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Extensive preparations were also made on the main island of Japan. Bodies of troops were stationed at all the seaboard villages in the northern provinces, and the Daimios were urged to increased vigilance in guarding their coasts.
The diary of an official who was travelling northward about this time gives a lively picture of the bustle and excitement along the great northern highway. Couriers were constantly passing backwards and forwards between Yedo and Hakodate, and between the Daimios’ yashikis in Yedo and the provinces, carrying dispatches wrapped in oilcloth covers; and the road was thronged with troops equipped in the old fashion—some with bows and arrows, and others with spears and matchlocks—while occasionally a Daimio or Governor monopolized the way with his train. The transport service necessary for these movements of troops and officials was a grievous burden on the farmers, and many of them, to escape it, preferred to abandon their holdings and conceal themselves among the hills.
Another writer gives the following account of the train of a Governor of Hakodate.
The procession was preceded by a man whose duty it was to clear the way by the well-known “Shitani! Shitani!” the signal for every one to squat by the roadside till the great man had passed.
Next came a body of 12 foot soldiers, in two files of six men each.
Next two war-conch blowers.
Two drummers.
Eight matchlock men.
Two men carrying ammunition.
Two men carrying arrows.
Eight archers.
Three Samurai.
Three men carrying the emblems of the Governor’s rank.
Two men with the Governor’s private matchlocks.
Two men with the Governor’s bows.
