Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 4.djvu/194

 wheels did not undergo any alteration from century to century. Not only were axles of wood, but the felloes also were not shod with metal, and, the rim being very narrow, a heavily laden cart cut deeply into the surface of the road. More unfavourable conditions for traction could scarcely have been devised. They may be seen in China also to-day, and the explanation is that in both countries alike what the people wanted was a vehicle that could traverse ruts and holes rather than one that could move rapidly.

It will be inferred that the roads were bad. The Japanese never discovered how to make them good. That failure is largely ascribable to the fact that from a military point of view roads were invested with a double character, that of means of access and that of obstacles to accessibility. The Tokugawa Shōguns and the territorial nobles took care that the highways leading to their capitals should cross steep defiles and bridgeless rivers where all passage might be barred by a small force. Thus one of the main thoroughfares from Kyōtō to Yedo was led over the Hakone pass, the other over the Usui; and any one attempting to take a circuitous route so as to avoid the guardhouses at either of these precipitous places was liable to be crucified. Great rivers like the Oi, the Tenryu, the Fuji, and the Rokugo, served similarly to control traffic. They were never bridged, and travellers had to cross by ferry-boats or to be carried over on the shoul-