Historical Hiroshima: Monuments

The message of the Peace Memorial Museum is "Ban nuclear weapons and make peace in the world."

The A-bomb museum presents various facts about nuclear weapons, information about the time period of the 1940s, and most of all, what became of Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb used in warfare exploded over the city.

The museum presents the possessions of those during the time of the bombing. The museum showed toys, books, and magazines that belonged to children in the 1940's. There were also two models of Hiroshima. One model was of Hiroshima before the bombing, while the second model was of Hiroshima right after it had been bombed.

Thousands of people died from this devastating occurrence. The museum seems to want its visitors to relive the experience and know what the people of Hiroshima had to go through.

The second half of the museum becomes more emotionally moving. As soon as you reach the end of the hall, you are shocked to see very descriptive wax models of people who were extremely close to the hypocenter, the place where the bomb was dropped. Just from that scene, you think, "Their suffering must have been unimaginable."

You see tattered and torn clothes of children when the bomb hit, watches that all stopped at 8:15 AM, and a wall that is scarred by hundreds of broken and shattered pieces of glass. There is also a replica of Little Boy, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

This museum explains and warns people to never to use any kind of bomb, especially a nuclear bomb. The museum exhibits the terrible things that the people in Hiroshima had to endure, what they lost, and how they suffered. No one should ever have to experience what people did when the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima city 8:15 AM, August 6, 1945.

The Memorial Cenotaph (Hiroshima Peace City Memorial) is the central monument to honor and console the souls of the victims of the A-bombing. It stands close to the exact center of Peace Memorial Park and was unveiled on August 6, 1952. The design evokes the primitive shelters provided to earthenware dolls buried in ancient burial mounds during the Kofun period (third to seventh century). The concrete structure was resurfaced with granite in March 1985.

At the center of the monument lies a stone coffin Which holds the Register of the A-bomb Victims. Each year on August 6 the names of victims reported by their friends or families to have died of A-bomb-related diseases are added to the register. The Japanese characters carved on the front of the coffin say, "Let All The Souls Here Rest In Peace; For We Shall Not Repeat The Evil." These words are a pledge never again to repeat the evil of war that visitors make as they pray for the repose of the souls of the A-bomb victims. They express Hiroshima's determination to endure the sorrows of the past, transcend all rage and hatred, and work tirelessly for a world of genuine peace and mutual prosperity.

One of the most popular monuments in Peace Memorial Park is the Children's Peace Monument, also known as the Tower of the Paper Cranes. This monument was inspired by Sadako Sasaki, a vivacious young girl struck down by radiation aftereffects. Sadako, two at the time of the bombing, was one of many children who developed leukemia about ten years later. In the hospital she folded over a thousand paper cranes using medicine wrapping paper in the hope that doing so would cure her. She and her classmates continued bravely folding the cranes until the day she died-October 25,1955. Sadako's grieving classmates decided to build a monument in her honor. Their sincere passion led to a nationwide fundraising campaign to build a monument for her and the thousands of other children lost to the atomic bombing. With contributions from all over Japan, the monument was built and unveiled on May 5, 1958. On top of the concrete tower stands the bronze statue of a young girl holding over her head a huge paper crane symbolizing the hope of all children for a peaceful future.

In and around Peace Memorial Park stand numerous monuments to A-bomb victims. Each and every one of these monuments, beyond its specific purpose, embodies the common desire that nuclear weapons be abolished and world peace be realized.

At the beginning of the Hiroshima area economically, Hiroshima responded to the need for a central facility through which to expand trade routes. Plans were drawn up for a commercial exhibition hall on the banks of the Motoyasu River. Construction was completed in April 1915, and the new building was named the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition HMI. It was formally opened to the public in August that year. In 1921 the name was changed to the Hiroshima Prefectural

Products Exhibition Hal], and again in 1933 to the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. During the war, as Japan's economic fortunes worsened, the hall was commandeered for such governmental, quasi-governmental and rationing offices as the Chugoku-Shikoku Public Works Office, the Hiroshima District Lumber Control Corporation and others.

Standing a mere 160 meters northwest of the hypocenter, the building was heavily damaged by the blast, then burned from the ceiling down by fires ignited instantly by the heat rays. All occupants of the building perished. Because the force of the blast came from almost directly above, however, the section of the building under the central dome remained standing. The skeletal structure of the dome looming high above the ruins was a conspicuous landmark and became known locally as the A-bomb Dome.

The A-bomb Dome must be passed on to future generations as a symbol of peace and as a witness that conveys the story of the horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons.

This tower was erected by the association fror the Mobilized Student Victoms of Hiroshima Prefecture in May 1967, in the park area to the south of the A-bomb Dome. During the Pacific War, students were mobilized for labor service to increase production and for the demolition of buildings. Among them some 6,000 were killed in the atomic bombing. On each side of the tower are two plaques, each two-meters high showing 1) Work to increase food production, 2) Girl students sewing, 3) Factory work, and 4) Lanterns floating in the river.

The ashes of tens of thousands of victims of the A-bombing were placed in the A-bomb Memorial Mound at the northwestern end of Peace Park. Most of them were unidentified. Immediately after the bombing of Hiroshima the dead bodies were cremated by rescue squads and the ashes have been gathered together in the mound

The ceremony for the first striking of the Peace Bell took place on September 20, 1964, upon completion of the bell. A world map with no national boundaries symbolizing "One World" is engraved on the surface of the bell, which is 1.5 meters long and 1,200 kilograms in weight. Visitors are encouraged to toll the bell freely.