Hiroshima Detention Center Mural

The Hiroshima Detention House Mural is a mural painted on the walls of the Hiroshima Detention House in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. It is a work by the artist Tadayoshi Irino, who lived in Hiroshima and was exposed to the atomic bombing there. The original painting, created in 1989, depicted the "Kozan Ichiranzu," illustrating a map of Hiroshima around 1808 as well as the lifestyles and customs of the time. However, due to aging, it was renewed, and over the five years starting in 2009, artist Tadayoshi Irino completed an emakimono-style panorama measuring 2 meters in height and 200 meters in length. Because the Hiroshima Detention House has an execution chamber and may house individuals with finalized death sentences (death row inmates), it is also seen as a spot that attracts the interest of many visitors. It holds death row inmates from five prefectures in the Chugoku region under the jurisdiction of the Hiroshima Regional Correction Headquarters. At present, a death row inmate from the Hikari City mother-and-child murder case is being held there. To get to the Hiroshima Detention House Mural, get off the Hiroshima Electric Railway at Katei Saibansho-mae Station and walk 2 minutes. Painted on a wall along an ordinary street, it is something Hiroshima residents often see, and its soft, gentle style helps ease the atmosphere around the detention house.