As to the officers who examine the weights of goods.
Laws as to the porters on the road.
Rules as to going into and leaving hotels on the road.
Rules as to government goods carried upon the roads.
As to officers who travel at government expense—as the Tenso, Emperor’s messengers, etc.
As to how many porters each Daimio is entitled to, and the rate of payment. If he wants more, he must pay at a higher rate.
If one of his servants travels by himself, he is not to be provided for.
Rules as to tenants of government lands when they come to Yedo.
Rules as to the dress and payment of meshi mori onna—that is, servant-women who occasionally act in both capacities—in inns.—By law two women only are allowed in each inn, but more are kept, and fines paid for keeping them. The strictness and minute care with which the Japanese government watches over its people is shown in the regulations laid down for public women, known as Joro. This name is only applied to those who are kept in government establishments in the larger towns, as Yedo, Osaka, Miako, Nagasaki, where a place in the town is set apart for their residence. The laws for the regulation of morals are very different in different parts of the empire. In the territories of some Daimios, as Tosa and Kanga, public prostitutes are not permitted, indecent songs are interdicted, and the inns and bathing-houses regulated; but the government of the Shiogoon considers these things to be necessary evils, and takes them under its own charge. The finest women in Japan are said to be in Etsizen and Idzumo, where they are famed for the fineness of their complexions and smoothness of skin, with higher noses and little or no smallpox. It is said that men cannot leave Neegata, where the public women are called Hak piak ya gokay, or 808 widows. This name arose after one of the desolating battles in old times, in which that number of husbands was slain and the widows obliged to seek for wherewithal to live. In one night in 1860 the officers in Yokohama seized 108 young women who were suspected of leading immoral lives without a license from government. The most beautiful public women of Yedo annually take a prominent part in the processions, or matsuri, and their portraits are sold and hung up about the large temples and places of resort.
Laws as to thieves and robbers on the highway.