Page:Sketches of Tokyo Life (1895).djvu/129

Rh there were in Tokyo 38,481 jinrikisha, of which 29,707 held single passengers and the rest were double. There were also 40,820 jinrikisha-men, excluding those in private employ, of whom 8,692 drew their own jinrikisha, 29,807 hired them from 5,471 owners of such vehicles, and 2,321 were employed to draw them by 638 jinrikisha-house keepers.

The jinrikisha-men may be divided into three classes; those who serve in private houses, ply their trade under a jinrikisha-keeper, or work on their own account in the street. The first-named is a servant and treated in all respects as such. The police instructions touching the jinrikisha-man’s clothes do not apply to him. There is nothing noticeable about him except that he lords it over jinrikisha-men of the latter two classes wherever they happen to congregate.

The jinrikisha-man of the second class has more complicated relations. He generally lives in a jinrikisha-house, and to the public he is nothing more than an employé of its keeper, for it is the latter that makes up and receives the jinrikisha-accounts once a fortnight or a month, and is at the same time responsible for the good behaviour of his men. There is no fixed system in force in the management of the jinrikisha-house, but generally speaking, the keeper gives board and lodging in his house to several hikiko or drawers of his wheelers. He charges twenty sen a day for board, lodging, and the use of his jinrikisha so that he gets six yen a month from each hikiko. He also charges ten per