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Honjin

Resting area of pre-modern Japanese government officials

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated June 24, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Honjin (本陣) is the Japanese word for an inn for government officials, generally located in post stations (shukuba) during the later part of the Edo period.

01Evolution of Honjin

Originally, honjin were places from which generals directed battles and, therefore, were fleeting in nature. However, as commanders began to transform the honjin into temporary lodgings during battle and travel, honjin came to be places where daimyō and other representatives of the shogunate, including hatamoto, monzeki, etc., were allowed to stay during their travels. Many of the honjin were actually personal residences of village and town leaders. As such, they received official designations from the government and expanded their residences to include walls, gates and other features. Because of their cooperation, the owners of the honjin also gained various special rights. General travelers, regardless of status or money, were not able to stay at honjin.

The waki-honjin in Tsumago-juku
The waki-honjin in Tsumago-juku

02Waki-honjin

Waki-honjin (脇本陣), also referred to as "sub-honjin," are similar in structure and operation to, but generally smaller than, honjin. The rules of operation were also slightly different. When two official traveling parties are staying in the same post station, the more powerful of the two stayed in the main honjin. The major difference, though, is that general travelers were able to stay at the waki-honjin, if they had enough status or money.

The garden at Kusatsujuku honjin
The garden at Kusatsujuku honjin

03Honjin open to the public

The honjin or waki-honjin of the following post stations have either been preserved or restored and are now open to be viewed by the public:

Tōkaidō:

Nakasendō:

Kōshū Kaidō:

Other Routes:

Watch videos about HonjinExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Honjin”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

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Hatago

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