| This bronze statue unveiled on August 6, 1971, represents a woman teacher holding a pupil and looking up at the sky in hopeless despair. It is estimated that 2,000 students and 200 teachers were killed by the atomic bomb. Many of them remain unidentified. On the stone pedestal there is a tanka, which is a Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables, written by Shinoe Shoda, an atomic bomb poet. The heavy bone must be a teacher, The small skulls beside it students gathered around (Photo:Akemi Satoda) |
| ++ Statue of Mother and Child in the Storm ++ |
| This bronze statue was presented to the City of Hiroshima by the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs during the Fifth World Conference. It was erected with the help of donations collected by the Hiroshima Municipal Federation of Women’s Associations on August 5, 1960. The statue depicts a mother holding an infant tightly in one arm and protecting another with the determination to survive whatever suffering may confront her. Representing fierce and beautiful maternal love and devotion, this statue shows that mothers need to fight to protect their children from nuclear weapons. (Photo:Akemi Satoda) |
| ++ Monument Dedicated to Sankichi Toge ++ |
| A poet Sankichi Toge was exposed to the atomic bombing 3km away from the hypocenter. Having experienced the tragedy of the bombing, he started peace movements with young people. In 1950, the Korean war broke out and on that occasion the US President Truman hinted that his country might again use nuclear weapons. Hearing the statement by the President, Sankichi Toge decided to publish an atomic bombing anthology to call for peace in the world despite severe control of the press by the GHQ (General Headquarters) of the Allied. In 1951, his poem was publicly introduced in the Berlin Peace Conference and attracted a great response around the world. Sankichi Toge died due to a lung-related disease at the age of 36. Even today, we can come in touch with his desire “No More Hiroshima” through reading his poem inscribed on the monument. Give Back the Human Give back my father, give back my mother; Give grandpa back, grandma back; Give me my sons and daughters back. Give me back myself. Give back the human race. As long as this life lasts, this life, Give back peace That will never end. By Sankichi Toge (Photo:Akemi Satoda) |
| ++ Memorial Tower To the Mobilized Students ++ |
| At the end of World WarII, students over seventh grade were mobilized for the war. Instead of studying at school, some students were engaged in demolishing wooden houses for fire prevention. Approximately three million students were mobilized across the country and 10,000 of them were killed in the war. In Hiroshima, 8,387 students were mobilized and 6,097 of them were killed by the atomic bombing. At the center of Hiroshima, students from 13 to 15 years old were obliged to demolish wooden houses for fire prevention. On August 6, 1945, many of those young students died while they were working. In the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, some articles of those young victims such as a burnt lunch box and fragment of charred nails are displayed. (Photo : Katsumi Sasaki) |