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| Picture by Kolohe |
Visitors enter the Conservatory through Ema-Den, a 22-foot tall replica of the Namba Yasaka Shrine in Japan. It is believed that "the wide-opened mouth of the lion swallows' evil spirits and brings good luck, victory and success" to people that visit the Shrine. The lion is trimmed with copper leafing and highlighted with rice and eucalyptus.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
As part of the Japanese arrangement, a 26-foot tall replica of the bright orange Seiganto-ji Temple is displayed along with a painting (about 25-feet tall) of Nachi Falls, an actual Chokkibune Boat, and various topiary butterflies and flowers.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The ribbons coming from the top of the Temple represent a traditional Nishijin-ori textile ribbon that was made from different colored yarns with intricate patterns attained by using a variety of natural materials such as seeds, spices and preserved flowers.
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| Display sample of an actual Nishigin-ori Textile Ribbon |
On display along with the three-story Seiganto-ji Temple replica is a hand-painted image of Nachi Falls, the tallest waterfall in Japan, with an uninterrupted drop of 436 feet. The area around the falls is still used as a training area by monks who practice Shugendo.
For over 800 years the sacred Sika Deer have made Nara Park in Japan their home. The deer are considered to be a National natural treasure and are referred to by the people of Japan as "the helpers of Gods."
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Hello Kitty stands over 16-feet tall and is dressed in a flower kimono while standing on a Cherry Blossom. There are over 30,000 roses used in the display.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
The topiary butterflies and flowers have previously been displayed in the Conservatory, along with other exhibits, and have always been popular with visitors. Each hand-crafted display cage contains floral foam and a drip irrigation system that keeps the fresh-cut flowers hydrated.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Osaka Castle was constructed in the 1600s, a Japanese period of economic growth and advancement of the arts and culture. Today the actual Castle in Japan is a popular tourist destination and it has been chosen as the site of the 2025 World Expo.
Surrounding the castle are hand-crafted Cherry Blossom Trees that stand 35-40 feet high. Hanging from the trees' branches are Komobori, or KoiStreamers, which are carp shaped windsocks that are traditionally flown from April to early May in honor of children. The Komobori are said to bring good health and a strong future for families that display the windsocks near their homes.
Located around the base of the Castle are ponds that contain live Koi Carp that are kept for decorative purposes around many homes and businesses in Japan.
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| Picture by Kolohe |
Located in the lobby is a horse-mounted warrior that sits under Chihuly's Fiori di Como art blossom glass ceiling.
BONUS HISTORICAL PICTURE
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| Photographer Unknown |
When we were young there was no such thing as closing down a school to stop measles, mumps, chicken pox, bronchitis, ear infections, pink eye, Scarlet fever, whooping cough, or any other flu or sickness. My brother even had encephalitis that almost killed him; but they didn't close the school and no one else in the school came down with the disease.
I went to a one-room country school for the first eight grades (there was no kindergarten), which was not uncommon in rural South Dakota at that time. We had about 15 kids in our school, but the number of students varied from year-to-year. There was only one teacher that taught all eight grades. In my grade there were two students - myself and Marilyn Jensen. Since new kids seldom moved in, I was always the youngest in my class. (I was the second youngest student in my high school class - my best friend was the youngest.)
My birthday is in December and when I started school the cut-off date was December 31. My Mother had considered holding me back for a year; but our school teacher, Patty Arch, and the County Superintendent of Schools, Evelyn Randolph, were good friends with my Mother; so they decided to let me start school.
Our one-room country school building was located at what is now the southeast corner of 296th Avenue and 207th Street. During my school years the building was too far from town to have a street number and it was just known as Pleasant View Country School located along Canning Road east of Pierre, South Dakota.
The school was three miles from our house - one mile west and two miles south. In addition to the school building, there was a horse barn located on the property for kids that wanted to ride a horse to school; but kids seldom rode horses and were typically driven to the school by one of the parents. Wileta (my mother) often picked us up after school, so she could also pick up our mail on the way home. Our mail box was located about one-half mile north of the school because mail service in the area was only available along Canning Road.
There were some Garter Snakes that lived under the horse barn, so sometimes the boys would catch one of the smaller snakes to scare the girls. One time in the ditch by the school we found what we thought was a Garter Snake, but it was actually a rattle snake. We decided to kill the snake and cut off the rattles, so the older boys went to get a shovel and chain. Just as the older boys were returning, the snake started to crawl into a hole, so I decided to grab the snake by its tail and pull it back out. Much to my surprise, the snake turned around and was about ready to bite me when one of the older boys hit the snake with a chain and killed it.
The horse barn also had an attached coal bin for storage of coal that was used in our Ben Franklin Pot Belly Stove. Fortunately, before I graduated from 8th grade the Pot Belly Stove was replaced with a much more efficient fuel-oil stove that kept the building much warmer in the winter.
Each school day started with everyone gathering around the flag pole, raising the 48-Star American Flag, and then saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Sometimes we would also sing the first verse of a patriotic song or the South Dakota State Song. I surprised my wife recently by demonstrating that I can still sing the first verse of the South Dakota State Song.
We had to carry our lunch to school each day in a black lunch box. Since microwave ovens had not been invented yet, we could lay food on the top of the stove to heat it; however, most kids just ate their food cold. I remember that one of my favorite foods was a cold fried-egg sandwich. Now, I can not even stand the thought of eating a cold fried-egg sandwich. Our lunch box that we carried to school each day also had a place in the lid for a thermos bottle that had a glass liner; but the glass liners were broken easily, so we typically didn't have a working thermos bottle.
There were also segregated outdoor toilets - one for the girls and one for the boys. Pranksters frequently pushed the toilets over, so you had to be careful not to fall in the hole. The "biffys," as they were called, were located on each side of a softball diamond, which was the school sport played by both boys and girls on the same team.
Our school had a large inventory of sports equipment -- a basketball, but no basket hoop; a football, but no knew how to play the game; and a softball and bat; so softball was the primary sport. Kids brought their own softball gloves from home. The school also had a swing set with four swings and a teeter totter seesaw.
The Hughes County country schools were divided into two geographic regions - East County and West County. We were located in the West County region. During the Spring months we would play softball games against the other country schools in our region to see which school would get to play in the final East-West tournament at the end of the school year. Several times our school played in the East-West Tournament because we often had more older students and we were able to beat all of the other country schools in our region.
I remember at one country school game in our region our team was at bat and my older brother Jerry made a good hit. As he rounded first base everyone kept hollering for him to go to second base. As he neared second base, Johnny Luebke, from Buckeye School, was covering the base and had caught the ball from an outfielder. Johnny was a really large individual and didn't move too fast; so we all starting hollering for Jerry to slide into second base, which he did. Unfortunately, he hit Johnny's foot, causing Johnny to loose his balance and he fell on Jerry's leg. When Johnny stood up, Jerry's leg was bent in a strange angle and he started screaming in pain. Mother, with the help of other parents, loaded Jerry and the rest of the family into the car and drove him to the hospital where the doctors set his broken bone and place him a full leg cast. We didn't win the regional championship that year.
The East-West tournament was a big event that was held every year in the Pierre City Park that was located along the banks of the Missouri River. Everyone always looked forward to the annual tournament and it was attended by students, parents, grandparents, and family friends from all over Hughes County.
The morning of the big event started with various competitive games (foot races, tug-of-war, ball throw, etc.). Quite often I won the foot race for my grade level because I would take off my boots and run barefooted. This gave me an advantage for speed, but the disadvantage was that by the time I arrived at the finish line the bottoms of my feet were covered with sand burs. Some of the other kids tried running without their boots, but they said the sand burs hurt too much - especially when you had to pull out the sand burs at the end of the race and it left the bottoms of your feet bloody. I guess I just had a high level of pain tolerance, or maybe winning was more important than the pain.
After a picnic lunch, the big event of the day was the softball ball game. There were bleachers available for families, but some of the older people would sit in their cars along the sides of the ball diamond and honk the car horn when their team made a good play.
When I was in the 8th grade our school won the West Championship and advanced to the East-West Tournament. I was the pitcher for our team and we had good players. However, at the end of the Tournament our team won second place and the East team came in second-to-last.
The one-room schools were also used for social events. My favorite event was the pie-sale that was used to raise money for the school. All of the women and girls made pies and then the pies were auctioned off without disclosing who made the pie. The men did the bidding and the winning bidder had the privilege of eating the pie with the pie's maker. Consequently, the women and girls always tried to make their pies look the fanciest, so the men and boys would want to buy their pie and bid high. Wileta was known for her great pies, so her pie often received the highest bid of the evening.
By the time my younger brother graduated from 8th grade, they opened a Catholic School in town and farmers were having smaller families, which greatly reduced the number of students attending Pleasant View country school. Therefore, shortly after his class of three graduated, the school was closed, the buildings were removed, and all of the country kids were sent to a town school.
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