SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--When the surging waters of the tsunami on March 11, 2011, engulfed coastal forests of scenic Matsukawaura beach, one resilient pine tree stood tall and has refused to die.
SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--When the surging waters of the tsunami on March 11, 2011, engulfed coastal forests of scenic Matsukawaura beach, one resilient pine tree stood tall and has refused to die.
Local fishermen named it the “pine tree of hope,” as a symbol for reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake, and are planning to ask the prefecture to protect it.
“It is the only tree that remained,” said Hiroshi Kikuchi, 66, who heads the fishermen's group that owns a sandbar on which the tree stands. “We want to follow the example of the pine tree’s resilience of surviving the earthquake and tsunami.”
An official at the prefectural government said, “If we receive a request from local residents, we will discuss whether to keep the tree alive.”
Facing the Pacific Ocean, Matsukawaura is a lagoon measuring 28 kilometers in circumference. Most of the pine forests stretching on sandbars were swept away by the tsunami.
A dozen pine trees on a sandbar on the northern beach called Dejima, private land owned by the group of 45 local fishermen, withstood the tsunami, but all later died except for the Japanese black pine tree.
While the leaves on its lower trunk were withered, the tree sprouted new yellow-green leaves toward the top this spring.
Asked to check a picture of the pine tree, Kunio Taki, an official at the Tokyo-based Japan Greenery Research and Development Center, proclaimed its condition as good.
“New leaves have been growing at the top, which is proof that water through its roots is reaching there,” Taki said. “Its condition is relatively good.”
He added: “To keep the tree alive, we have to diagnose the state of the injured bark and the roots in detail.”
Taki was involved in an effort to preserve the “miracle pine tree” of Takata-Matsubara pine forest in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, the only one to remain standing among tens of thousands on a beach. However, that tree was confirmed dead and the plan to preserve it was abandoned.