A school in Yass has created a Japanese peace garden for students to use for quiet reflection.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The students at Mount Carmel had planned the garden as part of their weekly Japanese lesson with teacher Kassie Miller.
The first stage of the garden was opened on Hiroshima Day with the standing of a 'torii' that marks the entrance.
"A torii is a traditional Japanese gate that is most commonly found at the entrance of a shinto shrine and symbolically marks a sacred space," Mrs Miller said.
Mt Carmel principal Michael Green built the torii for the school.
"This will be a place of quiet reflection," Mr Green said.
The students had written a prayer or wish to hang on a thick rope or 'shimenawa' in Japanese that is hung across the gate, Mrs Miller explained.
Most students wished for world peace while those a little younger wished for objects closer to their heart.
"I wished that my family is safe," Charlie Field, year 1, said.
"I wished for more toys," Poppy Smith, kindergarten, said.
As the garden grows it will also include a cherry blossom, seat, traditional Japanese water feature and pebbles the students can rake, Mrs Miller said.
Everyone at the school will be welcome to visit the garden located next to the playground.
"It will be really lovely," Mrs Miller said. "We wanted it to be somewhere the students could see it."
Hiroshima Day commemorates the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and focuses on world peace.
