OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--Residents of Akita Prefecture erected a new altar here on July 11 to thank the people of Otsuchi for their dedication in the face of disaster.
OTSUCHI, Iwate Prefecture--Residents of Akita Prefecture erected a new altar here on July 11 to thank the people of Otsuchi for their dedication in the face of disaster.
Ten volunteers of Gojome, Akita Prefecture, placed the altar in front of the former town hall of Otsuchi, where just two years and four months ago the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami left 1,281 people dead or missing.
Though the town hall was inundated by the tsunami, it has not been torn down. Part of the building will be preserved as a memorial.
After setting up the altar, which is 80 centimeters tall, 1.5 meters wide and has a depth of 90 centimeters, the volunteers prayed with family members of disaster victims in the rain.
At the time of the disaster, members of a senior citizens club in Gojome were visiting Otsuchi for a trip. When the earthquake struck, all 43 club members were at their hotel. Hotel staff promptly led them to nearby elevated land. But while all the club members survived, four staff members of the hotel, including its president, died in the disaster.
The club members returned to Gojome two days following the earthquake in one of the hotel’s buses.
Moved by the touching story, the Gojome town government and its residents have since been providing relief supplies and other support for survivors in Otsuchi.
In spring 2012, residents of the two towns jointly established a grocery store to sell their local specialties in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture--the halfway point between the two towns.
Over the last two years, people from across Japan have been visiting the Otsuchi town hall, a memorial of the tsunami, to offer prayers for victims of the disaster. Until now, an office desk had served as a makeshift altar, upon which many flowers and a carved wooden Buddha statue had been placed.
Hiroshi Sasaki, 75, a member of the association of local specialties of Gojome town, said he decided to work on creating a new altar after hearing at the end of March that bereaved families of disaster victims wanted a traditional one.
“We hope a proper altar will be erected to welcome people coming to Otsuchi from all over the country,” one of the family members said.
“Otsuchi and Gojome are like brothers,” said Sasaki. “I thought, I would love to help them.”
With the assistance of three furniture makers who belong to the association, Sasaki built the new altar out of local Japanese zelkova lumber. Construction took about a month.
Prior to its delivery, photos of the completed altar were sent to bereaved families in Otsuchi in late May.
Hide Ueno, 71, who lost her eldest daughter, then 33, in the disaster, was among the families. Her daughter, Yoshiko, worked as a town government official.
“I thought it inappropriate of us to give nothing in return,” said Ueno, who cleans the altar twice a week.
She proposed they make a roof to protect offered goods from rain and wind.
The new roof is being made by local carpenters and is scheduled to be erected on Aug. 11. To “bring the weight of a life into form,” it will have names of disaster victims from the town engraved on it.
“I hope this altar will become a gathering place for many people, and that it will prevent memories of the disaster from fading,” said Ueno.
(This article was written by Takahiro Okubo and Masakazu Higashino.)