koshō 胡床

Also shōgi 床几. A folding chair or a stool. These folding chairs were derived from the chairs used by the Huns (Jp: Fun 匈), Mongolian nomadic tribes, and were imported from China to Japan. There is an 8th-century koshō in the *Shōsōin 正倉院 which is made of zelkova wood with red lacquer. It is square and has four legs. From the Heian period on the term koshō was applied specifically to the folding chairs used by the nobility when traveling or attending certain ceremonies.