Kango Bearers
Photograph
Kango Bearers
From the album Photographic Views and Costumes of Japan
ca. 1868
Albumen silver print with applied color
20.6 x 26.0 cm.
Purchase
1979.0059.0003
Inscriptions (applied label, printed, opposite page):
KANGO BEARERS.
THESE are superior members of the class of coolies; and are, in fact, distinct from the inferior Ninsoku or street coolies. This in great measure results from the necessity for acquiring experience in carrying the Kango, so that the motion of the passenger may be steady and not uneasy. Kango bearers display extraordinary powers of endurance, and travel at a rate which takes them over as many as thirty miles a day; their pace is an easy slinging trot. In crossing steep mountain passes like that of Hakoni, there are always three bearers to a Kango, and alternate rest is afforded to each in succession; two always carrying, and one running by the side, to take the place of whichever first shows signs of distress.
KANGO BEARERS.
THESE are superior members of the class of coolies; and are, in fact, distinct from the inferior Ninsoku or street coolies. This in great measure results from the necessity for acquiring experience in carrying the Kango, so that the motion of the passenger may be steady and not uneasy. Kango bearers display extraordinary powers of endurance, and travel at a rate which takes them over as many as thirty miles a day; their pace is an easy slinging trot. In crossing steep mountain passes like that of Hakoni, there are always three bearers to a Kango, and alternate rest is afforded to each in succession; two always carrying, and one running by the side, to take the place of whichever first shows signs of distress.
