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In order to improve this situation, the Maruoka town office took the initiative and it has been conducting since 1991 a campaign to revitalize the town on themes related to historical relics in the town. Thus, "A Brief Message from the Heart" letter-writing contest was started in the spring of 1993.
This contest took its theme from the engraving on a stone monu-ment erected near Maruoka Castle.The engraving was a letter written by a warlord to his wife from a war camp in the late 16th century. The letter consisted of 18 letters, including Chinese characters and was regarded as a gem of brevity. It read:
"I pen thee a line: Watch out for fire; don't let Osen cry; keep the horses well fed."
Osen who is men-tioned in this letter later became the lord of Maruoka Castle whose name was Narishige Honda.
Maruoka town designated "Mother" as the theme of its first letter-writing contest and invited entries of epistles consisting of 25- 35 letters/characters. A total of 32,236 entries were received, out of which 230 were selected and published in book form. The book was a great hit, and 850,000 copies were sold. Of the 230 selected entries, 51 were chosen and trans-lated into English. At present, the Maruoka town office is inviting entries to the 4th contest on the theme of "A Letter to Father". This cultural project is supported by the Sumitomo Group Public Affairs Committee.
Incidentally, the Sumitomo Group's link with Maruoka town lies in the fact that Masatomo Sumitomo, the founder of the Sumitomo Family, was born in Maruoka in 1585 in the same era as Narishige Honda.
As a result of such cultural activities, the name of Maruoka town has become known throughout Japan and the number of tourists who visit the town is increasing steadily. |
