Database: Couriers and Communication

During the 16th century, each daimyō had his own informants (typically ninjas) and couriers who carried oral or written messages by horse. Known as hikyaku or flying feet, these couriers were employed until the wars of the 15th and 16th centuries, and the division of the archipelago into fiefs. The problem of communication was complex when daimyō distant from each other were communicating. This situation can be even more complicated where they are separated by an enemy lord and messages have to cross hostile territory. If an important message falls into enemy hands the consequence can be dire. When possible, messengers take boats, which was often more efficient and sometimes faster than messages sent overland. By the late 16th and early 17th centuries, new ways of sending short messages were devised, such as the carrier pigeon. In battle, basic orders (such as advancing or retreating) could be communicated with banners, or in a few cases, with a system of fire beacons. With the return to the rule of law under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, better and more practical means of communication were established such as post towns or ferry connections, particularly between Edo, Kyoto, and Osaka. In 1590, a post system was built in leyasu’s domain, in the eastern part of the country. An extensive network was established after 1615, evolving into a more efficient system of communication by the 1650s.