Letter from Ishinomaki

September 7, 2011

Last month, we received a message from Mr Nishimura, the sub-temple master of Kosai Temple in Sumiyoshi town in Ishinomaki to all the volunteers who had participated in mud removal and cleaning activities from all over Japan as well as overseas. As a result of the volunteer work, they were able to hold a joint memorial service for the Obon festival and many flowers were placed on the cleaned graves (Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honour the deceased spirits of one’s ancestors).

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View the original letter in Japanese (pdf)

To everyone at Peace Boat

It has been some time since I last had contact with all of you who have participated in Peace Boat’s volunteer activities from all over Japan and also from overseas. Did you go back to your hometown for the Obon holiday to have some rest?

We truly appreciate all of the hard work you did to remove sludge from the grounds of Kosaiji Temple, Konpira Shrine, the parking area and side ditches and to clean the cemetery in the hot weather.

Thanks to you all, the Urabon Joint Memorial Service held on the 14th and 15th of August finished without any problems and many flowers have been placed on the graves in the cemetery that is now clean in every corner. I’m sure that the Buddha resting at each grave is pleased as well.
Members of Danka （households that have a voluntary and long-term affiliation with the temple) were very appreciative because the area had become so clean that there was nothing left for them to do.

And, despite the fact that you did so much hard work, we apologize for not being able to express our thanks properly. To express our appreciation, I have enclosed some photos of Kosai Temple at the time of the disaster and a video of the cemetery during Obon, so please take a look at them together with everyone.

There are photos of Kosai Temple taken immediately after the earthquake and some current pictures.
It will continue to be hot for a while, so please take good care of yourself.

Nishimura
Sub-temple master of Kosai Temple

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Enclosed with the letter were some photos of the cemetery taken in April and of the memorial service held at the cleaned-up Kosai Temple. Thank you so much to everyone at Kosai Temple for sending us your cheerful letter.

Here are just a few of the photos: