Photo/Illutration A framed statement from Masashi Sada is set up at the site of the inauguration ceremony of the Hakusui Elementary School on April 2 in the Yoshida district of Minami-Aso, Kumamoto Prefecture. It calls on students to sing the school song “featuring beautiful natural environments in Aso with all your heart with your chest out.” (Yasuhide Kido)

MINAMI-ASO, Kumamoto Prefecture--One of singer-songwriter Masashi Sada's newest works may never make the charts, but it will always be No. 1 in the hearts of the students at the new Hakusui Elementary School.

Sada composed the school's new song dedicated to their hometown. 

At the inauguration ceremony held at Hakusui Elementary School on April 2, the donated musical piece was unveiled. The school was newly established by merging three elementary schools located nearby.

“It sounds gentle,” said sixth-grader Shonosuke Tomooka about the melody on behalf of the students in the ceremony.

Sada contributed the work as he has been interacting with residents in Minami-Aso since five years ago, when the Kumamoto Earthquakes in April 2016 rocked the prefecture, causing widespread damage.

The educational facility was introduced this spring after Nakamatsu, Hakusui and Ryohei elementary schools in what was previously known as Hakusui village were integrated.

The new establishment, with a total of 176 pupils, held its semester-opening and entrance ceremonies on April 8 and 9, respectively. The students are attending classes within the former Hakusui Junior High School building, following renovation work there. 

The school operator commissioned Sada to write a musical score for the new academy to be sung by its students.

The tremors claimed 31 lives in Minami-Aso with nearly 1,700 buildings fully or partially collapsing. The Hakusui area saw four residents killed and more than 100 buildings fully or partially destroyed.

Two months following the disaster, Sada visited Minami-Aso Junior High School for a concert to encourage residents. He has since been deepening bonds with people in Minami-Aso.

When asked by Minami-Aso’s board of education to create a song, Sada readily agreed to compose one.

The lyrics for the song were written by Shotei Hayama, 72, director of the Yoh Shomei Aso Highland Museum Park in Minami-Aso.

The lyrics portray foggy mountains in Aso, the Shijimiaeoides divinus butterfly flitting over a grass field, the star-filled night sky and other rich natural surroundings based on words and images collected by the municipality from residents.

The song ends with the sentence “water springs in the village of Hakusui, my hometown.”

During the April 2 event, Sada celebrated the school’s opening with a statement saying, “I beg you to sing the piece featuring beautiful natural environments in Aso with all your heart with your chest out.”

The song was unveiled with a video showing the students practicing singing. Hayama was pleased to see the footage.

“I want children to feel proud of their hometown,” Hayama said. “I was impressed because I could see that the song was composed while respecting the lyrics.”

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