Unbekannter Fotograf

The palanquin (kago) was a common and relatively inexpensive form of transportation in pre-modern Japan. Aspects of old and new can be seen in this photograph. Old, as in the roadside Buddhist sculpture to the left and the Shinto torii in the background, and modern, with the telegraph pole to the left. Both men and women from the middle to upper classes were carried in the kago, while the porters were from the lower or working class.