先さき棒ぼう

noun

front palanquin bearer

Historical term for the person who carried the front of a palanquin (駕籠). Rarely used literally in modern Japanese.

• 江え戸ど時じ代だい、先さき棒ぼうは駕籠かごの前ぜん方ぽうを担かつぐ役やく目めだった。

  In the Edo period, the sakibō was the person who carried the front of the palanquin.

noun

flunky; cat's-paw; tool

Figurative use, almost always as お先棒. Refers to a person used by someone else to do their dirty work, often without realizing it. Similar to 'pawn' or 'stooge'.

See also: お先棒

• 彼かれは上じょう司しのお先さき棒ぼうを担かついで、不ふ正せいな取とり引ひきに関かかわった。

  He acted as his boss's cat's-paw and got involved in illegal deals.

• あの政せい治じ家かは、ただの業ぎょう界かいのお先さき棒ぼうに過すぎない。

  That politician is nothing more than a tool of the industry.