Dokurakugin (Reciting Poetry for My Own Pleasure) by No.1 Scale of Cherry Blossom Tree in Asuwa River

Did you go to see cherry blossoms this year?

In your city, are the cherry blossoms usually large or small?

Are there many of them planted there?

Are there streets lined with cherry trees?

As I mentioned in our previous blog that there is a long row of cherry blossoms trees by Asuwa River which flows through Fukui City, and it has about 600 trees and it’s 2.2km long.

It also has been designated as one of Japan’s Top 100 Cherry Blossom Viewing Sites.

This year, by Asuwa River there were about 120 lanterns hung on the strings tied between the cherry trees and it lasted almost 400 meters. Each lantern had washi (traditional handmade Japanese paper) with Dokurakugin (reciting poetry for my own pleasure) written on it. About the 390 students from Meirin junior high school and Koyo junior high school in Fukui City wrote those Dokurakugin and put the washi on lantern themselves.

Some of them said that “my own pleasure is to get excited talking about games with my brother when I go home”. And there’s another one said that “my pleasure is to get caught up in reading a book at night and fall asleep.”

 

There were some terrible people who destroyed some of the precious lanterns.

6 of the lanterns were damaged by some people.

It is terrible for anyone to do such a thing. They damaged not only the lanterns but they also greatly damaged the thoughts, time and effort of the people who organized this event and made it happen. The act with no caring and consideration about how it can influence others create nothing good.

 

The lanterns were fixed the next day, but they were destroyed again.

 

T.F