一般財団法人　連帯　東北・西南　RENTAI　TOHOKU-SEINAN

Since its establishment on May 12, 2011, we have been mainly engaged in supporting the self-reliance of the areas and people affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. We are pleased to announce that we will hold an event on May 21 as an initiative to revitalize the town of Senmaya, Ichinoseki City.

For details, please refer to the attached pamphlet.

On Saturday, March 11, at 5:30 p.m. at our base camp, Senmaya International Club, we have organized a lecture invited Mr. Chisaka Genpou, former chief priest of Chishouin Temple, as a speaker after we offered a moment of silence for the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Mr. Chisaka was the first in Japan to devise a tree burial cemetery in 1991. The reason why he started this project was that at that time there were people who were trying to increase the demand for scattering of ashes, but they did not consider the people living in the area where the ashes were scattered or the dignity of the deceased, and he felt that he could not stand idly by and watch this happen. The cemetery is now officially called "Tree Burial Park Cemetery" and is part of the Kubokawa Ihatove, where Mr. Chisaka's satoyama restoration activities take place.

When Mr. Chisaka became the chief priest of Shounji Temple (Chishouin's family temple), he felt that he had to do something about Shounji, so he worked to improve the temple grounds, which had always been his concern. He started the restoration project because he imagined that Chishouin would surely become a place full of nature if he made some changes to the temple. He said that it is important to have a love for one's hometown and to listen to the voices of the local residents. He strongly emphasized that local cities are the periphery of the body, but if they are not strong, the nation will not be able to survive.

After the lecture, Father Takahashi of Mizusawa Church, Mr. Shibuya, chief priest of Chotokuji Temple in Fujisawa Town, Ichinoseki City, and Mr. Hagisho of Matsuzawa Shrine commented that Mr. Chisaka's speech made them think about the relationship between community development and religion.

At the end of the lecture, Mr. Sata, Representative Director, also emphasized the importance for young people to seriously consider religion on some level, that is, to think about themselves, to be prepared to make their own path, and to maintain their enthusiasm for better living as well as for death. Regarding the 12th anniversary of the earthquake, he visited temporary housing in the early days after the disaster and also visited the Tohoku region every month. He said that he had not made any concrete plans for the past 12 years of the foundation activities, but had tried to think as he walked, and one thing he valued was "relationship."

After the lecture, from 6:30 p.m., we held a dinner party with about 30 local people who attended the lecture. The menu for this dinner was Sukiyaki. Mr. Ichiro Murakami, his wife, and daughter did everything from procurement of ingredients to preparation and cooking. We would like to thank them for their hard work and long hours of preparation and cooking. We sincerely appreciate their kind cooperation.

Mr. Sasa, who moved to Nishiwaga in Iwate Prefecture after retiring from a major consumer electronics manufacturer where he had worked for many years and is now engaged in research on meat processing, joined us for this dinner party. He spent a lot of time preparing roast beef, salted pork, pork and beef ham, and sausages of various flavors, which were served to the participants, all of whom enjoyed them very much. Also, for the first time, we received a dinner fee of 1,000 yen per person from the participants. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

It was a day of great joy for us to have this opportunity to interact with local people that we have built over the past 12 years. We hope that this relationship will continue for many years to come.

On March 11, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., 12 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, we planted six cherry trees on the land in Hiraizumi where we built a monument last year, led by Mr. Ichiro Murakami, who has supported our activities since the foundation was established. On the day of the event, we were joined by many people who have always supported our activities, including Father Takahashi of Mizusawa Church, Ms. Chida, Ms. Oyama, Mr. Ogata, Mr. Onodera, Mr. Hagisho, and Mr. Sugawara, former mayor of Hiraizumi, as well as Mr. Chiba Yoshiji, a father of Ms. Junko Chiba, who is currently running for the Iwate prefectural governorship election. Afterwards, each participant watered a cherry tree with a wish.

In addition, a water basin on which the Angel stands was brought to the same location for the occasion, and Father Takahashi, who came from Mizusawa that day, held an installation ceremony to pray for world peace for the angel statue.

Our representative director said, ]"it is a great honor for me to be able to visit Tohoku region again this year on March 11th, 12 years after the disaster. I hope that the cherry trees we planted today will be of help along the tree-lined path from Hiraizumi Station to Chuson-ji Temple, even if only in a small way". We hope that this place, where cherry trees and angel statues have been added to the monument erected last year, will be a place where visitors can feel love and peace.

We visited former Okawa Elementary School, which was reopened in July 2021 to the public to convey the lessons learned from the Okawa Elementary School in Ishinomaki City, where a total of 84 pupils and teachers were killed by the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake 12 years ago. The elementary school is a very meaningful place for us as we donated an angel statue to the school on March 10, 2013 to repose the souls of the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Despite the fact that we had called them just before our arrival, Mr. Ikuo Takeyama, who was instrumental in donating the angel statue to the school, and Ms. Ogawa, a fisherman and long-time guardian of the angel statue and an alumnus of the school, were waiting for our arrival. They explained to us about the devastation that occurred at the school and the surrounding area 12 years ago, and we visited the school building, the schoolyard, and the Okawa Memorial Museum that was opened near the school.

Young staffs who were elementary school students at the time of the earthquake were participating for the first time in this time. They realized that unspeakably tragic events had happened to many people, including children who were their generation at the time, in the perfectly peaceful place where we are now standing. We were very much aware of the gravity of what had happened. Still, Ms. Ogawa, who was involved in the disaster, told us that she would go out to the sea tomorrow, March 11, to search for the missing people, as she felt that if she gave up, it would be the end. We would like to thank Mr. Takeyama and Ms. Ogawa for taking time out of their busy schedules to give us a detailed explanation.

After leaving the school, we headed to Chishouin Temple in Ichinoseki City, Iwate Prefecture as Mr. Chisaka Gempou, former chief priest of the temple was scheduled to give a speech at a lecture hosted by us on the following day. Mr. Chisaka guided us on a tour of tree burial cemetery he had designed and the Kubokawa Ihatov.

The Kubokawa Ihatov, including Chishouin, is a very large area of land. There is a facility for learning about ecosystems and biodiversity, a tree burial park cemetery at the temple, and several reservoirs that were created to serve as habitats and breeding grounds for endangered species of organisms. There is also a nature restoration practice site a few minutes' drive away, where researchers such as Mr. Nishihara of Chuo University's Conservation Ecology Laboratory, with whom the foundation had an exchange last year, are working together to restore abandoned farmland, eliminate invasive alien species, and protect endangered species. In addition, all electricity there is generated by solar and wind power. We were overwhelmed and learned a lot from their efforts to create an environment for the regeneration of nature, using a vast area of land. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Chisaka who spent a long time explaining the vast land in detail.