page_title: Packhorse
section_title: Other historic uses
hierarchical_section_title: Packhorse / History / Other historic uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Japanese pack horse (ni-uma or konidauma) carrying two young ladies as passengers.
context_page_description: A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of wheeled vehicles. Use of packhorses dates from the neolithic period to the present day. Today, westernized nations primarily use packhorses for recreational pursuits, but they are still an important part of everyday transportation of goods throughout much of the third world and have some military uses in rugged regions.
context_section_description: Packhorses are used worldwide to convey many products. In feudal Japan riding in a saddle (kura) was reserved for the samurai class until the end of the samurai era (1868), lower classes would ride on a pack saddle (ni-gura or konida-gura) or bareback. Pack horses (ni-uma or konida-uma) carried a variety of merchandise and the baggage of travelers using a pack saddle that ranged from a basic wooden frame to the elaborate pack saddles used for the semi-annual processions (sankin kotai) of Daimyō. Pack horses also carried the equipment and food for samurai warriors during military campaigns.
caption: Japanese pack horse (ni-uma or konida uma) carrying two girls as passengers, circa 1900-1929.
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