Falling down the manhole

I love the blog Go Fug Yourself and a week or so ago, they linked to an article on The Atlantic which collected user shots "The World's Coolest Manhole Covers." (Don't get me started on how animating a slideshow of Wikimedia Commons images passes for journalism these days). Six of their top 24 are Japanese, the highest proportion of any one country. Eastern Europe is a surprisingly strong manhole contender, but I think Germany is overrepresented. Slapping your provincial shield on metal does not a manhole cover design make!

Something Justin and I have noticed about Japan is that it is always worth looking down. Or up, or over, or into the corner... the attention to detail here is remarkable. I actually started collecting manhole cover photographs last fall, in anticipation of a post like this (I could work for The Atlantic!) Please note that drainage grades, gas and water access, and all such metallic ground covers shall all be included here under the umbrella term "Manhole." So get your eyeballs warmed up for some of the great manhole covers of our experiences.

Okay, I'm warmed up now. Let's go.

From last fall: Nagasaki. The drainage grates of Nagasaki are decorated with a variety of flowers. I have photos of two, but memory says there were lots more. The official flower of Nagasaki is the hydrangea.

Official foot of Nagasaki is Justin's. Official sandal is Clarks.

There is also a flower called the Nagasaki camellia. I am pretty sure that's what this is:


Nagasaki is also known for its strong historical connection to China. I just noticed in writing this post that I really failed to take care of business on posts from our Nagasaki trip. I haven't mentioned such important things as, oh, the Atomic Bombing sites, let alone the Chinese temple I was going to link you to here. When you have a real job, such are the things which fall by the wayside.

So anyway. Justin really zoomed in on this, to the point that the only giveaway that it's a metal ground cover at all is the hatchwork of texturing behind the image. Here you have a parade of little animals celebrating, I presume, the Chinese New Year in Nagasaki. Nagasaki really gears up for the lunar new year, with parades and a nationally-famous Chinese lantern festival. Some of our coworkers went this year; maybe we'll get there next year.

Too cute to step on!

Then we have Kobe. This complex little blue and yellow guy features some local landmarks like Kobe Port Tower, the Rokko Arima Ropeway, and the foreign residences of the Kitano Ijinkan district. Shown twice for better viewing.



We went to Kobe's Suma district for the Model United Nations conference at Marist Brothers International School. Suma greeted us with this stellar samurai manhole cover:

The official feet of Kobe are mine. Shoes are still Clarks. Clarks are amazing.

With my magic powers, I translate the text on this manhole cover to read:

Tiny red text: 須磨歴史 ロマン紀行
"Suma rekishi roman kikou"
"Suma Historical Novel Traveler's Journal" (perhaps a magazine or sponsor of this manhole?)

須磨寺 源平の庭"Suma Jinja Gen-Hei Niwa"
"Suma Shrine Gen-Hei Garden"

北京 へ約900m)
"Beijing he yaku 900m"
"Beijing to approximately 900m." (I presume the "m" to be "miles" and not meters, since a map check confirms that Beijing is 900 miles from Kobe.)

ようこそ須磨へ
"Youkoso Suma he"
"Welcome Suma to."

Which clears everything up!

No, just kidding. This is clear as mud. But you may be forgiven for your bewilderment because in Japan, basic comprehension of manhole covers requires a moderate degree of acquaintance with 12th-century epic poetry. (Duh!) As best as I can tell, this refers to a Japanese literary classic called "The Tale of the Heike," which talks about the Genpei war between the Genji and Heike clans, some important battles of which were fought in the Kobe area. "Gen-Hei," in the second line of text, is the abbreviated form of "Genji-Heike."

The best part is that this is not the ONLY manhole cover dedicated to memorializing the Genpei War. No. There is apparently a SERIES of manhole covers, all over Kobe. This blog shows at least eight manhole covers about the fighting Genji and Heike clans.


And by "Genji" and "Heike" clans, I really mean "Minamoto" and "Taira" clans. Because, you see, the kanji 源, the first part of Genji, is also read as "Minamoto," and 平, or Hei, is also read "Taira." Or maybe it's only part of Taira. The Japanese language is basically a two-thousand-year old inside joke.

So what is "Suma Shrine Gen-Hei Garden?" I think, after Googling by cutting and pasting kanji into the search engine, it refers to this: a garden at Suma Shrine which memorializes the events of "The Tale of the Heike." Note this image, which is very similar to the silhouettes on the manhole cover:



NOT MY IMAGE. Link goes to original site.

These statues re-enact an important scene from "The Tale of Heike" in which the fleeing sixteen-year-old scion Taira no Atsumori of the Taira family (the Heikes) is captured by the soldier Kumagai Naozane, who fought for the Minamoto family (the Genji). I should do better than Wikipedia as a source, I know, but I've already spent about 2 hours on this post and I can't be bothered. Apparently, as "The Tale of Heike" tells it, Kumagai captured Taira, whom he was then supposed to behead. Noticing that Taira was so young, and looked a bit like Kumagai's own son, Kumagai hesitated. But with the rest of the army closing in and ready to finish the job, Kumagai regretfully beheaded Taira because at least he knew that he would pray for the boy properly. He discovered a flute in the boy's luggage, and recalled hearing a flute play before the battle. Later, the death of Taira, among others, contributed to Kumagai renouncing war and becoming an influential Buddhist monk.

No word on why we care about how far away Beijing is.