johnny-ring-shaw

Updated: May 17, 2025

It is rather a long distance by foot, but Englishmen, at least according to Japanese ideas, have too much money to walk when they can ride, so to keep up the national conceit, but more for our own convenience, we jump into an elegant little carriage, or "jin-riki-sha," literally "man-power-carriage," but in sailor phrase "johnny-ring-shaw," or short "ring shaw."

J. J. Smith - In Eastern Seas : Or, the Commission of H.M.S. 'Iron Duke,' flag-ship in China, 1878-83