Were horses rare in the Edo period?
I'm watching a Japanese drama called Jin. There's a lot of going back and forth between Tokyo and Kyoto. While the characters went to Kyoto by ship once or twice, it seems like they also walk there a lot.
Was it seriously common to just carry all your stuff and walk between Kyoto and Edo? It would take at least a couple weeks, I'd think. Or did people use horses to travel long distances as well? I know I've seen horse-mounted samurai, but I can't remember seeing paintings of horse drawn carriages.