title: Hokuriku Tales vol.3

Summary

A book of five stories about Fukui, Ishikawa and Toyama with useful data vol.3

The Asuwa River runs through the central part ofFukui city. The cherry blossoms when in full bloom coveralmost the entire sky. This spot is one of the“Best 100Cherry Blossom Spots in Japan”designated by the JapanCherry Blossoms Association (a public interestincorporated foundation).Fukui was hit in 2004 (the 16 th year of Heisei) bytorrential rain, which inflicted heavy damage on theAsuwa River and other places in the city. Some of the oldcherry trees had to be chopped down to repair andreinforce the embankment. Not wanting to just throwaway and burn the trees that had special meanings tothem, the citizens searched for a good idea ... and, that was chopsticks!The cherry trees were sawed to size and decorated by the technique ofWakasa lacquer, also a renowned cultural asset of Fukui Prefecture.“CherryChopsticks”were born. The chopsticks were sold out in no time. The profit wasused to plant young seedlings and maintain the cherry row. Just like the Phoenixappearing in the city’s communications logo, the Asuwa Cherry Row began toopen up a new page in history in the hearts of many local residents andthousands of visitors from outside of the city.Cherry Highway from Japan Sea to Pacific OceanA man fell in love with a pair of Edo Higan cherry trees (Cerasus spachianavar. spachiana forma ascendens) that had been saved by transplantation from amountain village destined to go down under water for the construction of theMiboro dam. Popularly called Shokawa Zakura, the two trees are estimated to be450 years old and are still alive today. The man, Ryoji Sato, was a conductor of ahighway bus that ran between Kanazawa on the Japan Sea coast and Nagoya onthe Pacific Ocean coast. In 1966 (the 41 st year of Showa), he started plantingseedlings along the bus route with a vision of connecting the two cities with aCherry Highway of 300,000 cherry trees. He used his own money and all hisholidays to plant seedlings and nurture them. By the time he passed away inAsuwa Cherry Row stretchesnearly 2.2 kilometers“Cherry Chopsticks”were sold outin no timeChapter II Hokuriku: The spring-time floral corridor When nature and people shine most brightlyRyoji Sato, a National RailwayBus (as it was called) conductor,planted cherry trees along the 266kilometer-long Nagoya ? Kanazawaroute.Mikio Hiramatsu, then a primary school principal in Wajima City, became acquainted with Sato, andhe was given the Shokawa Shichiro Zakura. It was first planted in Wajima city hall premises, but wastransplanted to the present location when the Ishikawa Prefectural Wajima Museum of Lacquer wasinaugurated.The 1,500 th milestone cherry treewas planted in Kenrokuen in April1973Hokuriku Tales vol.3 13