In the late 1630s or early 1640s, post stations were ordered to increase the transport workforce. Although the stations were required to maintain a minimum number of porters and horses, many did not and struggled to find sufficient labour. In 1694, the
bakufu instituted the
sukegō system to requisition peasants and horses from villages near post stations, although the processes had been occurring long before the implementation of the formal system; the term was used in the bakufu decree from 1637. It is debated as to whether the
sukegō system began then in 1637 or 1694, but knowledge about transport corvée labour prior to 1694 is limited. In 1694, the bakufu initiated a major reform of the corvée system for transport both through Tokugawa lands and private lands belonging to
daimyo and lower nobles; this was the first time the term
sukegō was used. This reform tabulated the post station's name, the names of all the villages assigned to it under the
sukegō system, the names of each village's headman, and the villages' estimated yield, based on the 1689 census. The general rate was two porters and two horses per every 100
koku. The initial reform applied to the
Tōkaidō,
Nakasendō, and
Minoji; it was extended to the
Nikkō Kaidō in 1696 and
Kiso Kaidō (technically a stretch of the Nakasendō from
Niekawa-juku to
Magome-juku) in 1712. The 1694 reform allowed the authority of the shogunate to supersede that of the local authorities, i.e. the private overlords . == Effects ==