KURAYOSHI, Tottori Prefecture--The manner in which "Shisei" was chosen for the name of a new public elementary school here has sparked an uproar among the population of 45,000.

Shisei means “supreme sincereness and wholeheartedness,” but its selection has generated sincere and wholehearted indignation among residents. 

“The way the name was decided was unnatural and untrustworthy,” said a 72-year-old woman who has signed a petition regarding the name.

Residents were invited to help select the name of a new elementary school set to open here on April 1, 2023.

As there are fewer children, the city’s board of education in March 2021 decided to integrate three schools--Seitoku, with 119 students as of May 1; Nadate, with 33 students as of May 1 and Meirin, with 150 students as of May 1.

The board decided to first integrate Seitoku and Nadate from fiscal 2023.

A panel to prepare for the integration, comprising local representatives and parents, was established in August 2021.

In April, the panel asked residents for suggestions for the new school’s name.

During a 20-day period of submissions, 341 names were submitted, and in June, the panel chose Shisei.

An amendment to an ordinance was passed, and the integration project and the name were officially approved at the September city assembly meeting.

However, during discussions at the assembly meeting, an unexpected fact came to light.

From 341 submissions, 119 different names were submitted. Only one person submitted the chosen name of Shisei.

Of the submissions, 150 stated Utsubuki should be the name of the new school.

“I want the panel to think about the significance of the 150,” said the 72-year-old woman.

The city has a mountain named Utsubuki, known for a legend about an angel. It also has a park named Utsubuki boasting spectacular cherry blossoms. The Seitoku Elementary School’s campus, which will be the campus of the new integrated school, also lies at the foot of the mountain.

Of the 119 names, the Nadate area representative preferred Utsubuki, while the Seitoku area representative preferred Shisei.

In June, the panel voted, and it was an 8-8 tie.

The chair of the panel, who was the Seitoku area representative, decided the name would be Shisei.

The fact that the chair of the panel cast the deciding vote to make the name Shisei was “out of line and unfair,” said a 75-year-old man.

“It means the chair voted twice, which violates the rules of democracy,” he said.

The panel’s chair told The Asahi Shimbun, “I have no opinion. Shisei was the result of a lot of discussions.”

The chair voting twice “complied with the panel’s rules, and the panel members in attendance agreed to the procedure, so there is no problem,” said a representative of the city’s board of education.

However, some residents who learned about the process, including the man, said they have a deeper distrust of the selection process, and they formed a group to urge officials to reconsider the name.

On Oct. 28, the group started a petition asking the amendment to the ordinance be scrapped.

“The purpose of the public solicitation was to solicit an ‘idea,’ not to see what name would get the greatest number of votes,” the representative said.

In fact, the website of the city’s board of education noted when soliciting submissions, “The name of the school will not be decided based on which name gets the most submissions.”

The signatures of one-50th or more of all eligible voters in the city are needed to allow for a direct petition from locals.

That means the required number is 764, based on the data as of Sept. 1.

As of Nov. 15, the group had collected more than 3,000 signatures.

The group was expected to submit the signatures to the city’s election board on Nov. 21.

It is co-chaired by seven people, including those who graduated from Seitoku and Nadate elementary schools.

“Utsubuki is certainly a familiar name,” the education board representative said, “but some of the panel’s members wanted a name with a philosophy, like Seitoku and Meirin, rather than a geographical name.”

The panel supported Shisei because it encompasses the feelings for the new school, the representative said.

The city ran an article in the November issue of the city newsletter explaining the decision-making process the same way the representative described it to The Asahi Shimbun.

However, depending on the citizens’ group’s petition, the name may be changed anyway.

Therefore, the education board has suspended work on deciding the new school’s song, seal and name board.

“We can’t mail a notice of admission to incoming students unless the name is decided,” the representative said. “We are worried about whether things will be ready in time for the school’s opening.”