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Memoir of the A-Bombing
"Envisioning Peace"
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by Hiroko Kishida
Atomic Bomb Witness for this Foundation
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In Hiroshima, the place it was said that no vegetation would grow for 75 years because of the atomic bombing, when I think about the sorrow over every single life lost, it makes me feel even more deeply that my mission, as one who survived and is still living, is to communicate the A-bomb experience to younger generations.
"We'll definitely be back later"
On the morning of August 6, 1945, it was a sunny day in Hiroshima.
My home was a two-story wooden house located 1.5km from the hypocenter.
My father (36) had been conscripted to the army and sent to China, and my older brother (8) was not at home, attending national elementary school.
My mother (34), grandfather (65) and younger brother (4) were in the main house, and I (6) was in the toilet in the separate building, when I noticed the sound of an airplane and looked up at the sky from the window.
However, I could not see any plane and pulled my head in.
It was at that moment that there was the sound of a huge explosion and everything around me went pitch black.
At the same time, the dirt wall of the toilet crumbled, and the next thing I knew I was completely buried in dirt, which weighed heavily on top of me.
Without thinking, I yelled "Mum, help me!"
My mother heard me and pulled me out.
The second floor of the house had been blown away in an instant by the horrendous blast, but miraculously my mother, grandfather and younger brother were in between the pillars and survived.
We could not stay in the house, as we did not know when another bomb might be dropped.
My grandfather could not walk well, so he told my mother to hurry, saying "Don't worry about me, just get away quickly."
My mother told him "We'll definitely be back later,"
and as soon as she took my younger brother and I outside, the entrance to the house collapsed noisily.
Following the evacuation drill, we tried to flee to the suburbs.
The streets were filled with people fleeing, walking like sleepwalkers.
After about thirty minutes the so-called "black rain" started to fall, and we ran into a tomato field on the side of the road to escape it.
I will never forget the eerie sight of the black drops falling off the bright red ripe tomatoes.
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Young mother piggybacking her child
We continued walking until evening, then took a break in the yard of a farmhouse.
We received white rice balls being given out to people there, and I have never been so happy.
There was a young mother who came there carrying her baby, already dead, on her back.
She asked everyone imploringly "Give some food to my child too,"
but everyone was so preoccupied with their own survival, there was nothing that could be done.
The image of that mother and child were deeply engraved into my memory.
We continued to walk night and day, and reached the home of a friend of my mother's.
From the next day, my mother went out to search for my grandfather and older brother.
Our home was razed to the ground, my grandfather turned to ash.
He is still to this day "missing".
One week later, we found my older brother, but he had severe burns and suffered for a long time.
My husband, an atomic bomb orphan
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"Young mother carrying her dead child on her back"
Created by Kana Tsumura, Hiroko Kishida
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My husband was 6 years old when the bomb was dropped, and had been evacuated and was living away from his parents.
Because of that he escaped the bombing.
However, his parents and younger brother, who were in the city at the time, lost their lives.
In an instant he became an atomic bomb orphan, and after that lived at the homes of different relatives.
When he got older he worked at a securities company, but he had a turbulent attitude towards life, probably because he was trying to make up for the loneliness that he had put up with during his childhood.
However, he changed greatly when he came into contact with Buddhism, and he was able to apply himself to his work as well as finding happiness in a lifestyle where he helped people around him who needed help.
He contracted kidney disease at the age of thirty and passed away when he was fifty.
My role as atomic bombing witness
When I talk about the lives of my husband and my mother, and the love that they both gave to me, and more than anything, when I earnestly talk about the wishes of those who lost their lives in the atomic bombing longing for peace, I feel like I am at one with those listening to me－the school children on their school trip who listen to my stories, the foreign visitors who wipe away tears as they share their thoughts with me.
These encounters give me encouragement and courage.
We must not forget the wishes of those who had their lives taken away, full of regret.
Hiroshima is a city of prayers.
It is a place where we keenly feel the preciousness of life and the importance of peace.
I want to continue to appeal for the abolishment of nuclear weapons.
Pray for the creation of a peaceful world!
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Profile
[Hiroko Kishida]
Born in 1939.
Was in the toilet of her home in Yokogawa Town 1.5km north of the hypocenter when the atomic bomb was dropped, aged 6.
Her mother, grandfather and younger brother were also at home at the time of the bombing.
Her older brother was a 2nd year student at a national elementary school, and was in a classroom at school when the bomb was dropped.
Her father had been conscripted to the army and was serving in China at the time.
Active as an atomic bombing witness since 2015.
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