Japanese manhole cover

roygoh · June 20, 2021, 6:28am

This can be resized to be used as a coaster:

Coaster_Jaoan manhole cover.zip (406.4 KB)

CMadok · June 20, 2021, 6:59am

Nice! Last time I was in Japan I attempted to take pictures of all the manhole covers I came across to make into coasters, but there were just too many to clean up the pictures. My art program skills were nonexistent back then.

Also, raster images won’t upload with your SVG here. It needs to be in a zip file. If someone tries to download it, they’ll just get an empty circle

roygoh · June 20, 2021, 7:19am

Thanks! i have change the file to a zip folder

rbtdanforth · June 20, 2021, 9:45am

There are a great number of them online, some working better than others.

dklgood · June 20, 2021, 11:27am

Thanks very much.

rvogt · June 20, 2021, 12:19pm

This is beautiful! Thanks!

awebs76 · June 20, 2021, 1:56pm

Wonderful, thank you for sharing!

celesteprobichaux · June 21, 2021, 12:18am

Lovely

MakerMatthew · June 21, 2021, 7:26am

Fun idea!

brokendrum · June 21, 2021, 8:52am

So they are all different over there? Did not know that.
Could be a good travel tip perk.
Go to the 3 pagoda manhole and turn right.

Thumper369 · June 21, 2021, 10:23am

So are they all individual or are there groups of them

rbtdanforth · June 21, 2021, 11:47am

Some are common and some are rare I think but that is just from looking at photos. Other countries also have special ones but not universally. There are even some in NYC.

Japanese manhole covers

eeigenbrodt · June 21, 2021, 11:56am

This is awesome! I have a bit of an obsession with Japanese manhole covers. Here’s a portion of my personal collection at home of ones from cities we’ve been to, although it needs some updating.

I’ve drawn up around 90 designs, but I also sell them online in a few formats.

To answer some questions in this thread - @brokendrum @Thumper369 Most cities have at least one custom design, others have a few designs either from different times or for different parts of the city. There are often a mix of standard geometric manhole covers and these design manhole covers across the city. Some of the special ones are even filled in with colors.

The fancy ones like this always have something specific to do with the city - the one from OP is a picture of Osaka castle with cherry blossoms and is one of the designs in Osaka. Common themes are prominent buildings, city trees/flowers/birds, local festivals, historical events, and local handcrafts. There are thousands of different designs across Japan. They’re so varied and interesting!

We used to go to Japan once a year, always to new cities, and one of my favorite parts was finding the manhole covers in each city and learning what they tell you about that city. They even make trading cards you can pick up in most cities!

dklgood · June 21, 2021, 11:57am

These are fantastic!

rbtdanforth · June 21, 2021, 12:07pm

There was an art dealer I knew years ago that dealt in Japanese art that they said the Shogun had decreed that everything made had to be also beautiful, and after a few hundred years it was the common expectation.

They had hundreds of cloisonné vases that I could no begin to afford but I spent a lot of time there looking.

cynd11 · June 21, 2021, 6:24pm

Lovely design–thanks so much!

evermorian · June 21, 2021, 8:10pm

Artistic and interesting manhole covers have spread around the world at this point. My photo archive includes some from Japan and France, as well as the USA.