I wrote before about the manhole covers from Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture. Photographed here is a second model of artistic manhole cover, representing two elements from the history of the city, the lighthouse and the kitamaebune cargo boats.

The white hexagonal lighthouse is one of Japan’s oldest wooden lighthouses, used for almost 200 years to guide the cargo vessels that were bringing rice to the city’s harbor, as Sakata was a major center for rice commerce.

Manhole Cover, Sakata, Yamagata

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Rainy day on a Nakano narrow street