Abstract
In discussing the background to the Tokugawa Bakufu's plan to subsidize Japan's overland stage system, consisting of a network of way stations （shukueki 宿駅） and villages logistically supporting them （sukego 助郷）, this article focuses on the following two topics.
First, the author attempts to identify subsidization as one part of the Bakufu's fiscal policies regarding the lending of public funds and mandatory loans from the private sector （goyokin 御用金）. This is followed by a discussion connecting subsidization to the Bakufu's project to construct a large-scale countrywide transportation and communications system from mid-period onwards, citing the example of the procession by Takatsukasa Atsuko （arikimi-no-geko 有君下向） from Kyoto to Edo to marry the 13th Tokugawa Shogun Iesada in 1831 （Tenpo 2）, immediately following completion of the project.
As a result, the author argues that from the continuity of officials in charge of the project, in particular, and the evolvement of large scale transportation throughout the whole late premodern period, in general, the subsidization program of 1832 （Tenpo 3） was inspired by the “arikimi-no-geko” procession of the previous year. He then links subsidization to Bakufu lending through an examination of the local historiography of the Shinshu region （present day Nagano Prefecture）, showing that what has been characterized in the research literature to date as a fiscal tightening in Bakufu lending around mid-period clearly originated with the overland stage system in the Shinshu region, and then proceeded to threaten outposts all over the country with similar impoverishment. It was in response to such a lending crisis that the Bakufu turned to the subsidization plan appropriating funds from all sources, public and private, including Bakufu-held domains.
The author concludes that the subsidization plan was an important part of the Bakufu's characteristic economic policy implemented from mid-period on, in that it prevented programs from coming to a standstill, in addition to noting the organic character of the interrelationship existing between economic and transportation measures throughout the latter half of the Tokugawa regime.
