Via Underwire, Pink Tentacle provides links to images of Japanese manhole covers.
TAB says: This is a great example how good design and art can be integrated into everyday items. Surprisingly I mentioned this to C and she had already started her own collection of pictures.
CAB says: I never realized there were so many collections of manhole cover pictures online! I’ve only got a few myself but here’s a quick sample:
On the left is the seal of Hakusan City (formerly Matto City) featuring the city flower, the morning glory… actually spray painted on pavement, but it’s the same image as the manhole cover (which I couldn’t get a very good shot of).
Hakusan is my Japanese home and lives up to its motto: The City of Flower & Poetry. Chiyo-Jo, a poet born in Hakusan City in 1703, wrote this haiku:
the morning glory-
the well-bucket entangled
I ask for water
the well-bucket entangled
I ask for water
On the right is the seal of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Shirakawago featuring the gassho-zukuri-style traditional farmhouses it’s so famous for.
On the top above is the seal of Anamizu, a small town on the Noto Peninsula, home of the delicious Kaki (oyster) Matsuri, about which I’ll report on in the near future. Below that there’s proof that other countries have “street art” as well. This one’s from Kraków where I visited last Christmas.
Now, if that wasn’t enough of strange collections, how about train station departure melodies? Here in Japan almost every station has its own little song, and some people have gone to great lengths to record them all.
7 Comments
January 31, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I love these, thanks for sharing, I enjoyed looking at them.
February 1, 2008 at 7:43 am
Visual delight. Thank you for posting these images.
Also, my deepest thanks to you for introducing me to a major work–Homo Aestheticus. I am loving this book, and it was your recommendation that led me to it.
Keep inspiring all of us.
February 2, 2008 at 10:28 am
Hi Deborah. I’m interested in an artist’s feedback concerning Dissanayake’s book. Keep in mind the author claims “making pretty” is a human evolutionary trait that says nothing about the aesthetic quality of the art created. I learned of Dissanayake through the writings of E.O. Wilson, an evolutionary biologist, scholar & author. Look for his writings too.
MadSilence
February 3, 2008 at 4:53 am
Lovely! The Japanese sure know how to design stuff.
February 8, 2008 at 7:18 am
I’d love to do some charcoal rubbings of these covers. They are amazing! I’m surprised they are not stolen at a rapid rate.
May 23, 2008 at 11:37 pm
What’s Round, Weighs 250 Pounds ……
From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville: What’s round, weighs 250 pounds, and plays a vital role in our cities and towns? Want another hint? It can be found just about everywhere you walk or drive. If you haven’t guessed (or peeked at the photos), I’m talkin…
December 29, 2008 at 4:48 am
awesome blog. great pictures!@
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