During the medieval period, in Japan only the samurai cast was allowed to use horses, thus transportation was very slow. The lower classes were traveling only by foot, and the wealthy people were using various type of palanquins, such as kago, a relatively inexpensive variant, or the more luxurious norimono.

Basically, the travel speed was the same for everybody, only the comfort differed. The most comfortable possibility was an ox-drawn cart called goshoguruma, reserved only for the highest aristocrats and the Imperial family. However, the speed was also the speed of a walking man, because as you can see in this photo taken at the Jidai Matsuri parade in Kyoto, the goshoguruma drivers were walking beside the cart.

Kyoto Jidai Matsuri parade, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Fushimi Inari Shrine torii, unusual outside view