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.
江戸時代、先棒は駕籠の前方を担ぐ役目だった。
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.
あの政治家は、ただの業界のお先棒に過ぎない。
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.