Totsukawa village is rich in nature and is located along the Totsukawa river that flows through the Yoshino-gun, Nara Prefecture. The people of Nishikawa Junior High School including teachers are close to each other, just like a “family” and they enjoy their life in a wonderful environment rich in nature.
The ten third-year students who expected to graduate that year visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum on the school trip so they already felt the importance of peace. Mr. Yuji Nakajima, a teacher at the school who saw the Kaki Tree Project exhibition at the Museum of Art, Kochi, in 2001 applied for the project to celebrate graduation of the students.
The tree planting ceremony was attended by the neighbors and all the students of the school, approximately 50 people altogether. As the music instructor of the school played the saxophone, the third-year students planted the tree in the schoolyard. After planting the tree, they drew persimmon fruits on the concrete schoolyard wall with paint. Each brush stroke on the wall painting conveyed the feeling that “we are now leaving our feelings about peace through the expression that is genuinely personal”, which made us feel that we had together achieved something significant at the ceremony. The children who enjoyed painting freely with a splendid smile were very impressive.
On the 29th of July 2008, the 5th anniversary event to celebrate the tree planting was held at the school. Due to heavy rain that started in the evening, the concert was compelled to be held inside the gym. A lot of people in the neighborhood and parents of the students attended the concert despite the rain, and they gathered around the illuminated persimmon tree. For about one hour, they enjoyed the performance of woodwind instruments played by Masataka Kawano and the students of the Music Performance Department, Osaka University of Arts.
It is formally decided that Nishikawa Junior High School will be closed in 2012. In the 10th anniversary year of the tree planting, the school will be already closed. Therefore, the 10th anniversary festival is planned to be held in 2012, one year earlier.
