The Ito Takao Laboratory in the Department Department of Social Design Faculty of Art and Design, is running the "PIECE of PEACE" project, which uses A-bombed trees as a theme for peace awareness activities. The project, which began in 2025 to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing, has the theme of "experiencing peace with all five senses through A-bombed trees."
This time, in a joint project with Venex Nagasaki Brick Hall, a musical and cultural hub in Nagasaki that supports concerts by artists from Japan and abroad as well as a variety of other events, a new baton called "Heiwa no Tact" has been created, made from a tree that was exposed to the atomic bomb.
The person who sympathized with this project and took on the task of creating it was Daisuke Matsumoto of the Matsumoto String Instrument Workshop (Fukuoka City), a graduate of our university's Faculty of Art and Design. On Thursday, February 19th, the workshop's processing work was also attended by students who were part of the project. A roughly 35cm baton was carved from a branch (approximately 10cm in diameter and 50cm in length) that had been pruned during regular maintenance of a camphor tree (estimated to be 500-600 years old) at Sanno Shrine. The handle and tip were smoothly rounded while the center of gravity was adjusted. Finally, the participants observed the craftsman's process of carefully polishing and painting the baton by hand.
The completed Heiwa no Takuto will make its debut on stage with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra (USA), which will tour Japan (Yokohama, Tokyo, Nagasaki, Hiroshima) starting in May this year under the theme of "Music as Peace." At the Nagasaki performance (Venex Nagasaki Brick Hall) on Sunday, May 23rd, the piece will be conducted with a wish for peace when performed with the Junior Orchestra Nagasaki and Junshin Junior and Senior High School Music Club.
[Department of Social Design]
