Students of Wa school playing the koto donated by Yatsushiro Mill Japanese Musical Instruments Donated Starting in the 1950s, the Koto Club had a long and active history at Yatsushiro Mill. The koto is a very expensive traditional Japanese musical instrument. Yatsushiro Mill owned a number of five-stringed koto, on which Koto Club members practiced. Several members played the koto until around 1998, but the instruments had been unused since then. In March 2002, Kumamoto Wa (meaning ‘unity’ or ‘harmony’) School asked for donations of koto, through retirees of the Mill. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology had announced a policy of encouraging children to learn about Japanese culture through traditional Japanese musical instruments, but only a few masters are capable of teaching these instruments. In addition, musical instruments for the students to practice on were very scarce, and the School was having a great deal of difficulty. Kumamoto Wa School also teaches the shamisen, biwa, shakuhachi and other musical instruments, but the School was most in need of koto. It was therefore decided that Yatsushiro Mill would donate five-stringed koto, for educational purposes.

Books of donation by Yatsushiro Mill Donation of books At Yatsushiro Mill, Yuha Library was established in 1951 with the purpose of helping workers and people in the neighboring community learn and grow through reading. Over 13,000 books were collected by the Library. In January 1985, books related to regional history and the history of Christian people in Kyushu were donated by Yuha Library, when Yashiro City Library opened. In September 1999, Typhoon No. 18 totally destroyed the building of Yuha Library, and a decision was made to rebuild the facility as the Conference Hall. It was consequently resolved to have all the books of Yuha Library donated, excluding those related to the history of Yatsushiro Mill, papers and corporate history. The main recipients of the books include the following: ・ Books related to arts and history — to Kumamoto Prefecture Museum of Art and Yatsushiro City Library ・ Books related to politics, sociology and history of wars — to the Museum at Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun (publisher of The Kumamoto Daily News) ・ Collection of literary works and  Encyclopedia — to Yashiro City Library ・ Novels and other books of liberal arts — to Central Kyushu Junior College and Yatsushiro Prefectural High School ・ Books for children — to Yashiro City Junior High School No.8 ・ Books for entertainment — to Yatsushiro community libraries