I am Fujimori, the representative.
Since the earthquake, I have been wanting to help through jewelry, and I am pleased to report that I have been given a precious opportunity to help the affected areas by "making jewelry", and thanks to your support, I have been able to do so.
Last year, when I visited Momoshi Junior High School in Ishinomaki as a lecturer for a career seminar on November 2, I was joined by President Kimura of Minato Suisan, a cod roe shop in Ishinomaki, who was also one of the lecturers.
Click here to see the career seminar in Ishinomaki.
Minato Suisan suffered tremendous damage immediately after the disaster, with both their factory and home flooded by the tsunami, but with the help of volunteers, the family and staff all persevered and resumed operations in just over two months, a miracle.
Click here to see Minato Suisan's recovery.
After the restoration, his house has become Project Yui's base of operations in Ishinomaki, and I myself was there the day before the career seminar.
At that time, President Kimura asked me to consult with him about jewelry.
The content of the consultation was to use their wedding rings, which were found by chance in a paulownia dance that was in their home and flooded by the tsunami, to give as some kind of commemorative gift to their third daughter, who will turn 20 this year.
When we looked at the wedding ring, the outside of the case was a little damaged from the water, but the ring inside was clean and safe.
Their rings, which they said were made 25 years ago, were a combination of platinum and K18 yellow gold, and were beautifully handmade with fine craftsmanship and patterns on the surface.
The date of their marriage and their initials are engraved on the inside of the ring as a memorial. February 16, 1966, 25 years ago. The couple celebrated their silver wedding anniversary just before the earthquake.
We were asked to propose a design for a precious ring that we would keep and process as a support. When we asked the couple and their daughter what they wanted, they said they would like to be able to wear it as a pendant if possible.
When making the pendant, we wanted to keep as much as possible of the couple's original rings as they were, and we also wanted them to be able to wear the pendant every day without worrying about it.
At the end of the year, we brought this design drawing to the client for another meeting, and the design was successfully decided. In addition to this ring, we were told that she had a lump of platinum bullion left over from a previous remodeling project, so we decided to keep it together and make a new ring for her daughter before her 20th birthday.
We started work on the pendant at the beginning of 2012, and although it unfortunately did not arrive in time for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, the pendant was completed in mid-January!
Here is the finished pendant!
Taking advantage of the difference in their ring sizes, we arranged them so that the wife's ring would fit inside the husband's ring. Incidentally, the father's ring is a very large size, but even so, it did not fit on his finger on his wedding day, and he had not worn it for the entire 25 years of his marriage. That's why it is so shiny.
The chain would have to be threaded through the ring, which would cause the ring to face vertically when worn, so we used a piece of platinum we received from a friend to make a beak that the chain would pass through, with the same surface finish as the ring, so that the two rings would fall on it.
The vatican and the wife's ring are fixed at the intersection, and the master's ring is set to rotate freely over it.
Nothing was done to the couple's rings themselves, and the text inside was left untouched.
On one side of the beak, we placed an amethyst, the daughter's birthstone, without telling either the couple or the daughter, since it was a birthday present.
Then, on January 20, I went to Ishinomaki again with my staff with the finished pendant! We left Tokyo early in the morning from Tokyo, where it was snowing heavily, but to our surprise, Ishinomaki had clear skies! We arrived safely and finally handed over the pendants.
When I opened the case in front of the three people who were waiting for me, I was greeted with a "wow! They cheered when they opened the case in front of the three people waiting for them. We had already seen the design, but to see the finished pendant, we were all relieved and relieved to see how happy they were.
And when she tried it on, the length was perfect. Her daughter was also very impressed with the surprise amethyst we added.
The design would not have been possible without their ring sizes being so different. The daughter said, "The father and mother always go around the mother, so it looks like they are the same person! said the daughter. The relationship and personalities of the two of them were reflected in the rings.
I hope you will wear it as a good-luck charm, as I designed it to be worn every day for a long time.
After handing it over, we talked a lot with the couple and their daughter.
We were celebrating our silver wedding anniversary and were talking about going somewhere to commemorate the occasion when suddenly an earthquake and tsunami struck.
The wife was able to escape the approaching tsunami in a matter of seconds, and the daughter was unable to contact her parents in Tokyo for more than a week.
Life after the disaster began with no water, food, electricity, clothes, or place to sleep.
Volunteers who rushed to the site while the streets were still covered with debris and it was impossible to walk on the roads.
The wedding ring was found as we worked together to restore it, little by little.
He met with us who decided to process that ring as a gift for his daughter.
If the ring had not been damaged by the tsunami, a volunteer would have found it, and the ring would not have been passed down from parents to their daughter in this way.
We will truly cherish the encounters and ties that were born because of the disaster.
It appears that the rubble and debris have been cleared from the town and the scars are gradually disappearing, but as the one-year anniversary of the disaster approaches (for those who have passed away, it will be the first anniversary of the disaster), people are recalling what happened at the time of the disaster.
That we, who are in good health now, must live our respective lives to the fullest, feeling the destiny that has kept us alive.
Essentially, jewelry is something that is passed down from parents to children and then to the next generation.
I feel that I have been given a truly blessed role to have been able to create a strong bond between a couple and their parent and child, a truly wonderful family that I met through the disaster.
Thank you very much.
