This small, unremarkable-looking tree by the entrance to the herb garden in Glasgow's Botanic Gardens has a surprising and poignant history which starts half a world and more than half a century away.
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#glasgow #glasgowbotanicgardens #glasgowhistory #peacetree #nagasaki
On the 9th of August 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki in Japan. While almost every living thing was incinerated in the blast, a Kaki tree (known in Britain as a Persimmon tree) somehow survived.
Known as a Hibakujumoku in Japanese (or a survivor tree in English), in 1994 it came under the care of Masayuki Ebinuma, an arborist. He managed to coax it to produce seeds which have been grown into saplings and sent all over the world as symbols of peace.
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In February 2002, Gerry Loose, then the poet-in-residence at Glasgow's Botanic Gardens brought one of these samplings to the city and planted it there. In November of that year, it was stolen, never to be seen again.
Luckily, Gerry had been given two trees and the second one was grown on in secret until it was large enough to the planted out to replace the stolen one. This second tree still grows where it was planted, a symbol of peace for the city and for the world.
@thisismyglasgow There was a @ScottishIndyPod podcast about this a few months ago, for the 79th anniversary of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings. It's worth a listen.
https://scottishindypod.scot/peace-security/hiroshima-commemoration/
It is 79 years since atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Every year Scottish CND organises events to commemorate this anniversary. They invited us to record the Glasgow event at the Peace tree in the grounds of Kelvingrove Art Gallery. It was a moving, yet uplifting event with songs and wonderful speakers sharing their stories.
This Is My Glasgow
Steven Lawson Photography
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