▲Museum of Kami-don-ya

  This is one of two Toiya's shop-houses in Narai town. The house in which the traffic-business was once managed is existing as museum of the folklore culture-materials now.

◆Work of Toiya-Office◆

  The Toiya-Office managed operationally the works of personnels and horses for transportation in their own district, as well as controled the traffic relay with neigboring Stage-Town's districs.

  The operational management was done in Toiya's shop-house. In the operational room they worked for receiving orders of customers, proceeding the relay-process and transactions.
  When the Stage Chief and Toiya, as leading managers of the town, were informed of the official events along Kaido-roads by the Shogunate government beforehand, they planned to prepare the services for travellers and estimated the expenses, supported by Toshiyori staffs.

  But in the case of the parade of clan-lords for the official visit for Shogun or for the military call by him, too much number of people would travel for the usual preraration of the town. The ordinary praparation could't meet sach a demand.
  The town would need some supports by neigboring villages or towns, which was called Sukego in Japanese, i.e. the aiding village. Then the supporting members from those villages or town also called Sukego.
  As the labor for the supporting was in a asense tax-paying in proportion to the economic scale of each village. But foods and drinks had to be prepared by the Stage-Town for them. It was very expensive.

  The managing staffs had to estimate the expenses and the numbers of personnels and horses, to keep money and to inform neighboring villages or towns of preparetion.

◆Control by Shogunate Government◆

Waki-honjin, the side headquarter camp, in Tsumago town

  The Stage-Towns had to submit their acount books and business reports, which would to be inspected, to the Magistrate of Kaido-roads of Shogunate government every year.

  Thereby the government controled indirectly the management of the Kaido-system which were the economic apparatus as well as the military one, depending on the independent governance and management of the leaders of the Stage-Towns.

  In the sense, Chief, Toiya and Toshiyori were administrative officers, at the same time enterpreneur class managing the towns as economic-administrative districts.
  They represented and persisted the interest of the people in their own towns against the Shogunate government or the clan-lords on one hand, transmitted the will of the latter against the former on the other hand.

  In the case that the task of transportation was too heavy to manage for the usual financial preparation, for example the emergent travel of their clan-lord to Edo, the leaders of the town would request the fiscal support to the govenment, as mentioned above.

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