It turns out that birds are quite a common design element in Japanese manhole designs.
Previous posts showing some can be found here. and here.
This first one is from the small island of Teshima in the Akinada Sea off of Hiroshima, and the bird is a cormorant.
This one is from Musashi Town, now a part of Kunisaki City in Oita. It depicts a pair of Mejiro, Japanese White-Eyes. For a photo of real Mejiro see this post
Sanko Town, now a part of Nakatsu City in Oita has a pair of Japanese Bush warblers, Uguisu, in Japanese. Strangely the town bird is the Mejiro.
Nago Town on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa features a pair of Ryukyu Mejiro.
Ishigaki City on the same island features an Akashobin, Ruddy Kingfisher in English. Common throughout east and southeast Asia it is quite rare in Japan.
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