on the next day. This is a floor plan of Kumagai-juku honjin Takei Shin'emon, which was presented for the stay of Sumehime, daughter of kanpaku Ichijō Tadayoshi, in 9th month of Kaei 2 (1849).
In spite of their careful planning, the schedule was frequently delayed by kawadome (river stoppage), where the rise of a brige-less river prevented them from crossing it on foot. A sudden change in the itinerary often caused a double-booking or compensation problem. This is the diagram the Kaga domain had in case of a sudden route change.
Theoretically, daimyo were military commanders, and their travels were military operations, so the troops were expected to be self-sufficient. In fact, honjin means "main camp," and it was technically just a billet. Daimyo brought their own cooks, food, weapons, toilets, and even a bathtub, though inns also offered beds, food, dishes, furniture and fuels, as well as their employees to help them use the facilities.
In 1825, the shogunate prohibited daimyo from staying at lower-class accomodations than honjin, but its purpose was to protect honjin financially and to keep the social order, and the financial problems daimyo faced from the Sankin-kōtai system was not the shogunate's intention. On the contrary, the shogunate repeatedly urged daimyo to cut down travel budgets by reducing the scale of their troops.
There was no limitation on travel distances. The Kaga domain's standard itinerary was 12 nights / 13 days, but in 1643, Maeda Mitsutaka made it from Edo to Kanazawa in 6 nights / 7 days, after he heard that his wife Seitai-in was about to have a baby (later named Tsunanori) in Kanazawa.
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