Completed :
August 5, 1982
Established by :
Construction Committee of the Hiroshima Monument for the A-bomb Victims
In the riverbed of the Motoyasu River near
the A-bomb Dome (hypocenter vicinity) were buried many tiles with surfaces
melted by the heat ray. When Hiroshima City undertook beautification of
the Motoyasu River in 1981, high school students made a call for excavation
of tiles and construction of a monument to strengthen resolve for building
peace. The monument is inlaid with A-bombed tiles collected largely through
the efforts of young people born into a generation that does not know war.
"When the sky turned suddenly light, my body began to melt. Friends around
the world, join in the cry from Hiroshima!" The monument committee created
the monument using as epitaph this poem written by Junko Kurata, a second-generation
survivor who was then a student at Yasuda Girls High School. It was chosen
from more than 2,000 entries by elementary, junior high, and high school
students around the country.
The theme of the bronze statue suggesting the soul of a victim going to
heaven is "Wind of No Return." It was created by Professor Hisashi Akutagawa
of Hijiyama Women's Junior College.