[Hidden Wonders of Japan] Olympic Cauldron Returns Home to Kawaguchi, City of Cast Metal

The city of Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture held a ceremony on October 6 to honor the return of the Olympic Cauldron, which was originally produced there 61 years ago and used in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

According to the city, the cast iron cauldron was produced for the 1958 Asian Games by a local father-son casting tandem. It is 2.1 meters in height and diameter, and weighs an estimated four tons. 

It was housed in the National Stadium in Tokyo until 2014. However, the stadium was demolished to make way for a new stadium for the 2020 Olympics. The cauldron was sent out on tour then and displayed around Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima prefectures as a “symbol of restoration” for the damage those areas suffered from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Having returned home, the Olympic Cauldron is on display in front of JR Kawaguchi Station, where it will be on view until the end of March 2020.

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