Three Atractions

Aihata Elementary School was successfully awarded the first prize by ”Poppy” kids from amongmany schools across Japan.

Poppy’s editors visited the school to cover its activities.

(the copyright of this page belongs to ”Poppy”10.2009)

Three Attractions of Aihata Elementary School (A.E.S.)

Ishii-cho,myouzai-gun,Tokushima-ken

Full of attractions and smiles!!

We are proud of a lot of attractions ! Here are some of them.

1) We can enjoy indigo arts a couple of times a year.

2) We have a biotope made by making full use of nature of this place as it is.

3) We keep a dog called ”San-chan”.

* The editors were surprised at our unique special works.

Our 1st Attraction : Aihata Indigo!

As its name (Aihata) indicates, indigo fields spread and indigo industry was flourishingin this district. Nowadays it isn’t so, but the pupils of A.E.S. have been valuing indigo-dyeingtraditions of the area and enjoying indigo arts at the same time.

They dye T-shirts, fans, bandanas and others. These are used for the school uniforms andthey also play important parts in such big events as a sports day, a musical competition and recital.

The sixth graders use indigoes to make the covers of their school yearbooks as well as thecorsages on their chests at the graduation ceremony.

The artificial flowers and flags decorated here and there in the school are all made by the pupils of A.E.S.

graduates-made corsage

The container for indigo-dyeing is nicknamed "Ai-chan". A student in charge observes it two hundred times every day and reports what she or he finds out. We can enjoy different types of dyeing and we can make the only one original work !!

Our 2nd Attraction : Biotope Full of Life!

Our biotope was made in the hope of protecting nature in Aihata District.

We see a lot of plants and insects.

We don’t care about caterpillars or being bitten by mosquitoes.

Everybody can enjoy nature.

Our 3rd Attraction : ”San-chan” our idol dog

”San-chan” is the name of our dog and very popular among students and teachers. She likes walking around the school. She is very friendly and wise. When called, she turns around and smiles at us gently.

”San-chan” strayed into the school about 15 years ago. At first, it was not easy to keep

a dog at school ; however, Mr.Yukimasa Hinoki,the ex-principal of our school says,” She is important to us all because the students can learn the importance of life and have

irreplaceable experiences from her.”

However, she left here in 2010 in January.

She spent many years with us at Aihata. It was a sad day when San-chan

passed away.

We all hope she is at peace now, watching over all of us and our school!