HIKONE, Shiga Prefecture-- Eighteen-year-old Akinari Muranishi proudly put the pedal to the metal, or wood, to be more exact, on what appeared to be a mashup of a boat and a tricycle, sending it down the school corridor.

The unusual contraption, running on three wheels, with Muranishi steering standing up, was the finished product of project to re-create a Shinsei Rikushuhonsha, a pedal-driven vehicle dating from the Edo Period (1603-1867), two and a half centuries after the death of its inventor.

No longer in existence, the Shinsei Rikushuhonsha was one of Japan's first forms of transportation.

Seniors at Hikone Sogo High School built one as a project devised by their teacher, Takafumi Kumagai, to keep them engaged after the school's sports event was scrapped and the school festival was scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I wanted to provide students with something to pour their unrelieved passion into,” said Kumagai, 44.

The operational replica was based on a design drawing by its developer, Hiraishi Kuheiji Tokimitsu (1696-1771), a Hikone domain retainer.

Measuring 2.2 meters long and 1 meter wide, the body of the boat-shaped model, which is sometimes called one of world's earliest tricycles, is made of plywood panels.

It is said that the world’s oldest bicycle was developed around 1817 in Germany and went by the name of Draisine. The person riding it operated it not by pedaling but kicking the ground.

The re-created Rikushuhonsha has one wheel at the front and two at the back. The wheels are designed to be rotated by pedals in the rear, while the driver is supposed to operate it while standing and gripping the handlebars in the center.

When Muranishi, who played a leading role in the project, pedaled the Rikushuhonsha down the school corridor one day in February, it started off moving forward slowly, making a rattling noise.

Muranishi, and Ryunosuke Tatsumi, 18, were part of the six-member group involved in the project, which their teacher, Kumagai, said, “did come to fruition because of the coronavirus crisis.”

Every year, students at Hikone Sogo take a class to survey the local history and culture outside the school. But because of concerns over inadequate social distancing, it was scrapped last year.

As a substitute for the research class, Kumagai in November last year proposed students make a model of a Rikushuhonsha.

Third-year students had attended a Zen mediation session at Choshoin temple in the Chuocho district of Hikone, which is home to Kuheiji's grave. Another reproduction of a Rikushuhonsha was exhibited on its precincts at the time, offering students a chance to see the historic invention.

According to the accounts by Toshio Kajiwara, who is knowledgeable about cycles, Kuheiji compiled “Shinsei Rikushuhonsha no Ki” (Records on Shinsei Rikushuhonsha) in 1732 to design and complete a Rikushuhonsha.

Kuheiji, who was allegedly famous for his deep academic insights and studied astronomy in order to draw astronomical charts, succeeded in traveling with the finished vehicle, but none remain in existence today.

After Kumagai proposed the students build a Rikushuhonsha replica, one student said they had to make one "that could be operated."

Muranishi, who is skilled at craftsmanship, was tapped to get the project rolling, though he said he was initially unwilling to work on the Rikushuhonsha.

“We're not in an engineering course so we won't be able to make a vehicle,” Muranishi recalled thinking.

But he grew more confident after he saw Kumagai buy plywood boards, wheels, bolts and other materials at a DIY store.

Kumagai painted a detailed design based on “Shinsei Rikushuhonsha no Ki,” an illustration now kept at the Hikone Public Library. The students set aside every Friday after school to work on replicating the Rikushuhonsha.

They set one rule for the project: The Rikushuhonsha had to be made just using items available at DIY shops.

One of the most difficult things to work out was how to make the handlebars turn the front wheel. The students connected them with black and yellow tiger ropes or cable ties, but they stretched or wore down.

Eventually, they found using iron wires did the trick.

After Muranishi and Tatsumi passed their college entrance exams through the admission system based on recommendations, they continued working on the program during the winter holidays. The last obstacle was getting the pedals to operate the back wheels.

Plastic pedals quickly broke down, so as a last resort they again turned to iron. To make them, Muranishi asked his father, who is talented at welding, to show him how to link iron pipes.

The replica, completed in late January, was named “Hikoso-style” Shinsei Rikushuhonsha after their school.

“I feel we have achieved the biggest goal in our three years of high school,” Muranishi said, commenting on his experience of working on the unexpected project in their final academic year.

Tatsumi agreed. “It was an experience I may never have again for the rest of my life,” he said.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of Kuheiji’s death and the finished reproduction was sent to Choshoin temple in February for display. Visitors can observe and ride the replica through the end of March if they make a reservation.