Shizuoka Prefecture Governor Heita Kawakatsu attends a press conference at the Shizuoka Prefectural Office on the afternoon of the 10th.
On the 10th, Governor Heita Kawakatsu of Shizuoka Prefecture resigned midway through his fourth term after being elected in 2009, quoting the death poem of Garasha Hosokawa, a princess of the Sengoku period who had a strange fate, at a press conference accompanying the submission of his resignation. He spoke about his feelings at the time of his departure. Some residents of the prefecture criticized the move, calling it “self-absorbed.”
It is said that Garasha wrote a poem before his death, “Only when you know when it is time to scatter, do the flowers of this world become flowers, and the people become people,” which is a poem that explains how people should attach themselves to the flowers that are falling. Before submitting his resignation, Mr. Kawakatsu was asked by the press about his feelings about resigning, and he responded by bringing up this phrase.
At the press conference, he explained the reason for the quote, saying, “It’s a wonderful farewell poem. It came out of nowhere. Garasha was a Catholic and couldn’t commit suicide, but in order to avoid being humiliated, he decided to die instead of running away. It was very touching. , (I) have had this as a code of conduct for a long time.”
Etsuo Sawamoto, 66, an unemployed man from Shizuoka City, criticized Kawakatsu in a park near the prefectural office, saying, “He should have quit sooner.” He said, “It’s a huge misunderstanding that the way you leave is beautiful. It’s just self-satisfaction.”