This unrestored 1957 Rikuo RT2 is owned by Lindsay Williamson, owner of Christchurch Motorcycles, one of the first Harley-Davidson dealers in New Zealand. Its 45ci( 747cc) air-cooled V-Twin is rated at 22 hp.
The name“ Rikuo,” roughly translated as either“ land king” or“ continent king,” evoked strength, reliability, and dominance. However, the company’ s origins and its connection to Harley- Davidson tell a larger story about globalization, protectionist policies, and the interplay of industry and geopolitics.
HARLEY COMES TO JAPAN Harley- Davidson motorcycles first arrived in Japan in 1924, imported by Sankyo Trading Co. At the time, even though Indian was actively importing sidecar setups to Japan, the country’ s motorcycle market was nascent, and Harley- Davidson’ s rugged design, ample power, and durability quickly captured the imagination of Japanese consumers as well as the military and local police forces.
But importing motorcycles came with significant hurdles. In the late’ 20s, Japan’ s protectionist policies, including high tariffs on imported goods, combined with a 50 % decline in the value of the yen, made Harley- Davidson motorcycles prohibitively expensive. Sensing an opportunity, Harley- Davidson struck a deal with Sankyo in 1932, granting the company a license to produce Harley motorcycles domestically, allowing the Motor Company to compete in Japan without the burden of import tariffs.
The partnership was one of the earliest examples of international licensing in the motorcycle industry. Harley- Davidson provided blueprints, tooling, and technical expertise, while Sankyo handled local production. The motorcycles produced under this agreement were near- identical to Harley’ s iconic VL flathead models.
THE BIRTH OF RIKUO In the mid- 1930s, Sankyo’ s motorcycle division was rebranded as Rikuo Nainenki, marking the full transition of Harley- Davidson’ s Japanese operations into a domestically controlled enterprise. This period coincided with significant political
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