Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture

Kenji’s City Development
Promotion Project
Project Aims
The project is to aim to develop a city where
Hanamaki’s local citizens are proud of beingborn in the same city that Kenji was born andgrew up in, and want to continue living there,
while also being a place where people fromother cities can feel Kenji’s legacy and want tovisit and come back again.

Background and Reason for the Project
Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) is a well-known
Japanese writer still beloved by a lot of people
thanks to his works such as “The Night of theMilky Way Train” and “Gauche the Cellist”.
Kenji, who was born in Hanamaki, named thisregion “Ihatobu”, and was involved in studies
in various fields including agriculture, science,art and religion, as well as creative activities,
and he left many great works as his legacy. His
works and thoughts are still supported bymany people and have a great influence on
the creative activities of artists and creators invarious fields of study. Hanamaki City, Kenji’sbirthplace, wishes to actively promote city
development by honouring his achievement
anddisseminatingknowledge
about
attractions related to him and Hanamaki,
where he grew up. “Being proud that the city
is Kenji Miyazawa’s birthplace and making thecity a place where you can feel his presence”
is one of the goals of Hanamaki City’s City
Development Comprehensive Plan, the basic
plan of the city. Kenji’s City Development
Promotion Project is a major project topromote such city development to utilise
Kenji’s legacy, and was established in the fiscal
year 2012 to efficiently achieve objectives byintegrating Kenji-related projects run bydifferent divisions and organisations in the city
government.

Project Outline
The project is promoted from four different
perspectives: People, Events, Townscape, andGoods.
◆ People –Provide opportunities to learnabout Kenji (people development)
1.Miyazawa Kenji Award/ Ihatobu Award(award impressive study, review,creation and practice activities under
the name of Kenji)
2.Seminars about Kenji/ Kenji’s World(Visiting classes that introduce Kenji’sworks in an easy to understandmanner), Kenji’s World Workshop(Workshop to “Explore Places Related
to Kenji’s Works”)
3.Special exhibition at Kenji Miyazawa
Memorial Museum (exhibits original
copies of Kenji’s works, etc.)1◆ Events –Increasing people’s interaction
by holding events
1.Miyazawa Kenji Dowa Mura (Village ofFairy Tales) Forest Illumination (Anevent where a modern art group sets
up stained-glass-like objects, createdbased on the image of Kenji’s fairy taleworks in the rich natural surroundingsof the facility, established with themotif of Kenji’s fairy tales and lights
projected through the objects to createa fantastic world full of Kenji’s works.)
2.Ihatobu Festival (An event that invites
creators and artists active on the front
lines of art as guests, introduces theirconnections with various art and theworld of Kenji’s works through talkshows, live performances, and movies
creenings.)
3.Fairy Tale Grand Prize Competition forJapan’s High School Students (solicits
fairy tales from high school students inJapan and gives awards.)
4.Miyazawa
Kenji
CreativeArt
Performances (shows Kenji’s plays bygroups actively taking part in theatricalperformances)

Ihatobu Festival◆ Townscape –Development of a citywhere you feel the presence of Kenji
1.Kenji Art Street (solicits paintings
themed on the world of Kenji’s works,
from inside and outside the city, andexhibits the best ones on monuments
placed along the street between ShinHanamaki Station and Kenji Miyazawa
Memorial Museum)◆ Goods –Products developed as a tool to
distribute information and enhance
public relations
1.Kenji’s Event Calendar (creates acalendar including information onplaces related to Kenji, event schedules
and souvenirs)
Features and Innovations◆ Planning and implementation for eachproject are carried out undercollaboration between citizens’ groups
and individuals which engage inactivities themed on Kenji Miyazawa,and private groups including art
associations, agricultural cooperative
associations, chambers of commerce,and tourism associations to promote
the development of a city that utilises

Dowa Mura (Village of Fairy Tales) at night2

culture educational groups, agricultural,industrial and commercial groups, andtourism related groups.

Kenji’s legacy.
◆ To enhance the distribution of Kenjirelated information, Hanamaki City has
established a dedicated website forKenji-related information on the officialcity website. It has links with SNS toallow people to easily obtain
information such as Kenji-related eventsfrom inside and outside the city and has
resulted in improving the convenienceof users.

Future Developments (expected effects andproject vision and issues)◆ Increasing of opportunities for people toenjoy attractions connected to Kenji byenhancing Kenji-related projects
Hanamaki City would like to respond tochanges over time while maintaining theimage of Kenji, and implement projects
and promote information sharing toacquire new enjoyment from Kenji’sworks.

Results of the Project
The project leads to the development of anenvironment
wherecitizenshave
opportunities to learn the works and thoughtsof Kenji on a daily basis. Also, more people arevisiting large events every year including
Miyazawa Kenji Dowa Mura (Village of FairyTales) Forest Illumination and Ihatobu Festival,
resulting in new fans of Kenji and increasing
people’s interaction.

Reference URL
https://www.city.hanamaki.iwate.jp/miyazaw
akenji/index.html
Contact
Division in charge: Kenji’s City Development
Division, Lifelong Learning Department,
Hanamaki City
Phone: +81-198-24-2111
E-mail: kenji-machi@city.hanamaki.iwate.jp

Issues, Problems and Responses◆ Promotion of collaboration with citizens
and Kenji-related groups
The project promotes collaboration
between businesses and explores thelaunching of new businesses bypromoting information sharing andopinion exchange in the Kenji’s City
Development committee, consisting ofgroups which engage in activities themedon Kenji Miyazawa, intellectuals, arts andTerminologies and Coined Terms Used
Ihatobu: Name of the fantasy world created byKenji Miyazawa. An advertising flyer in thefairy tale “The Restaurant That Has ManyOrders” says “Ihatobu is a name of an area”
and “it refers to Iwate Prefecture in Japan as adreamland.”3