Rickshaw
A European missionary to Japan named Jonathan Scobie invented rickshaws around 1869 to transport his invalid wife through the streets of Yokohama. The word "rickshaw" comes from the Japanese jinrikisha (人力車) which literally means "human-powered vehicle".
Around 1880, Rickshaws appeared in India, first in Simla and then, 20 years later, in Kolkata. Here they were initially used by Chinese traders to transport goods; in 1914 they applied for permission to use them to transport passengers. Soon after, rickshaws appeared in many big cities in Southeast Asia; pulling a rickshaw was often the first job for peasants migrating to these cities.
The rickshaw is a light, two-wheeled cart consisting of a doorless, chairlike body, mounted on springs with a collapsible hood and two shafts. Its invention in Japan by 1870 created a huge impact throughout the East as a convenient, mobile and speedy form of personal transport which predated the development of the motor car and bus. Few horses were used in Japan except in the army and occasionally in agriculture, and human labour was cheaper than equine.
A rickshaw runner had a hard life, with rigorous competition, long hours and low pay. Often the vehicle he pulled was his whole world where he ate, slept and worked. His meagre possessions were kept in the compartment under the seat. These would have included a spare pair of straw sandals, a pipe and tobacco pouch and a paper lantern which he lit and hung on the shafts at night. Rickshaws always travelled in single file, and the runner in front called out the particulars of hazards to his comrades coming behind, such as quagmires, rice-laden carts and narrow bridges. The average speed of the rickshaw runner was 5 m.p.h. (8 km/h) and the usual distance covered was between 20 to 30 miles (32-48 km) per day. He ran at an easy gait and if the person being drawn was uncommonly heavy, or the route hilly, a second runner joined him either in pulling or pushing the rickshaw and the passenger was requested to pay an extra amount. It is little wonder that numbers of runners died early from heart and lung diseases. The rickshaw became very popular amongst the newly established middle class Japanese while some wealthy families employed their own runner for the family's exclusive use.
As new methods of transportation were developed in Japan including railways, buses, automobiles and river steamers, the demand for rickshaws gradually declined in the twentieth century. By 1938 there were only 13 000 in use although they had a brief revival after the end of World War II when there was an acute shortage of transport. However, they have now virtually disappeared as a form of pubic transport.
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