Mountain Day & Nichibei Fuji (Part 1)

次回、この記事の日本語版を投稿します。

Starting this year (2016) Japan instituted a new national holiday called Mountain Day which will be held every August 11^th. So what does Mountain Day have to do with bicycles you may ask? By far the most famous of all mountains in Japan is Mt Fuji. Mt Fuji is not only a symbol of Japan but the trademark of one of Japan’s most famous bicycle manufacturers, Nichbei Fuji. The company was known to go to great lengths to design-in their trademark into parts. Examples can be seen in the four post Fuji Feather Series (Post 1, 2, 3, 4). To commemorate Japan’s first Mountain Day let’s take a look at one of the most well-known parts that Nichibei Fuji designed and produced in the fashion of Mt Fuji, the infamous Nichbei Fuji fender ornament.

Fender ornaments roughly came in two styles the figure (Japanese link only) and plate type (Japanese link only) .  The Mt Fuji shaped Nichibei Fuji fender ornaments may be considered a combination of the two since it was predominantly a plate type but shaped in the form of Mt Fuji.

Very old and rare hand painted version of the Nichibei Fuji fender ornament.

Casted all chrome version complete with low hanging clouds.  This must have been on a high-end model as it is nearly 3mm thick and quite heavy.

The most common version of the moutain shaped Nichibei Fuji fender ornament.

Nichibei Fuji also used model names as in this case the "Hao" (Supreme ruler or King of kings) Nichibei Fuji's top of the line model.

The "Oni" (Japanese demon or ogre) model.O

A later version of the Oni.

Although the mountain shaped fender ornament was without a doubt the most prevalent style, Nichbei did occasionally use a different style as shown below which was found on some later Hao models.

In Mountain Day & Nichibei Fuji (Part 2) we will take a look at another interesting part that Nichibei Fuji designed in the Mt Fuji trademark .