ID :
360767
Thu, 03/19/2015 - 10:00
Auther :

Sacred Plum Trees Blossom at Fukushima High School

Fukushima, March 19 (Jiji Press)--Celebrated plum trees from Dazaifu Tenmangu, a shrine dedicated to the venerated god of learning, have come into bloom on the grounds of a high school in Fukushima Prefecture, serving as a new symbol of reconstruction from the nuclear disaster. Fukushima High School became a very rare recipient of Dazaifu Tenmangu plum trees last year, thanks to the efforts of school graduates hoping to encourage students who still feel the lingering effects of the March 2011 nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> stricken Fukushima No. 1 plant. Yuji Shinogi, a 52-year-old graduate, said that he and his former classmates set their sights on sacred plum trees at Dazaifu Tenmangu because the school badge of their alma mater features an image of a plum blossom petal. In summer 2013, they visited the shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, and asked for some plum trees to be donated to the school. Dazaifu Tenmangu, which honors Sugawara Michizane (845-903) as the god of learning, is famed for the 6,000 plum trees of some 200 varieties that grow in its tranquil grounds. Michizane, a scholar who served as a minister for the Emperor in the ancient capital of Kyoto, was exiled to Dazaifu after a power struggle. The most famous plum tree at the shrine is known as "Tobiume" (the flying plum tree). Legend has it that after Michizane left Kyoto for a life in exile, the tree missed him so much that it uprooted itself and flew to be reunited with him at Dazaifu, according to the shrine. Plum trees from Dazaifu Tenmangu have rarely been given to recipients other than shrines. But Nobuyoshi Nishitakatsuji, the 61-year-old chief priest, broke with tradition and agreed to donate five young plum trees to Fukushima High School. He had visited the Tohoku northeastern Japan region many times to assist disaster victims. The trees were carried to Fukushima over a distance of 1,400 kilometers in a truck of a transport company run by a graduate of the school. They were planted on the school's grounds on the day of a graduation ceremony in February 2014. A year later, the plum trees blossomed for the first time, bringing the scent of early spring. "I'm glad to see a symbol of reconstruction bloom," Sayako Goto, a 16-year-old student at the school, said. "I'll embrace the message of the graduates and do my best at school." END

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