Image by Sage Ross, via Wikimedia Commons
If four years seems like a long time, let me help put things in perspective.
The beautiful bonsai tree pictured above–let’s call it the Yamaki Pine Bonsai–began its journey through the world back in 1625. That’s when the Yamaki family first began to train the tree, working patiently, generation after generation, to prune the tree into the majestic little thing it is today.
No doubt, over the centuries, the ancient bonsai witnessed many good and bad days in Japan–some highs and some lows. But nothing as low as what happened on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, devastating the city and leaving 140,000 civilians dead. The bomb exploded less than two miles from the Yamaki’s home. But defying the odds, the Yamaki Pine survived the blast. (It was protected by a wall surrounding the Yamaki’s bonsai nursery.) The family survived the blast too, suffering only minor cuts from flying glass.
Three decades later, in a rather remarkable act of forgiveness, the Yamaki family gifted the pine (along with 52 other cherished trees) to the United States, during the bicentennial celebration of 1976. Never did they say anything, however, about the traumas the tree survived. Only in 2001, when a younger generation of Yamakis visited Washington, did the caretakers at United States National Arboretum learn the full story about the tree’s resilience. The tree survived the worst mankind could throw at it. And kept its beauty intact. Surely you can do the same when life sends lesser challenges your way.
You can get a closer look at the Yamaki pine in the video below.
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What an amazing story. Beautiful. Like the tree.
No, it is not like it, moron, it IS the tree !
Magnificent!!!! A joy to experience!
I like the tree, I like your story except, any time you tell only part of a complete story, you create disrespect for all involved. Many people did and did not survive the bomb dropped near the tree and its caretaker’s residence. War is never wonderful. Your story is negatively slanted toward disdain for those who dropped the bomb. Where your story fails is its omission of how many more millions were saved by using the atomic bomb rather than bombing all of Japan. In fact, millions of lives were spared by this one act. You conveniently forgot Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor and those Americans who lost their lives at sea during WWII. This story of yours in it’s cumulative form is poor writing and worse reading. You have used the longevity of this tree to promote your own idealism and have forgotten kindness and respect for all those involved.