THE JAP KURUMA.

Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 31

THE JAP KURUMA.

One.Cßnno.fc £qw so much as conceive Japan existing without lje A r "'Minrikisha"; and yet ,the invention now to be seen on every road, and in c.very village of the country, ja not quite a quarter of a century old. r ' No one positively knows who introduced it.; but it Struct Buoh. root ttiat jn Tokjo ' alpfce

.there are at present between 30,000 and 40,000 of these two-wheeled chairs; and i they have spread to China and Malay, employing numbers of the working population, and adding an immense convenience to public life. " Jin-riki-sha " signifies "manpower vehicle," and if yon have two men to pull you the phrase for that is " ni-nim-biki," the letters being a little altered by what Japanese grammar calls "Nigori." The Tokio citizens call their little cab " kuruma," which means " a wheel," and THE OOOLIE WHO PULLS IT is termed " kurumaya." To fit him out with dark blue cotton coat and drawers, vest of cotton, reed hat covered with white calico, and painted paper Jantern, as well as blue cloven socks for fine weather, and string sandals for. the mud, costs about three American dollars. But he must, moreover, bring to the business lungs of leather and sinews of steel ; nor does one ever cease to wonder at the daily endurance of these men. In hot and cold weather alike, streaming with perspiration or pelted with snow and sleet, they trundle you along apparently incapable of fatigue ; always cheerful, always, in my experience, honest, and easily satisfied ; sufficiently rewarded for running a league with a sum equivalent to three of your dimes. The natives, who make bargains with them before starting, go IMMENSE DISTANCES FOB INOBEDIBLT SMALL FABES, and constantly ride two together in the same conveyance. I have seen a " kurumaya" cheerfully wheeling along a father and mother, with three children, to say nothing of the flower pots, bird cages, and bunches of " daikon " — the great and dreadful radish of the country — carried in the family laps. When not engaged in running they wrap round their shoulders the scarlet, blue, green, or striped blanket — " ketto " — destined for the knees of a customer, and look then rather like Red Indians. They are said to be a prodigal tribe, quickly spending in " sak6 " and small pleasures the money which they earn ; but they need some solace . for the .prodigiously exhaustive work they perform, and, so far as I have seen,