By using the principles of optimal design, the kinematical model of the rice transplanting mechanism with elliptic gear train was established first. The square of error due to several points in the transplanting trajectory deviating from the specified precision points was treated as the objective function that needed to be minimized. The limitation of working space as well as the requirements of the transplanting operation were expressed as some inequality constraints. The software called MOST was used to solved the design problem. Based on the design results, the testing model was manufactured. The experiment for kinematics analysis was also conducted. It was shown that the experimental observations and the theoretical results were quite consistent. The results of this study can be consulted while one designs a similar mechanism.