Although Takahagi Primary School didn’t officially participate in the Kaki Tree Project, it is Mr. Masayuki Ebinuma’s alma mater and as we feel a special connection to the school, we are very happy to share this news.
They planted “the seedlings of the bombed kaki tree” in March 1996 and named the two trees “Kakky and Nokky,” and have taken great care of them for 15 years. However, the trees didn’t produce fruit all the while. Then, they produced fruit for the first time in the autumn of 2010 and Principal Jiro Nagayama shared the happy news with Mr. Ebinuma.
The following is an excerpt from the letter written by the principal.

“It is strange that both Kakky and Nokky produced 3 pieces of fruit each. They produced the same number of fruit in the same year. Then I took pictures and told the news to the previous principals to share the joy. The former principal Akeo Saito suggested that we somehow obtain seeds from the fruit to grow a lot of the third generation trees from them. So I was watching them everyday as they ripened. When I thought it’s about time to collect the fruit, wild birds came and ate two of them, so we hurriedly gathered the rest of the fruit and managed to obtain 15 pieces of seeds. The two trees “Genki and Yuki” given to the school again in 2007 are also growing well. I look forward to the day when the school’s open space will be filled with vivid color of orange.”

The Kaki Tree Project will continue to watch over the growth of those trees at Takahagi Primary School.

The kaki tree which was planted on 28 March 1998 at Yanaka Community Center in Taito-ku, Tokyo was moved to Hatsune no Mori, Disaster Prevention Space, which is across the street from Yanaka Community Center, in 2008. For 2 years after the transplantation, the tree did not produce any fruit, however, it produced a lot of fruit in the autumn of 2010 and the harvest festival was held on 13 November 2010. About 35 people including children from the children’s club and the children’s future club of the community committee participated in the event. They gathered approximately 400 pieces of kaki fruit and then in the community center’s kitchen, they removed the skin, tied them to strings and produced about 150 pieces of hoshigaki (dried persimmons). They hung these delicious looking fruit from the veranda on the second floor of the community center.

The kaki tree which was planted on 21 March 2000 at the Museum of Santa Giulia in Brescia, Italy, has borne fruit according to the report from Mr. Manisera. Although the tree’s trunk is not very thick yet, it bears about 20 pieces of fruit. The 10th anniversary event was held at the Museum on 25 March 2010.