By HIROHISA YAMASHITA/ Staff Writer
March 23, 2023 at 18:08 JST
A piece of timber autographed by Shohei Ohtani is seen at the Nagoya municipal government office on March 20. (Hirohisa Yamashita)
NAGOYA--City officials are hoping to tap into some of Shohei Ohtani's vaunted power through a piece of timber autographed by the baseball superstar.
The sliced trunk bearing Ohtani's signature will be used in a restoration project of the city's iconic castle.
“People of Nagoya will be excited,” Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura said on March 20. “Because Ohtani is the man of the moment.”
Municipal officials asked Ohtani to autograph the wood because the sliced trunk had been harvested in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, where the Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar grew up.
The signature was put on March 4 when Ohtani was visiting the city for Samurai Japan’s exhibition games against the Nagoya-based Chunichi Dragons ahead of the World Baseball Classic.
Measuring 80 centimeters wide, the trunk belonged to a pine tree, estimated to be 350 to 400 years old, standing near Gassanjinja, a famed local Shinto shrine.
The piece of wood will be on display at Nagoya Castle from April 14 to May 7.
After that, the timber will be used in the city’s project to reconstruct the castle’s main keep to its original design using wooden materials.
The trunk is planned to be part of a beam that supports the third floor of the towering structure.
The current main keep was rebuilt with reinforced concrete after the original building was burned to the ground during World War II.
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