Nakayama, Tottori

This is the draincover for Nakayama Town, now incorporated into Daisen Town, on the southern slope of Mount Daisen in Tottori Prefecture.

The plant depicted is Hamanasu (lit. Shore pear), Rosa Rugosa , a Japanese Rose native to east Asia. The coast in Nakayama is the southernmost point of the plants habitat in Japan.

The Japan Times this week has an excellent short article on the history of decorative drain covers in Japan. Access it here.

I've also come across a website (in Japanese only) that has a map of draincovers in Japan. They don't have all of them though. Access it here

Daisen

This is the manhole cover for Daisen Town, situated at the base of Mount Daisen in western Tottori Prefecture. It shows the town flower, sazanka, a type of camelia, and the town tree, kyaraboku, a kind of Yew, against a backdrop of the mountain.

Mount Daisen, at 1729 metres is the highest mountain in the Chugoku region, and is a volcano with 3 peaks. During the winter months climbers who are planning to climb Mt Everest come here to practise. The mountain was important as a center of Shugendo, and modern yamabushi can still be seen here on certain festival days.

Daisen is also mentioned in the ancient Izumo legend of Kunibiki. In the legend the Shimane Peninsular was formed by bringing pieces of land from Korea and other parts of Japan and was attached to the mainland by giant ropes anchored around Mount Daisen and Mount Sanbe in Iwami.