Shizuoka, capital of the prefecture of the same name in Japan's Chûbu region, is a city of about seven hundred thousand people. Famous today for its green tea and view of Mt. Fuji, Shizuoka was home to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

The tachiaoi (たちあおい) pictured in the two pictures (above and below) is the city's official flower (Alcea rosea, hollyhock) and was incorporated in the family crest (家紋, kamon) of the Tokugawa Clan.

Both of these photos (above and below) are of the covers to fire hydrants (消火栓, shôkasen) that have been embedded into the ground.