11th Manhole Summit’s Reporting

First

I recently participated in the 11th Manhole Summit, so I would like to report on it.

This is along article, but I would be happy if you read it to the end.

What is the Manhole Summit ?

Manhole Summit is the event that specializes in manhole covers and can be enjoyed by people who love manhole covers.

This event include an exhibition of manhole covers, a talk show, and merchandise sales.

Held once a year (in the past twice a year), people who love manhole covers come from all over Japan to enjoy this event.

I look forward to participating in this event every year.

Past Manhole Summit status

1st　Akihabara, Tokyo held in March 2014

2ed　Akihabara, Tokyo held in March 2015

3rd　Kobe City, Hyogo held in November 2015

4th　Akihabara, Tokyo held in March 2016

5th　Yamatokoriyama City, Nara held in November 2016

6th　Kawagoe City, Saitama held in January 2017

7th　Kurashiki City, Okayama held in November 2017

8th　Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka held in November 2018

9th　Ikeda City, Osaka held in October 2019

10th　Tokorozawa City, Saitama held in November 2022

Please check here out for details. (GKP Manhole Summit introduction page)

Event summary of the 11th Manhole Summit

Venue : Okazaki City, Aichi

Event Date : October 21st (Sat) and 22nd (Sun), 2023

This time it was held in Okazaki City, Aichi.

Okazaki City has attracted this Manhole Summit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of its sewerage works.

Okazaki City is the birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun who founded the Edo Shogunate.
At this event, manhole covers from feuds in which Tokugawa Ieyasu participated and areas ruled by related samurai loads were on display.

I think Japanese history buffs would also enjoy it.

The main event contents this time are

・Exhibition of manhole covers in Aichi Prefecture

・Exhibition of manhole covers from places associated with samurai lords

・Pokē lid introduction corner

・Stamp Rally

・Manhole Cover Rubbing

・Serving food using manhole covers as iron plates

・Talking Event

・Exhibition of Manhole Card

・Card game using Manhole Card

・Advance distribution of Manhole Card (Okazaki City (G001))

etc…

This was the first two-day event, and there was a lot of content.
The venue was large and I felt like I could barely see almost all the corners in two days.
(Although there are some parts I forgot to see)

Event Details

Now, I would like to introduce the contents of each event.

Exhibition of manhole covers in Aichi Prefecture

Manhole covers from within Aichi Prefecture, which you usually don’t see unless you go to the site, were lined up mainly on riverbeds.

Moreover, some of these exhibits have rare colored manhole covers, so many people not only look at them but also take photos.

There are so many that it was hard to just take photos of all the manhole covers.

However, without this kind of opportunity, we would never have the opportunity to see all the manhole covers in Aichi Prefecture together, so it was very valuable.

Exhibition of manhole covers from places associated with samurai lords

They were displayed like this in six locations at the venue.

These were exhibited for each feuds that Tokugawa Ieyasu participated in before unifying Japan, and the manhole covers from the areas ruled by the samurai lords who participated in those feuds were lined up.

There are panels with explanations like this one, so even people who don’t know much about Japanese history and feuds can enjoy the exhibit.

However, they are only written in Japanese, so it is difficult to understand unless you can read Japanese.

I think it was a great exhibition method for Japanese history buffs.
As you can see, many manhole covers from both inside and outside of Aichi Prefecture were on exhibition.
I wanted to actually visit the area and see the actual manhole covers on the ground.

Pokē Lids introduction corner

This is an introduction to “Pokē Lids” that can be found all over Japan.

What was on display here was not a real manhole cover, but panels the same size as manhole covers.

I found the introduction to the process of making this “Pokē Lid” very interesting.

Pikachu appeared at the venue.

I love Pokēmon, so I was happy to meet Pikachu for the first time.

It was so cute!!

Stamp Rally

When you press the stamps installed around the venue on this mount…

In this way, the same illustration as the manhole cover of Okazaki Castle will be created!

This is what it looks like compared to an actual Manhole Card.

This is a really nice stamp rally!

Manhole Cover Rubbing

This is a corner where you can put ink on a manhole cover and print it on fabrics such as T-shirts and tote bags like prints.

Each person brought a plain cloth item to make the manhole cover rubbing

I haven’t done it yet, so I’d like to try it next time.

Serving food using manhole covers as iron plates

This is a corner where they serve food prepared using manhole covers as griddles, as shown in the photo.

Some of you may be thinking, “Huh? Is it hygienically ok?”.

But don’t worry.

The manhole covers used here are not one that were installed on the street, but iron plates that resembles manhole covers made for cooking.

Therefore, you can eat the food prepared here with peace of mind.

This kind of sight is unique to this event.

Talking Event

This is the talking event by people who love manhole covers.

The content of the talk is how to enjoy manhole covers and what kind of activities they do.

Some of the past Manhole Summit talk events have been uploaded to GKP’s YouTube channel, so if you are interested, please take a look there.

GKP’s YouTube channel

Six people spoke at this talk event, and their talks were very helpful.

I think most people usually look for manhole covers alone (like me), but this way you can hear how other people are enjoying manhole covers, and learn from a different point of view than yourself. It’s very interesting to know how people enjoy manhole covers with a different method from me.

Personally, I was looking forward to this talk event the most.

At the end of this talk event, the location of the next Manhole Summit was announced!

I’ll write about that later.

Exhibition of Manhole Card

Manhole Card is a card made from a manhole cover and is distributed free in various areas around Japan.

I collect them too, and it’s spectacular to see all kinds of Manhole Cards on display like this.

Events like this are the only opportunity to see all types of Manhole Cards on display, so I highly recommend you take a look.

Card Game using Manhole Card

This is the first attempt at this Manhole Summit, the corner where manhole cards mentioned earlier are turned into the card game.

I was also wondering, “Card Game with manhole cards? How do you play it?”
In fact, I happened to be staying at the same hotel as Mr. Morimoto, the inventor of this card game, during the Manhole Summit, so we happened to run into each other in the hotel lobby, and he taught me how to play.

(Mr. Morimoto was the last speaker at the talk event, and is an amazing person who led to the creation of manhole cards.)

The rules of this game were easier to understand and more fun than I expected!

It can be enjoyed by both children and adults.

So, before I started playing in this corner, I had already learned how to play this game!

Let’s play right away!

To put it simply, the rules are similar to a certain famous card game with three letters of the alphabet starting with “U”. The pictogram at the bottom right of the manhole card and the color of the card are important.

To explain briefly…

For example, when this card is put in the card field, the next card that can be put is a card from the Chugoku region of the same color as this card, or a card with the same icon in the lower right pictogram. If you have that card in your hand, you can put it into play. If you have no cards in your hand, draw one card. The first person to run out of cards in their hand wins.

By the way, as of October 2023, there are this many types of manhole card pictograms.

There are many other detailed rules, but it would be quite long to explain them, so I will omit them here.

The rules are simple and even adults will get addicted to it. (I also wanted to play more…)

If you like manhole covers, this is a card game you should try!

Information is still unsettled, but maybe it will be commercialized. I’m looking forward to it!

Corner where you can see inside the manhole

It was a very valuable experience as it is not usually possible to look inside a manhole!

It was my first time to look inside a manhole, and I was impressed by what it looked like.
It’s good to actually see it with my own eyes.

Manhole related merchandise sales

At the venue, merchandise with various manhole cover designs were on sale.

Some examples include T-shirts, tote bags, medals, coasters, magnets, etc. There is a wide range of products.

By the way, this is what I bought!

This is a sticker with printing of manhole covers in Aichi Prefecture. It seems to be made of a fairly durable material, so it’s safe even if it gets wet in the rain. I haven’t decided where to put it, but I’m thinking of putting it on my suitcase or something.

There are various other goods on sale, so I think it would be a good idea to buy your favorite manhole cover goods.

Others

Display of water pipes that are the same as those actually used

It’s amazing to think that something like this is actually buried in the ground.

It’s something you don’t usually get a chance to see, so it’s nice to be able to see it in person.

It seems like only children can play with it, so as an adult I just watch it. (I wanted to go through it too…)

Corners of the maze that can be navigated using the detector

This is the corner where you can use actual detectors to find the goal of the maze.

Detector actually used in the field

It seems that water pipes these days are winding, making it difficult to find where they are. Therefore, this detector is used to find the location of water pipes. Previous water pipes were not as winding as they are now, around and it was easy to find where they were, so people used manholes as landmarks to find water pipes buried underground.

By the way, in order to create this maze, the event staff dug up this soil and buried something like a peg that would respond to a detector (amazing…)

Souvenirs from this Manhole Summit

Like this, I got a lot of things from various corners! It will introduce a part of them.

This is a clear file holder containing manhole covers in Aichi Prefecture. If you like manhole covers, you’ll be happy to get this! I was also very happy to get this clear file holder. (I’m happy so I looked at this clear file holder many times on the way home.)

This is “Manhole Cover Amulet” that only those who participated in the talking event got.

“Manhole Cover Amulet No. 12
“Munen-Futa-Butai”
You would be able to image the future to be set on dream like flying manhole cover.”
It is written that there is the benefit.

There are apparently 108 types in total! It wasn’t until I got home that I realized there were so many different kinds, so I don’t know what else there is. I regret that I should have looked them what other people received. It has various benefits written on it, and I think it would be interesting to make it into the merchandise.

This is the manhole card that was distributed in advance (Okazaki City (G001))

Normally, they would be distributed from December 2023, but they were distributed in advance to commemorate the upcoming Okazaki City Manhole Summit! This makes me happy.

This girl was drawn by Rene Naito, an illustrator from Okazaki City. His illustrations of girls are said to be the roots of Japan’s “Kawaii” culture.

Also, the collaboration between the girl and Okazaki Castle designed on this manhole card is beautiful.

Here is the actual manhole cover.

The real manhole cover is also beautiful.

This manhole cover was just installed just before the manhole summit, so it’s not dirty.

Where will the next 12th Manhole Summit be held?

At the end of the talk event, the location of the next 12th Manhole Summit was announced.

The next Manhole Summit will be held in…

Toyama City!!

Toyama City has a variety of manhole covers installed throughout the city, and there are even pokē lids!

I’m looking forward to it now!

By the way, the person who announced the next venue is professional wrestler Great-O-Khan.

This person also seems to manhole covers lover.

In the end

It’s quite long, but thank you for reading to the end.

I’m looking forward to the next Manhole Summit! I’m also excited now.