Mr. Simon Saelens and Ms. Rika Colpaert of de kunstbank wanted to apply for the project after seeing the display of the Kaki Tree Project at the “Akimahen” Exhibition in Lille. They also came to Japan before the actual tree planting for a meeting. De Kunstbank is a Belgian group which organizes art exhibitions at museums as well as projects such as traveling exhibitions and workshops as educational program nationwide.
6 workshops were held over three days prior to the tree planting ceremony. Ms. Lie, an intern at de Kunstbank, who performed a picture-card show “Persimmon parent and child” in a powerful voice saying “Bomb! Bomb!” attracted children. In the workshop “Let’s make your own persimmon fruit” by Ritsue Mishima, they made origami persimmons. They wrote their names on the origami and made a hole and hung these with a green thread on a movable board in the shape of a tree. At the workshop “Colourful wishes” by Mr. Simon, he asked children “What is peace?” and the children wrote their answers in Flemish on a strip of paper in persimmon color and the executive committee member of the project translated them into Japanese and wrote them on the second strip of paper. Afterward, these strips were also hung on the board. On these strips of paper, messages such as “Not to hate people, always love people”, “Peace, no war and a lot of friends” and “Friendship, no war!!!” are written.
Every year in Belgium, the 8th of May is the day to “commemorate the end of the war.” The tree planting ceremony of the seedling from the bombed tree was held in conjunction with this special day. The planting site is a sunny green space in the Japanese garden located in the city. The installation work by artist Ms. Sinikka Kolehmainen was set out in the surroundings and big ribbons that were tied to the trees welcomed the seedling. About 60 people including the mayor of Hasselt, staff members of de Kunstbank, artists and children attended the ceremony. An origami workshop was held in a tent and they marched to the planting site in the garden holding the seedling in one hand as they rang bells. The planting site was adorned with the triangular flags that are always used for festive occasions. The executive committee member read the message from Mr. Ebinuma and presented Kaki-no-ki Furoshiki (Persimmon tree wrapping cloth). Children planted the seedling and cutout pictures of the children that were taken during the workshop holding their messages stood on the ground surrounding the tree. Although it rains often in Belgium, the weather was fine during the ceremony.
