In Memory of Toemon Sano-sensei
Yoshie Doi
We offer our deepest condolences.
Thank you, Toemon-sensei.
Cherry blossom guardian Sano Toemon-sensei passed away on 31st October. It is truly sad. I can picture his kind face. When I attended the funeral on 6th November, I watched a video of the cherry blossom guardians’ work for the first time. While watching the video of the cherry blossom guardians, I learned that the procedure for wrapping a gold mizuhiki noshi around a cherry tree and transplanting it is almost the same as the procedure for offering sacred sake and water to the Arajin deity when lighting the fire in the hearth.
I realized that it was Toemon-Sensei, who stood on the same level as the gods of fire, trees, mountains, water, and all the other eight million gods.
I was indebted to Toemon-Sensei for the “Okudo-san Summit.” A long-established store owner introduced me to the Okudo-san that he had at his home, and I visited him to take photos of the Okudo-san before the summit, which was my first encounter with him.
Every year in November, during the autumn foliage season, I would bring information about the Okudo-san Summit to the cherry blossom guardian’s home. “Well, that sounds interesting,” I thought. As he was elderly, I would see his face and explain things to him, and we would always start talking about the Okudo-san in front of the Okudo-san. At that moment, I felt a strong passion for the Okudo-san, as if it was taking over my heart. It was a moment that made me realize that this spirit is the spirit of the world’s best cherry blossom guardians, and that everything is connected. It all made sense to me, that this is what it means to preserve culture. I don’t remember ever having a conversation about cherry blossoms with the cherry blossom guardian, Toemon-sensei. It was all about the Okudo-san.
It was a blissful time for me. Apparently, he boiled water in the Okudo-san every day to protect the thatched roof house. It was his daily job to protect the thatched roof house. I also heard that he negotiated with various government agencies.
When he attended his first Okudo-san summit, he rushed over by taxi, saying, “If I die, I won’t be able to participate, so I came even though I had a prior engagement.”
In April of this year, I was in charge of a mini-seminar at the Yomiuri Shimbun in Osaka, sponsored by the Kinki Agricultural Administration Office, and I called to ask, “May I show you a photo of your Okudo-san?” This was our last conversation. At the time, he told me he was in poor health. I can still remember the time he made the effort to call me to tell me he wanted to participate in the summit. I was always moved by his honest personality.
Toemon-sensei, we will be holding the Okudo-san Summit again this year on 7th December. Please watch over us from the afterlife. Please participate as a general’s double (Kagemusha) this year. Rest in peace. Thank you very much. I will take to heart the various things you have taught me and live my life to the fullest. Thank you very much!
Next year during cherry blossom season, I would like to do fieldwork on Konohanasakihime and the cherry blossoms, with the cherry blossom map created by Toemon-sensei in hand.
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Translated by Masami Otani
