Porto x Nagasaki | Uma ligação com raízes profundas

On the 9th of August, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. Tens of thousands of people died suffering from the intense blast and heat, and the city of Nagasaki was reduced to ashes.

However, there was a kaki tree which miraculously survived while more than half of the trunk was burnt black, and barely standing and about to die at any moment.
In 1994, Masayuki Ebinuma, an arborist, started to treat the fragile tree and restored its health as to be able to produce "seedlings" from the bombed tree.

After contemporary artist Tatsuo Miyajima learned Ebinuma's activity, he wanted to support Ebinuma as an artist. So then he displayed the saplings and recruited foster parents at an art exhibition in 1995.

They received ten applications and selected the former Ryuhoku Elementary School in Taito-ku, Tokyo as a planting site.
Through the process, Miyajima had conceived an art project called "Revive Time: Kaki Tree Project" and launched the Executive Committee. In 1996, the first planting of the project took place at the former Ryuhoku Elementary School. Miyajima himself conducted a workshop at the tree-planting ceremony.

In 1978, Porto entered into a sister-city relationship with Nagasaki, Japan - further deepening the long history between Portugal and Japan. March 21, 2007 was the day which a seed from the revived tree was planted in the gardens, and has since thrived, forever connecting our two cities together.

Come and join the Taiko School of Porto to celebrate this auspicious Occassion, and to also pay tribute and respect to the lives lost on this fateful day.

Guests will have an opportunity to see a Japanese taiko drum performance by the Taiko School of Porto's founder, as well as, make paper cranes to lay at the base of the tree. This small gesture shows solidarity and a wish for peace in our world.