Leading the Blind..Tactile Paving...Tenji Block...

 

Street Photography where the subject is actually the street, and not the people.....

Tactile paving is the most common of many names given to the raised bumps and lines on  floors that guide visually-impaired people.

In Japan, they are known as Tenji Blocks, with tenji being the Japanese word for braille.

Every announcement warning of imminent train arrivals at Japanese stations insists you must stand behind the "tenji buroku."

In fact, the system of tactile paving was invented in Japan and first used in Okayama in 1967. In time the system spread to many other countries.

While there is some diversity, basically the system uses a grid of raised bumps to indicate hazard, and raised lines to indicate direction.

Yellow is by far the most common colour, and the UK in particular insists on strong colour contrast, but as can be seen from some of these photos from Japan, it is not always the case.

Plastic seems to be the most common material, but metal is sometimes used and even wood. The 3rd photo below shows some formed by pressing a mold into a kind of molten plastic asphalt.

In combination with different coloured paving and tiling, plus drainage systems, and shadows, it leads to some striking visual designs, though unfortunately invisible to completely blind individuals.

For fans of geometric abstractions like myself, they make a great subject for photos....