Hiroshima-Nagasaki: Blood- splattered legacy

Now if you visit these places, all you would see are structures built in the memory of the lost cities with silent cries of the victims buried under the debris caused by the devastation. These heritage sites exist only to remind mankind of the evil that resides in their very being.

Some of the heritage sites which stand as a testament of human destruction are Birkenau Concentration Camp (Poland) where the Nazi Germans slaughtered the Jewish people, the Island of Goree in Senegal that was used as a base in slave trade and the Robben Island in the Republic of South Africa where people opposing the apartheid were imprisoned.

The Genbaku Dome in Japan fulfills the criteria of a memorial erected directly because of the evils of warfare. The dome is basically the ruin of the former Hiroshima Industrial Promotion Hall that was destroyed after the first atomic bomb was dropped directly on top of it, resulting in only the walls being partially spared and the characteristic form of the building remaining with the iron frame of the dome.

Situated on the opposite bank of the Motoyashu River which runs past the dome, is the Peace Memorial Park where the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound, Children’s Peace Monument are built. There is also a cenotaph built to pay respects to the deceased souls of the atomic blast.

On August 6th every year, in the Peace Memorial Park in front of the Hiroshima Peace City Monument, a peace memorial ceremony is held to appease the souls of those destroyed by the atomic bomb as well as to pray for the eternal peace on Earth. During the ceremony, the Peace Declaration read out by the Mayor of Hiroshima city, which appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons and for the realisation of world peace, is transmitted worldwide. At exactly 8.15 am, which is the precise time when the atomic bomb was dropped years ago, the Peace Bell is rung and the citizens offer silent prayers for one minute for the repose of the souls of the bomb victims.

Like Hiroshima, another city was also completely destroyed by the August bombings. A certain city which goes by the name of Nagasaki was also reduced to ash on the 9th of August. More than 750,000 lives were wiped out and the damage to property was countless. The survivors, even after so many years, cannot forget the horrific tragedy that had befallen them on that fateful day. To commemorate the fallen and to prevent the recurrence of such disasters to happen, a statue Heiwa Kinen-Zo was built by Seibo Kitamura, a local sculptor in 1955. 

The statue which is made completely of bronze is 9.7 meters in height and weighs around 30 tons. According to common lore, the statue’s right hand is raised upwards to point to the threat of nuclear wars while the horizontally extended left hand symbolises peace. The surrounding area of the statue located in the Nagasaki Peace Park is a designated zone to pray for world peace and also has the Fountain of Peace attached to it, in order to mourn for the victims’ souls who died there while seeking water. Every year on August 9 the Nagasaki Memorial service for the Dead and Peace Ceremony are held in front of the statue.