During the Edo Period (1603-1867), Hiroshima City
was the leading castle
town in the Chugoku and Shikoku regions. During the Meiji Restoration
(1868), Hiroshima City was redeveloped as the
capital of the Hiroshima Prefecture. Built on a delta, boasting the three
natural treasures of sea, rivers and mountains, and graced
by large trees, the city attracted schools
and businesses and developed thriving commercial
districts. However, the steady accumulation of various military
facilities indicated that Hiroshima was developing two faces: academic
and military. The
heavy industries that began to develop in the 1920s had turned into military
plants by the latter half of the 1930s. Prior to the atomic bombing, the entire
harbor on taken on the military ambience of the Kure naval base.
