Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/124

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SKETCHES OF TOKYO LIFE.

A “JINRIKISHA”-STAND.
A “JINRIKISHA”-STAND.

A “JINRIKISHA”-STAND.

CHAPTER VII.

The Jinrikisha-man and his Vehicle.

The streets of Tokyo present a most marked contrast to those of old Yedo in the modes of locomotion used thereon. In Yedo, some samurai took to horses, and daimyo and a few others rode in palanquins; but most people went about on foot. For transporting goods, carts drawn by men, horses, or oxen were almost as common as they are now. But to-day the palanquin is seldom used except for carrying the sick to hospital or the dead to their last resting-place. Whether it is that people are nowadays too busy or too lazy to walk, the main streets are lined with vehicles of all sorts. Private carriages of the most approved make brush by dog-carts and antiquated shandrydans, or are overtaken by public stages which, though called by courtesy omnibuses, are more