She played because of everything it took to get there

Manami Ito started playing the violin when she was seven. At 20, she lost her right arm in a motorbike accident on the way to nursing school.

Most people would have stopped playing. She became a nurse instead. Japan's first with a prosthetic arm.

Then she started swimming. By 2008, she was at the Beijing Paralympics, finishing fourth in the 100-metre breaststroke. She competed again at London 2012.

Then she picked the violin back up.

Ito had a prosthetic arm designed with a bow attachment, controlled by a harness connected to her left shoulder. She uses her shoulder blades to move the bow across the strings. It took hours of practice to relearn an instrument she had played since childhood using an arm that wasn't hers.

She retired from swimming. She left nursing. But the violin stayed.

In 2021, she walked onto the stage at the Tokyo Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony in a white dress and played for the world. A seven-year-old girl's hobby, interrupted by an accident, rebuilt with engineering and stubbornness, performed in front of millions.

She didn't play in spite of the prosthetic. She played because of everything it took to get there

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