OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--Eleven-year-old Haruto Sasaki is using his role in a traditional folk dance to reconnect with a community that was wiped out by the 2011 tsunami.
OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--Eleven-year-old Haruto Sasaki is using his role in a traditional folk dance to reconnect with a community that was wiped out by the 2011 tsunami.
"Half or a little more than half of my mind is taken up by the Shichifukujin (Seven Gods of Fortune) folk dance," he said of the art that has been handed down in Otsuchi's Ganmaido district.
Local elementary school students play the roles of the seven deities of good luck, with Haruto, a fifth-grader at Otsuchi Elementary School, dancing as Daikoku, a god of wealth.
Haruto lived in the Ganmaido district until his parents divorced. He was living with his mother, Yukari, and her parents outside the district when the family home was destroyed by the tsunami on March 11, 2011.
He and his mother survived, but his grandparents are still unaccounted for.
"There was a quake two days before, and I told grandpa and grandma to flee when the next one comes," he said.
All 30 or so homes in the Ganmaido district were swept away by the tsunami. Five residents, including his father, were killed.
Haruto heard that his father was washed away while evacuating customers from the pachinko parlor where he worked.
"After everyone was gone, I felt as if I had lost my emotions," he said. "But I cried my eyes out at the (grandparents') funeral because I saw photographs."
He read a farewell message through his tears.
"I am sorry for giving you trouble and making you angry, grandpa and grandma," his speech went. "Thank you for sending me off (to school) every day with a smile."
The Shichifukujin has been his inspirations through his hardships.
Haruto danced with other students at an evacuation center in June 2011, a month before his father's body was recovered. It was his first performance after the disaster.
"I was glad because the people all looked happy," he said.
In autumn 2011, many festivals in the Tohoku region were canceled. But a festival was held at the Kozuchijinja shrine in Otsuchi, and Haruto took on the role of Daikoku again.
"While I danced, I felt that grandpa and grandma came to see me, smiling," he said. "It warmed my heart a little."
The disaster has also tightened Haruto's ties with his mother.
"Mom must be having a harder time than me because she lost both parents," he said.
After their home was destroyed by the tsunami, he did not know whether his mother was safe until that night.
"I shed thousands of tears at the evacuation center," he said.
He said he cannot help but feel anxious about her if he is not with her whenever a tsunami warning is issued.
In a school assignment last year, he wrote an essay addressed to his future self.
"Now, I love my mother very much. Do I love my mother very much in the future? I will not forgive myself if I don't," he wrote.
The area where the Ganmaido district is located has now been designated as a tsunami risk area. No one is allowed to live there, and its residents are scattered throughout other areas, many living in temporary housing.
But the community of Ganmaido comes back whenever the Shichifukujin preservation group meets.
"We are all comrades and almost like family members," Haruto said. "My mother suggested we leave Otsuchi, but I said I will stay with them because we have the Shichifukujin."
Haruto performs with other students almost every month at a variety of venues. He said he likes the Shichifukujin above other dances because he plays the part of a god.
He said Daikoku is "the main character" of Shichifukujin. The god is generally portrayed holding a magic mallet, carrying a lucky sack, wearing a flat hood and standing or sitting on rice bales.
"I learned the accompanying music before I was even aware of it," he said. "I was already listening to it while I was in my mother."
Haruto said his most important wish is to rebuild a float for Shichifukujin that was washed away by the tsunami.
The float was in the shape of Takarabune, a treasure ship on which the seven deities are often depicted. It was built only five years earlier at a cost of more than 3 million yen ($31,000).
"It is the trademark of Shichifukujin," Haruto said.
Local residents alone cannot put up enough money. The preservation group is asking for outside support, hoping that the new one will be ready before autumn.
Haruto goes on to the sixth grade in April. The autumn festival this year will be his last chance to dance as Daikoku.
"I want to make Shichifukujin famous through my dance so that we can receive help," Haruto said. "I do not want to end my Shichifukujin without a float. We are determined to make one at any cost."