1.
peddler; traveling merchant; hawker
A person who travels from place to place selling goods, rather than operating from a fixed shop. Historically common in Japan before the modern retail era.
行商人が村にやってきた。
A peddler came to the village.
昔はこの道を行商人が行き来していた。
In the old days, peddlers used to come and go along this road.
祖父は若いころ行商人として全国を回り、魚や野菜を売り歩いていた。
When my grandfather was young, he traveled the country as a peddler, selling fish and vegetables.
A compound of 行商 (peddling, itinerant trade) and 人 (person). The base word 行商 can also be used on its own to refer to the activity of peddling.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 行商をする (to peddle)
- 行商に出る (to go out peddling)
- 行商人として働く (to work as a peddler)
Historically, 行商人 played an important role in distributing goods to rural areas. Today the term appears mainly in historical contexts. Modern equivalents include 移動販売 (mobile sales) for food trucks and similar businesses.