Memories of Hamawaki Elementary School The Old Main Gate May Reopen【Nishitsu Report】

I visited Hamawaki Elementary School. I took photos of all kinds of nostalgic things. I hope this brings a smile to everyone who graduated from Hama-sho.

There will be an event at Hamawaki Elementary School on August 6. I wrote about it at the end, so if you’re an alum, please take a look.

The “Go over there!!” statue

There’s an elephant pointing, as if to say, “Go over there!”

Do you remember this?

It’s pretty worn out.

Apparently there are no clear records of when it was installed. Does anyone remember?

Everyone born in Showa 40, you made something amazing. That skeleton design really stands out.

These tires must have been here for quite a long time too. They definitely look seasoned.

Do You Remember That Mountain?

You can see something that looks like a mountain.

Oh. Is that the playground equipment?!

It’s Nakayoshi Mountain!!! Maybe you remember sliding down it a little too fast?

By the way, this is the latest version after it was rebuilt, but I’m sure many Hama-sho students grew up with the old Nakayoshi Mountain.

Old Nakayoshi Mountain (probably until 2008)↓

This slide was really steep.

It was built about 60 years ago, so every graduate up to age 66 should remember it! Even now it looks incredibly fun, so it must have been revolutionary playground equipment.

This is Hamawaki Elementary School before it was rebuilt.

That Bridge You Crossed on the Way Home

This is just outside Hamawaki Elementary School.

I’m sure this pedestrian bridge feels nostalgic for many people too.

This is Hamawaki Pedestrian Bridge, built in March 1972.

After crossing to the other side, you used to only be able to go right, but now a new path has been added for kids heading home to the left.

You Are the One Who Rings That Bell

Then the principal showed us something unusual.

A bell?

It says Tateishi Elementary School. Tateishi Elementary School was actually around Koroen, and it was merged with Hamawaki Elementary School. So this remnant has been passed down.

At Tateishi Elementary School around Showa 20, this bell was used as the school chime.

Apparently today’s students are allowed to ring it too. It’s super loud, though. lol The part used to ring it is the end of a hammer. Principal Arimoto told us that the original striker probably broke and people back then used this as a substitute.

As Nishinomiya’s Oldest School

Hamawaki Elementary School opened in Meiji 5 and is the oldest elementary school in Nishinomiya City. In Reiwa 4, it marked its 150th anniversary.

西宮で一番古い小学校はどこでしょう？【西宮クイズ】

2021年2月10日

Because of that, it has some really old things.

Here it is↓

A gate?

It’s a service gate with 132 years of history. It had been closed for a while.

An old photo↓

This photo is from Showa 12. The pillars haven’t changed at all.

This photo is from July 2020, and you can see the dirt had risen all the way up to just below the gate. It couldn’t be opened.

The students cleaned it up this beautifully!

Thanks to that, people could go in and out again, and at the Reiwa 4 graduation ceremony, the graduates were able to pass through the old main gate!

Apparently the area around the service gate had become so overgrown with weeds that you couldn’t walk through it at all.

As part of the Prefectural Greening Project, the 5th and 6th graders at the time worked hard to clear dead trees and tidy up the area around the gate, making it this beautiful. In fact, it seems that trees that were nearly dead became healthy again. Apparently the gardener praised them a lot.

The 6th graders made tree nameplates as a graduation commemoration and attached them to each tree. The messages are so cute.

Spiky leaves.

This Somei Yoshino cherry tree beside the service gate has served as a symbol.

As you can see, it seems to be nearing the end of its life. Even so, after the area was maintained, it apparently became much healthier, so it should last a while longer.

An “Oyamazakura” cherry tree was planted in March Reiwa 5 as a tree to watch over Hamawaki Elementary School’s 200th anniversary!

Here it is↓

I hope it grows strong as the school’s new symbolic tree.

And this old service gate↓

Going forward, it will be opened for school events such as spring cherry blossom viewing and sports day, and for community events such as the “Gathering to Talk About the Air Raids,” held from 13:30 on Saturday, August 6. They said graduates and others are very welcome to stop by casually. It will be held in Hamawaki Elementary School’s multipurpose room. When I think of air raids, I’ve only seen them in the anime “Grave of the Fireflies,” so this seems like a rare chance to hear real stories about the Nishinomiya air raids.

へぇ〜 32