18th-century Japanese pedal car

The world's first bicycle was developed by a Japanese feudal lord in 1732, a model recently created on the basis of a Edo-Period drawing has suggested. Toshio Kajiwara, 60, a former bicycle company technical adviser, analyzed the drawing of a "newly-developed, boat-style ground vehicle," and Kenjiro Kawakami, professor of industrial archeology at Tama University of Arts, created a 1/5 scale model. "Our discovery that a bicycle with pedals existed in Japan in the 1730s has drastically changed the history of bicycles," Kajiwara said.

Unfortunately, the article does not reproduce the drawing, so it is difficult to assess the accuracy of these claims. In any event, the "bicycle" as reconstructed might better be described as a three-wheeled pedal car.

The drawing is in a document compiled by Kuheiji Hiraishi (1696 to 1771), the lord of the Hikone feudal clan in Shiga Prefecture. It is preserved at the Hikone Municipal Library. . .

The vehicle comprises of a boat-shaped wooden body, a single front wheel and two rear wheels. The pedals are connected to a disk that resembles a flywheel with an iron rod similar to a crankshaft.

From Mainichi Shimbun.

Posted by David on July 5, 2003 7:40 PM