RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--For nearly a year, the “miracle pine” has stood as an imperfect symbol of hope amid the devastation wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
RIKUZENTAKATA, Iwate Prefecture--For nearly a year, the “miracle pine” has stood as an imperfect symbol of hope amid the devastation wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The tree, the lone survivor from a famous forest on the coast at Rikuzentakata, is, say the experts, near to death itself, a victim of salt left in the ground from the tsunami.
Now, attention is turning to how to commemorate the spirit of endurance that it has come to represent after it finally succumbs.
Yoshihisa Suzuki, the 67-year-old leader of Takata Matsubara wo Mamoru Kai (Takata Matsubara Preservation Association), says he talks to the pine. "Thank you,” he says. “We will definitely revive the pine forest.”
Research institutions and companies across Japan are currently trying to produce saplings using cloning and other techniques, and the Mamoru Kai says it plans to plow up fallow rice paddies in the city and plant seedlings of the same strain as the pine in April.
The old Takata Matsubara pine forest had about 70,000 trees and was designated by the government as a Place of Scenic Beauty. All of the forest, except the “miracle pine,” was destroyed on March 11. The Japan Greenery Research and Development Center said it had given up efforts to protect and rehabilitate the solitary survivor in December, saying damage from the seawater to its root and leaf system was too grave.