Image: Tokyo Fuji Art Museum
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum has added a ‘Bombed Persimmon Tree 2nd Generation’ to its grounds as part of its participation in the ‘Revival of Time: Persimmon Tree Project,’ a peace-oriented art initiative linked to a Hiroshima survivor tree and shaped in part by artist Tatsuo Miyajima. The museum says it resonated with the project while promoting the Sustainable Development Goals, and it marked the occasion with related programming, including a planting ceremony and a cross talk.
According to the museum’s project page, the initiative began from the story of a persimmon tree that survived the atomic bombing in 1945. Tree doctor Masayuki Ebinuma cultivated seedlings from the tree’s seeds and distributed them to children visiting Nagasaki as a symbol of peace. After learning about that effort, Miyajima became the project’s initiator, and in 1996 it developed into an art project intended to foster a spirit of peace through persimmon-tree-based artistic expression.
The museum situates its participation within a wider network of international plantings. Its page states that, as of April 2022, the project had reached more than 312 schools and public institutions in 26 countries, with descendants of the original tree planted by some 30,000 children. Tokyo Fuji Art Museum presents its own planting as part of that continuing, collaborative framework rather than a one-off gesture.
The museum’s account also stresses that the project is designed to be ongoing. It describes the effort as a permanent project built together with participants, and frames the museum as a base for sharing ‘art and peace.’ The institution’s website presents the persimmon tree project under its broader peace-programme section, alongside other activities connected to that theme.
A cross talk accompanied the planting. The museum lists a ‘Planting Ceremony and Cross Talk’ held at Tokyo Fuji Art Museum on 14 May 2022. On the same page, it identifies speakers as Ebinuma, Miyajima and Katsuhiko Hibino, with the discussion held in the museum’s main building museum theater.
The related event listing places the planting ceremony from 11:00 to 11:30 and the cross talk from 14:00 to 15:30 on 14 May 2022. The museum’s materials also note a related art activity, ‘Kakinoki o Kaku,’ offered that day as part of the same SDGs and persimmon-tree project cluster.
