UTokyo manhole mandala

UTokyo manhole mandala

"You can find me by the Kasuga-mon Gate on Hongo Campus!"

There is a countless number of manholes on campus – in our search for UTokyo-specific ones, we discovered 25 different cover designs. It is said that the original form of the manhole cover in Japan was devised by Eiji Nakajima, who was a professor at the Technical College of Tokyo Imperial University, a predecessor of the University of Tokyo. The next time you're on campus, why don’t you try strolling through history while looking down at your feet?

Note: This article was originally printed in Tansei 36 (Japanese language only). All information in this article is as of March 2018.