Did you Know? Three-Wheeled Passenger Cart

Rickshaw - Three-wheeled Passenger Cart

Did you Know? - Rickshaw Three-Wheeled Passenger Cart

Pulled rickshaws created a popular form of transportation, and a source of employment for male labourers, within Asian cities in the 19th century. Their appearance was related to newly acquired knowledge of ball-bearing systems. Their popularity declined as cars, trains and other forms of transportation became widely available.

Rickshaw originates from the Japanese word jinrikisha (人力車, 人 jin = human, 力 riki = power or force, 車 sha = vehicle), which literally means "human-powered vehicle".

In the late 19th century, hand-pulled rickshaws became an inexpensive, popular mode of transportation across Asia. Peasants who migrated to large Asian cities often worked first as a rickshaw runner. It was "the deadliest occupation in the East, [and] the most degrading for human beings to pursue."

Starting in 1870, the Tokyo government issued a permit to build and sell 人力車 (jinrikisha: rickshaw in Japanese) to the trio that are believed in Asia to be the rickshaw's inventors: Izumi Yosuke, Takayama Kosuke, and Suzuki Tokujiro. In order to operate a rickshaw in Tokyo, a seal was required from these men. By 1872, they replaced the kago and norimono, becoming the main mode of transportation in Japan, with about 40,000 rickshaws in service. At that time man-power was much cheaper than horse-power; horses were generally only used by the military. Some of the rickshaws were artistically decorated with paintings and rear elevations. In this time, the more exuberant styles of decorations were banned. If the families were well-off financially they might have their own rickshaw runner. Generally, runners covered 30 to 50 kilometres in a day, at an average traveling speed of 8 km/h.