A violin crafted out of wreckage from the Japan tsunami marks one year since the disaster.

First there was the Lady Blunt Stradivarius, the sale of which in June 2011 garnered £9 million for the tsunami relief effort. Now a Japanese violinmaker has created a new instrument out of the chaos and tragedy.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the devastating Japan tsunami and earthquake, 71-year-old Muneyuki Nakazawa has found a way to commemorate the calamitous events of March 11 through music.

The Cremona-based luthier has made a violin from driftwood washed up by the wave and collected from the Iwate Prefecture in the aftermath.

This week he will send his creation around the world to be played by 1,000 violinists. Israeli virtuoso Ivry Gitlis gets first honours in a poignant musical relay Nakazawa has dubbed Sen no neiro de tsunagu kizuna (“bonds made of a thousand tones”).