Seiyō Elementary School

Seiyō Elementary School Logo - The sky blue element represents the pure (清) waters of the Osarube River; the darker blue element represents a strong hawk (鷹) with wings spread to the future. Together the two elements spell "SE," the first two letters in the romanization "Seiyō."

Name	Seiyō Elementary School
Name (Japanese)	清鷹小学校
Location	Takanosu, Kitaakita
Telephone	☎ 0186-63-2315
Fax	0186-63-2317
Website	http://www.kumagera.ne.jp/seiyo/
Email	✉seiyo@kumagera.ne.jp
Address (Japanese)	〒018-3454 秋田県北秋田市脇神字塚ノ岱165番地1
Address	165-1 Wakigami Aza-tsukanotai, Kitaakita-shi, Akita-ken 〒018-3454

Seiyō Elementary School was founded on April 1st, 2021 as the merger of Takanosu Chūō Elementary School and Takanosu Minami Elementary School. The Takanosu Minami Junior High School building was repurposed as the school building for this school (after a year of renovations following the closing of Takanosu Minami JHS on March 31st, 2020).

Naming history

Year Established
	1969	1967	2005	2009	2021
沢口小 Sawaguchi ES	中央小 Chūō ES		鷹巣中央小 Takanosu Chūō ES		清鷹小 Seiyō ES
七日市小 Nanokaichi ES	南小 Minami ES		鷹巣南小 Takanosu Minami ES	鷹巣南小 Takanosu Minami ES
坊山小 Bōyama ES
竜森小 Ryūshin ES		竜森小 Ryūshin ES
葛黒小 Kuzoguro ES

The path to Seiyō

Seiyo Elementary School

Seiyo ES Speech Stand

The original decision of the Merger Committee overseeing the merger of Takanosu Chūō ES and Takanosu Minami ES was to poll the residents living within the merged school's area for the name which the new school would adopt. A two-part polling process was decided upon. First, residents were asked to freely submit any and all name ideas for the new school; with the only caveat being that the new school could not have the name of either of the schools merging into it (Takanosu Chūō Elementary School/鷹巣中央小学校 or Takanosu Minami Elementary School/鷹巣南小学校). Second, those collected ideas were made into a list which the residents voted on. Each household was allowed to cast one vote for any one name on the list.

The name that garnered the most votes on this poll was Osarube Elementary School (おさるべ小学校; in hiragana), named after the Osarube River which runs through the area. Other variants of Osarube ranked highly as well, such as 小猿部小学校 in kanji, and オサルベ小学校 in katakana. However, there was a vocal, public backlash when it was announced that the name Osarube Elementary School had topped the ranking. Some felt that the presence of "saru" (猿; monkey) in the name would be an embarrassment to the school children, and make them the target of bullying from children at other schools when they were out on excursions. A majority of the student bodies at both of the two merging schools, especially, were against the name Osarube; even after the schools took measures such as explaining its meaning: an Ainu word meaning "riverbank lush with reeds," no relation to monkeys. The character 猿 (monkey) in the kanji name is only ateji.

With no end in sight, the Merger Committee eventually reneged and decided to conduct a second vote to decide the name of the new school. The new ballot contained three candidates for the new school name:

1. Osarube Elementary School (おさるべ小学校)

   Named after the Osarube River, and the surrounding Osarube Area; a name which has a long history, and is used and loved by many who live there. This name was chosen as a candidate in the hopes that it would carry the name Osarube into the future, and create a sense of unity among the community.

2. Seiyō Elementary School (清鷹小学校)

   A name suggested by the students at the two schools. The character 清 (sei; pure) represents the pure water of the Osarube River, and is also a symbol of peace. The character 鷹 (yō; hawk) lends an image of strength, as a hawk soaring through the open sky; the same character also appears in the name of both merging schools, where it is pronounced taka in both cases.

3. Takanosu Chūō Minami Elementary School (鷹巣中央南小学校)

   A name chosen to bear the legacy of both of the merging schools. Takanosu (鷹巣) being the name of the town before it merged into Kitaakita City. Chūō (中央; central) and Minami (南; south) being representative of the new school's location in the old town.

For this ballot, each member of each household was allowed a single vote, with the option that some members of a household could vote differently from others in that same household. The name Seiyō topped this final ballot, and become the Merger Committee's official recommendation for the new school's name.

The name Seiyō (清鷹) did not appear on the initial list of name ideas collected for the first ballot. However, the phonetically identical name Seiyō (青鷹) did appear on the list, using the character 青 (young; blue) for sei, rather than 清 (pure).

ALT History

Year	Seiyō ES
2021-2022	Mariah S.
2022-2023	Tyron S.
2023-2024
2024-2025
2025-2026	Jessica H.

School Song

清鷹小学校校歌 三浦　栄一　作詞 川口洋一郎　作曲	せいようしょうがっこうこうか みうら　えいいち　さくし かわぐち　よういちろう　さっきょく
一 校舎に笑顔　はずませながら ひとみ明るく　新しく 季節織りなす　森吉山に 届けるみんなの　シンフォニー 大地をわたる　風を感じて 今をはばたけ　清鷹小学校 二 目指すはるかな　大海原へ 心豊かに　清らかに 命はぐくむ　小猿部川に 届けるみんなの　ハーモニー 大地うるおす　流れ感じて 明日へはばたけ　清鷹小学校 三 かたいきずなと　あつい勇気で 希望のつばさ　たくましく やさしさ香る　わがふるさとに 届けるみんなの　宝箱 未来を創る　夢輝かせ 永遠にはばたけ　清鷹小学校 永遠にはばたけ　清鷹小学校	いち こうしゃにえがお　はずませながら ひとみあかるく　あたらしく きせつおりなす　もりよしざんに とどけるみんなの　シンフォニー だいちをわたる　かぜをかんじて いまをはばたけ　せいようしょうがっこう 二 めざすはるかな　おおうなばらへ こころゆたかに　きよらかに いのちはぐくむ　おさるべがわに とどけるみんなの　ハーモニー だいちうるおす　ながれかんじて あすへはばたけ　せいようしょうがっこう 三 かたいきずなと　あついゆうきで きぼうのつばさ　たくましく やさしさかおる　わがふるさとに とどけるみんなの　たからばこ みらいをつくる　ゆめかがやかせ とわにはばたけ　せいようしょうがっこう とわにはばたけ　せいようしょうがっこう

See also

• Seiyō Elementary School website (Japanese)
• Takanosu Junior High School
• Takanosu Minami Junior High School
• Takanosu Chūō Elementary School
• Takanosu Minami Elementary School
• Education in Kitaakita