title: Hokuriku Tales vol.3

Summary

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

“Sato Zakura”planted on RenchimonGate Avenue in KenrokuenMasatami Morioka who planted thecherry trees to remember his arrivalat the school in 1907 (the 40 th yearof Meiji) (photo taken in 1911)1977 (the 52 nd year of Showa) at the age of 47 by leukemia, he had planted some2,000 cherry trees.“I want to create a Milky Way of beautiful flowers on this planet Earth, so thatall the people who look up at it will become one in their hearts and will livehappily together.”This passage from his diary has been quoted in a schooltextbook and many around the country have been moved.It took seven years for Sato to grow the seedlings from the fruit of theShokawa Zakura. He gave a name to every one of the seedlings. Today, one ofthese precious progenies by the name of Shokawa Shichiro Zakura lives inWajima City, further north of Kanazawa, in front of the Wajima Museum ofLacquer, and blossoms every spring. Sato’s dream has been succeeded by manypeople and the Cherry Highway continues to stretch.Century Cherry overturning the 60 year-long life theoryabout the Yoshino cherryYoshino cherry is the most favored species of cherry in Japan and it has beenplanted everywhere. Its average life is shorter than that of natural species suchas Cerasus jamasakura and Edo Higan; it is said a Yoshino cherry perishes in 60years, a period shorter than the average life expectancy of Japanese people.However, there is a Yoshino cherry tree called the“Century Cherry”in theMikkaichi district of Kurobe City. This is one of the several Yoshino cherryseedlings that were planted over a century ago by Masatami Morioka, whostarted to serve as a teacher at the Mikkaichi Ordinary/Higher ElementarySchool (which was situated where Kurobe City Hall now is). He planted them inthe school premise with his first salary. Later during the Taisho Era the schoolwas relocated and the cherry trees were transplanted to the new school grounds.One of them has survived to this date. Mikkaichi Elementary School moved toyet another location in 2004 (the 16 th year of Heisei), where the second generationseedlings of Morioka’s Century Cherry were planted.There are several Yoshino cherry trees in Japan that are believed to be morethan 100 years old. The one in Kurobe is unique in that the date and otherdetails of the planting and its ensuing history have been documented. There issomething majestic about this cherry tree that has endured many naturalcalamities.(left) Cherry row in the front garden of former Mikkaichi Elementary School (wooden building) in 1953(right) The Century Cherry blossoms every spring as if to respond to the memories of many people. Trunk circumference: 2.65meters; height: 11 meters; branch spread: 16 meters (north-south) and 11 meters (east-west)14 Hokuriku Tales vol.3