Peace Memorial Park ~ Travel

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (広島平和記念公園 Hiroshima heiwa kinen kōen^?) is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack, and to the memories of the bomb's direct and indirect victims (of whom there may have been as many as 140,000). The location of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was once the city’s busiest downtown commercial and residential district. The park was built on open field that was created by the explosion. Today there are a number of memorials and monuments, museums, and lecture halls, which draw over a million visitors annually. The annual 6 August Peace Memorial Ceremony, which is sponsored by the city of Hiroshima, is also held in the park.The purpose of the Peace Memorial Park is to not only memorialize the victims, but also to establish the memory of nuclear horrors and advocate world peace.

The A-Bomb Dome.

Notable symbols

A-Bomb DomeMain

The A-Bomb Dome is the skeletal ruins of the former Industrial Promotion Hall. It is the building closest to the hypocenter of the nuclear bomb that remained at least partially standing. It was left how it was after the bombing in memory of the casualties. The A-Bomb Dome, to which a sense of sacredness and transcendence has been attributed, is situated in a distant ceremonial view that is visible from the Peace Memorial Park’s central cenotaph. It is an officially designated site of memory for the nation’s and humanity’s collectively shared heritage of catastrophe. The A-Bomb Dome is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Statue of the A-Bomb Children

Children's Peace Monument

The Children's Peace Monument is a statue dedicated to the memory of the children who died as a result of the bombing. The statue is of a girl with outstretched arms with a folded paper crane rising above her. The statue is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki (佐々木禎子, Sasaki Sadako?), a young girl who died from radiation from the bomb. She believed that if she folded 1,000 paper cranes she would be cured. To this day, people (mostly children) from around the world fold cranes and send them to Hiroshima where they are placed near the statue. The statue has a continuously replenished collection of folded cranes nearby.

The Rest House of Hiroshima Peace Park.

Rest House

The Rest House of Hiroshima Peace Park is another atomic bombed building in the park. The building was built as the Taishoya Kimono Shop in March 1929. It was used as a fuel distribution station since the shortage of fuel began in June 1944. On August 6, 1945, when the bomb exploded, the roof was crushed, the interior destroyed, and everything consumable burned except in the basement. Eventually, 36 people in the building died of the bombing; 47-year-old Eizo Nomura survived in the basement, which had a concrete roof through which radiation had a more difficult time penetrating He survived into his 80s.

The main building of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

Ceremonies

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

Every year on 6 August, "A-bomb Day," the City of Hiroshima holds the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony to console the victims of the atomic bombs and to pray for the realization of lasting world peace. The ceremony is held in the morning from 8:00, in front of the Memorial Cenotaph with many citizens including the families of the deceased. During the ceremony, A one-minute silence is observed at 8:15 for the victims, at the time of the atomic bomb's explosion.

Lantern Ceremony

And in the evening of the same day, Lantern ceremony is held to send off the spirits of the victims on lanterns with peace messages floated on the waters of the Motoyasu River.

International Conference Center Hiroshima

Museums

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is the primary museum in the park dedicated to educating visitors about the bomb. The Museum has exhibits and information covering the build up to war, the role of Hiroshima in the war up to the bombing, and extensive information on the bombing and its effects, along with substantial memorabilia and pictures from the bombing. The building also offers some marvelous views of the Memorial Cenotaph, Peace Flame, and A-Bomb Dome.

Hall of Remembrance

International Conference Center Hiroshima

International Conference Center HiroshimaInternational Conference Center Hiroshima is in the Peace Park, west side of the main building of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

The Memorial Cenotaph.

Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall

The Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims is an effort by the Japanese national government to remember and mourn the sacred sacrifice of the atomic bomb victims. It is also an expression of Japan's desire for genuine and lasting peace. The Hall contains a number of displays. On the roof, near the entrance (the museum is underground) is a clock frozen at 8:15, the time the bomb went off. The museum contains a seminar room, library, temporary exhibition area, and victims' information area. Additionally, one of the more stunning areas is The Hall of Remembrance, which contains a 360 degree panorama of the destroyed Hiroshima recreated using 140,000 tiles — the number of people estimated to have died from the bomb by the end of 1945.

Peace Flame with the Peace Memorial Museum in the background

Monuments

Near the center of the park is a concrete, saddle-shaped monument that covers a cenotaph holding the names of all of the people killed by the bomb. The cenotaph carries the epitaph "安らかに眠って下さい過ちは繰返しませぬから": "Rest in Peace, for the error shall not be repeated." (in Japanese, can also be read as "we shall not repeat the error"). Through the monument you can see the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome. The Memorial Cenotaph was one of the first memorial monuments built on open field on August 6, 1952. The arch shape represents a shelter for the souls of the victims.

The epitaph on the cenotaph has angered right-wing circles in Japan, who viewed the words "we shall not repeat the error" as self accusation of the wartime government of the Japanese empire. In July 2005, the cenotaph was vandalized by a 27 year old Japanese affiliated with the Japanese right.

A schoolgirl rings the Peace Bell in the Hiroshima Peace Park

Peace Flame

The Peace Flame is another monument to the victims of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, but it has an additional symbolic purpose. The flame has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964, and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed and the planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound.

Peace Bells

There are three Peace Bells in the Peace Park. The smaller one is used only for the Peace Memorial Ceremony. Except that day, it is displayed in the east building of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The more well-known Peace Bell stands near the Children's Peace Monument and consists of a large Japanese bell hanging inside a small open-sided structure. Visitors are encouraged to ring the bell for world peace and the loud and melodious tolling of this bell rings out regularly throughout the Peace Park. The Peace Bell was built out in the open on September 20, 1964. The surface of the bell is a map of the world, and the "sweet spot" is an atomic symbol, designed by Masahiko Katori [1899-1988], cast by Oigo Bell Works, in Takaoka, Toyama. The inscriptions on the bell are in Greek (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), Japanese, and Sanskrit. It is translated as "Know yourself." The Greek embassy donated the bell to the Peace Park and picked out the most appropriate ancient Greek philosophical quote of Socrates. The Sanskrit was translated by the Indian ambassador, and the Japanese by a university lecturer.

The Gates of Peace

Atomic Bomb

Memorial MoundThe Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound is a large, grass-covered knoll that contains the ashes of 70,000 unidentified victims of the bomb.

A-Bomb Dome at sunset

Cenotaph for Korean Victims

Among the 400,000 people who were killed or exposed to lethal post-explosion radiation, at least 45,000 were Korean, but the number is uncertain, because the population has been neglected as the minority. Additionally, 300,000 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki returned to Korea after liberation from the Japanese colonialism. The monument, beautified with Korean national symbols, is intended to honour Korean victims and survivors of the atomic bomb and Japanese colonialism. The monument's inscription reads "The Monument in Memory of the Korean Victims of the A[tomic]-Bomb. In memory of the souls of His Highness Prince Yi Wu and over 20000 other souls", while the side-inscription reads "Souls of the dead ride to heaven on the backs of turtles."

Memorial Tower to the Mobilized Students

The Gates of Peace

A recent addition to the park, this monument contains six gates covered with the word "peace" in 49 languages from around the world. The gates are about 5 meters high and 2 meters wide.