also: おさきぼう
front palanquin bearer
Historical term for the person who carried the front of a palanquin (駕籠). Rarely used literally in modern Japanese.
In the Edo period, the sakibō was the person who carried the front of the palanquin.
He acted as his boss's cat's-paw and got involved in illegal deals.
That politician is nothing more than a tool of the industry.
Standard kanji spelling for both the literal and figurative senses.
Polite prefixed form, very common in the figurative sense meaning 'flunky' or 'cat's-paw'.
From 先 “front” and 棒 “carrying pole,” originally referring to the front bearer of a palanquin. The figurative senses developed through the expression 先棒を担ぐ, denoting someone who acts as another person’s agent or accomplice.