kago

plural kagos · alternative cango · alternative kango

1. historicalAn open and suspended Japanese style of sedan chair.

   There are no roads outside the villages in northern Yezo, no jinriksha,—those most fascinating man-power carriages,—no kago, or swinging cars, and no side-saddles...

   1898 July, Mabel Loomis Todd, "In Aino-land", The Century Illustrated Montly Magazine, Vol. LVI, No. 3, p. 346

   1 more example

   There are two sorts of palanquin, the norimon and the cango. The former, which requires four bearers for long journeys, is a large, heavy box, in which one may sit with tolerable comfort. The sides are in lacquered wood, and contain two sliding doors. Although this norimon is, par excellence, the vehicle of the nobility, it admits of no ornaments, and is used by the ladies of the middle class and by the registered courtesans, because both occupy a certain position of fortune and consideration in society. The cango is a light litter of bamboo, open on both sides; it requires only two bearers, who always walk with a rapid and regular step. They rest for one minute out of twenty. When they go back, each carries in his turn the cango, suspended at the end of a pole, over his shoulder.

   1874, Aimé Humbert, translated by Frances Cashel Hoey et al., Japan and the Japanese Illustrated, page 156

2. historicalinexactAny Japanese litter, inclusive of norimonos and other styles.

   With the long kagos, three coolies are always used, and sometimes four.

   1895, Outing, number 26, page 7