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Wroted by Cathy (Hong Kong)
In mid-September 1945, a month after the atomic bombings in Hiroshima of Japan
Canna in bright red colour blossomed at just 820 meters away from the centre of explosion.
It has been said that nothing could be sprouted on the bombed land for seventy five years,
but Canna germinated and even blossomed.
It is believed that Canna had given hope and courage to many people,
healed their hearts and supported them to continue to live on.
A newspaper reporter took the black and white photo of this Canna in 1945
The photo is now being exhibited near the exit of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
Riho Tachibana, resident in Tokyo, (she is ledturer at college) paid a visit to the Museum at
Hiroshima in 2004
She also got hope and courage from Canna after seeing many miserable stories in the Museum.
To express her thanks to Canna for the received hope and courage,
she carried out many researches and produced the "LYORURI"
(a form of traditional Japanese narrative music) in telling the story of Canna.
A public performance was also held in Hiroshima in August 2005.
However, from the result of the survey immediately done after the performance,
it was discovered that none of the audiences have heard about Canna
or even did not notice the photo of Canna being exhibited at the Museum.
Riho Tachibana therefore started her tour of Joruri performance in Tokyo, Kobe, Kyoto,
Fukushima, Shikoku, Hakata, Saitama, etc. in 2005 hoping to let more people to know
Canna, which had given hope and courage to many people suffered from atomic bombings
in Hiroshima .
Unfortunately Canna has been forgotten for almost 60 years. In 2007,
Riho Tachibana also started her lectures in primary schools.
A horticulturist at Suzaka in Nagano prefecture was impressed by her activities
and donated the bulbs of Canna for her explanation
and planting during the lectures with the primary school students.
Riho Tachibana set up “Canna Project” in 2008 for the purpose of spreading
the message of peace and the appreciation to Canna for the hope and courage.
Using Canna as the baton, she started the Canna relay in Japan and overseas from 2008 on
wards.
Up to now, a total of 129 schools in 21 prefectures in Japan have joined the Canna relay.
Canna relay is also being conducted in overseas at Mont-Saint-Michel in France,
Vatican in Italy, Spain and Hong Kong.
Riho Tachibana visited the northeast of Japan after the 3.11 Earthquake in 2011 of the
Pacific coast of Tohoku.
Canna blossoms in summer but not in winter.
To encourage the people living in the disaster areas and to give our warm caring to them
especially during the freezing winter, Riho Tachibana started to collect human Canna smiles.
1,000 Canna smiles were being collected just within 3 weeks.
She then printed the posters and delivered to the disaster areas in end of 2011.
She made a speech at the Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture in March 2012 and also visited
northeast again in June and December.
The Canna smile collecting activities is still continuing and up to now,
a total of 4,834 "Canna smiles" have been collected from over 21 countries over the world.
Riho Tachiban is building a peaceful world through the “Canna Project” and coincidently the
language of flower of Canna has exactly the same meaning of building a solid,
stable and peaceful world.
このコラムに類似したコラム
３５３７カンナスマイル＠下関 橘 凛保 - マナー講師（2012/10/18 13:58）
