Having a specific type of manhole cover for your town’s sewage drains or fire hydrants seems to be a point of local pride in Japan. There are thousands and thousands of different designs all over the country. Along the Nakasendō there are even a number of them that have themes relating to the old path, and the Edo period.
Okegawa-juku leads the way with an excellent cover with vibrant colours! They are proud of having been a post town on the Nakasendō!Honjo-juku wants to show off a lot of different things about their town, including the honjin gate.Fukushima-juku has rebuilt the famous sekisho, the barrier gate on the Nakasendō, and it is now a museum.This cover is probably to show that Ōi-juku was the gateway to the Jūsan-tōge, the thirteen passes on the Nakasendō. This stretch was a particularly treacherous section of wilderness along the Nakasendō.This manhole cover was between Echigawa-juku and Musa-juku, east of lake Biwa. While it doesn’t specifically mention the Nakasendō, it shows historical buildings from that era.Kusatsu-juku is where the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō merge on the way to Kyoto, which is commemorated on this one.
There were of course hundreds of others along the way that didn’t specifically reference the Nakasendō. There were so many of them that I probably didn’t take a picture of more than maybe half of the ones I passed by. Here are a few of the more noteworthy ones.
Ena city (where Ōi-juku now is) will be hosting a large rally competition this year, and have installed a number of different manhole covers showing racing cars.I’m not sure of Shimusuwa-juku’s connection to the famous manga “Astro boy”, but this manhole cover was on display in the centre of town.This isn’t Nakasendō specific per se, but Mochizuku-juku is very proud of its historical connection to horses.This isn’t technically a manhole cover, but it is still modern infrastructure referring to the kaidō. It is interesting that the Tōkaidō is shown as winding, as it is basically a straight line in the area east of lake Biwa.In Saitama they are very proud of their football heritage, most notably the Urawa Red Diamonds.Mixing historical themes with modern ones is quite common.
As with everything, there is probably a community that tries to collect seeing all these different kinds of manhole covers. I wish them the best of luck! It is a rather fun when you find a new one in a small hamlet in the middle of nowhere!
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