Oct 4, 2015 - 1 min read

Art at Your Feet in Tohoku

No putting a lid on these manholes' creativity

By Radica Sooknarine

Community writer

The Mangattan Museum in Ishinomaki is such a treasure that it even has a manhole cover paying tribute to it.

Even simple designs have their own charm. Here is a cover to a gate valve (仕切弁) from Hiraizumi in Iwate

A robot's face perhaps?

Yes those are cherries, which means they can only come from one place - Yamagata! This particular cover hails from Sagae.

You can enjoy the cherry trees at Hanamiyama in Fukushima by looking up at the trees and down at your feet!

This is just absolutely delightful!

Spring's most popular flower, the cherry blossom is represented here.

The scenic town of Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima also has some amazingly gorgeous covers.

A colored cover spotted at the samurai town of Aizuwakamatsu.

It's almost hypnotic! The design just draws you in.

Many of the designs pay homage to the flora found in the region.

Aizuwakamatsu definitely has quite a variety of designs, and each one is delightful in its own right.

This one has some pretty fancy artwork. Kudos to the foundry responsible for this cover. I have to admit, it's one of my favorites!

Also at Aizuwakamatsu, there is quite a tribute to nature on their designs.

One of the designs at Natori, Miyagi Prefecture that had me looking at the ground, instead of paying attention to where I was going.

Hanamiyama Fukushima is back with a variety of designs that maybe it deserves an entire article dedicated to it!

Yes, you guessed right. This is also Hanamiyama. It's lovely how they have an entire mountain for enjoying flowers, and designs at your feet to celebrate nature.

Natori can boast of having this lovely design in both metal and a lovely white.

This is the white version of Natori's design.

Ishinomaki in Miyagi is not only known for the Mangattan Museum. They also have splendid fireworks displays in summer.

I once thought the business of manhole cover art was mere exaggeration.Then one day while walking the streets of Sendai City, one of the first things that grabbed my attention was the piece of artwork at my feet. It was at that moment, I became very prone to walking into things and people because instead of looking at where I was heading, I kept looking at the ground for more manhole covers! As I ventured out of the largest city of the six northern prefectures of Honshu Island which make up Tohoku, I found more and more. What is equally fascinating is that within each prefecture, there are endless designs. The next time you step out onto the streets, why not enjoy the art at your feet?

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Radica Sooknarine

By Radica Sooknarine

Community writer

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Justin Velgus

Justin Velgus 10 years ago

Manholes in my country are so boring. As you say: this is art!!

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Radica Sooknarine

Radica Sooknarine Photographer 10 years ago

It certainly is! And this is just the beginning! Look out for a follow up to this story ;)

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