A Nagano high school student performs on an instrument made with wood from the Rikuzentakata pine.

A lone ‘miracle’ pine became a symbol of hope in Japan after it survived the March 11 tsunami back in 2011. Now wood from the tree has become part of a violin. The instrument received its debut performance in the hands of high school student Rika Nishizawa at a special event at Togakushi Shrine in Nagano earlier this month.

The 250-year-old pine was the only one left standing of the 70,000 trees that lined the coastline around the town of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture. It is estimated that 1,700 people died in Rikuzentakata after the town was swallowed by waves up to 13 metres high. The tree was removed a year later, after its roots died from salt water damage, but it was preserved and subsequently restored to its original location, where it is intended to be the centrepiece of a disaster-prevention memorial park. The restored tree was unveiled by the town’s mayor Futoshi Toba, whose wife died in the tsunami. “For those of us who were left suffering after the disaster, the miracle pine gave us strength and hope to carry on living,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tokyo violin maker Muneyuki Nakazawa was granted permission to use a small amount of wood from the miracle pine to craft the sound post of a new violin. The sound post is a small dowel inside the instrument, under the bridge, that serves as both a structural support and connects the front and back plates of the instrument, transferring sound between them. In French and Italian the word for this part of the instrument also means “soul”. Although Nakazawa traditionally uses wood from Europe in his violins, following the 2001 disaster he wanted to do something to show sympathy for the victims and began using driftwood left behind after the tsunami in his instruments.

The performance came not long after another disaster – the earthquakes that hit in and around the city of Kumamoto in Kyushu in mid-April. Nishizawa, who gave the violin its first performance, said “I was thinking of those who have suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Kumamoto earthquake.”