People who convey the "Spirit of Hiroshima";
Communicating Tones of Peace
－Interview with Mr. Mitsunori Yagawa, piano tuner, Yagawa Piano Studio－
|
|
The Phoenix Tree Peace Concert is held near the Phoenix Trees Exposed to the A-Bomb in Peace Memorial Park on August 6 every year.
The beautiful tones are produced by the hibaku (a-bomb survivor) pianos.
We spoke to Mr. Mitsunori Yagawa, who restores the pianos and holds Peace Concerts throughout the country.
|
First encounter with a hibaku piano
Since starting up my piano studio around twenty years ago, I have been working as a volunteer in activities to take on and restore pianos lying unused in homes, which are then donated to schools and other facilities in Japan and overseas.
It was through these activities that I encountered a piano that was found miraculously unscathed in ruins after the atomic bombing, and was entrusted with the piano by its owner.
Treating the piano as a precious document of the bombing, I retained as many original parts as possible as I have restored the piano, which means that the tone produced by the piano is almost the same as it was at the time (prior to the bombing).
I currently have four pianos in my studio.
|
One of the hibaku pianos, "Misako's piano".
It was found in a house 1.8km from the hypocenter.
Although it escaped burning due to the concrete structure of the building, innumerable scratches remain on the piano's surface.
The piano stool is retained as it was at the time. (Click on this photo to view a larger version.)
|
Opportunity leading to concerts
In 2001 I started the Phoenix Tree Peace Concert together with Ms. Suzuko Numata, an atomic bomb survivor.
This is an initiative that combines Ms. Numata's atomic bombing testimony with the Hibaku Piano concert, under the Phoenix Trees Exposed to the A-Bomb.
I was invited to the Nagasaki Peace Music Festival in 2004, and this became the opportunity to hold Hibaku Piano concerts in other prefectures.
We held a concert at Aichi Expo in 2005, which was the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing, and we have held concerts in 43 prefectures to date.
The Hibaku Piano concert that was held in New York in 2010 in memory of those who lost their lives in 9.11 became the start of our international concerts.
We were criticized by some in Japan for holding a concert in America, the country that dropped the atomic bomb, but we received full support from the New York Fire Department, partly due to the fact that my late father was a firefighter himself.
(343 New York City firefighters lost their lives as they worked on rescue efforts after the terrorist attacks in America on September 11, 2001.)
My father was at the Hiroshima West Fire Station in Ote-machi (approximately 800m from the hypocenter) when the atomic bomb was dropped.
He survived by using the knife that firefighters carried in a holster at the time to break through the collapsed ceiling and escape.
The details of my father's experience are recorded in "Firefighting History of Hiroshima after the Bomb" (issued by Hiroshima City Fire Department, 1975).
In New York I had many opportunities to hear directly about the experiences of the local people.
Although they may have felt obligated to say so, I felt that around 70-80% of the people I spoke to are opposed to nuclear weapons.
I think that this is the reason that no atomic weapon has been used since they were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
It seemed to me that people understand that nuclear weapons are horrific weapons that must not be used.
I believe that this is the result of what Hiroshima and Nagasaki have continuously stated up until the present.
|
|
A grand piano found in an elementary school 2km from the hypocenter.
It has six legs and weighs over 600kg.
Greatly damaged, the piano was extensively restored by Mr. Yagawa (front).
|
Leading up to the concerts
In addition to the piano tuning, I also do basically all piano transportation and arrangement of pianists myself.
I cannot carry the heaviest grand pianos by myself so I contract them to a transportation service company, but for the other pianos, I dismantle and package them in my studio and put them in my truck, then drive them myself to the venue.
I then reassemble them, set them up at the venue, and once the concert is over I take them back to my studio in the same way.
Recently I receive around 140 requests for concerts each year, and I have held over 900 concerts in various regions to date.
|
|
Lately I have been holding around 40 concerts a year for students on school excursions.
When they ask for a talk before the concert, I take care to summarize and make sure that it does not go on for too long.
This is because I do not want to depress the children, by making them feel that they were made to listen to a long talk on a painful subject when they went to Hiroshima.
There are painful stories, but I want the children to have hope, and come back to Hiroshima again.
Future activities
The reality of the damage of the atomic bombing has still not been fully communicated even in Japan, to people living in prefectures other than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Sometimes I am asked whether radiation is emitted from the hibaku pianos.
Even when I am asked questions that come from ignorance or prejudice, I make sure that I have studied the basics of the atomic bomb so that I can answer the questions properly.
Continuing with the Hibaku Piano concerts is like sowing seeds of peace.
However, I do not want to pass on these activities to my son.
Although my son has studied piano tuning and restoration, I believe that these activities should end with his generation, the third generation after the atomic bombing.
It may not be feasible while the atomic bomb survivors are alive, but I hope that in my generation, the second generation since the bombing, we can achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons and then a peaceful era with no nuclear weapons.
|
|
(Interview conducted August 2012)
|
|
|
