There were two persimmon seedlings displayed at the group exhibition of Japanese artists “Donai Yanen!” which was held from 22nd of September through 15th of November 1998 in Paris. One seedling was planted at the Cistude Nature Park in 1999 after receiving the application from Mrs.Chantal Russell Le Roux, who lives in Bordeaux, France. The other one was kept and well taken care of by Mr. Eric Mezil, the organizer of the exhibition, after he moved to a museum in Avignon.
In 2004, Mr. Mezil was going to organize a similar exhibition called “Akimahen!” in Lille and he informed us that he wanted to introduce the Kaki Tree Project and plant the well-kept seedling at the same time. Jardin des Ajonc, the planting site, is a community garden managed by the expert landscape gardeners.
Prior to tree planting, Ms. Chantal Russelle Roux, an artist based in Bordeaux who led the project at the Cistude Nature Park, and her daughter Nadia conducted the workshop in which they together with children made plaster birds and by doing that they contributed to exhibition. On the day of the tree planting ceremony, Ms. Chantal conducted the workshop in which children wore the costumes made from paper and lotus leaves taken from the nearby pond as hats. The children put various colors of pigments on the lotus leaves as they liked, then put these leaves in the pond and watered them a little. The pigments on the leaves dissolved in water and created beautiful paintings of water. During the workshop, Mr. Makoto Nomura, an artist who also participated in the exhibition, and his friends casually joined the event without notice. They pumped up the event through making a sound like bird chirping in the background and doing an improvised performance of melodica during the ceremony.
