A-bomb Victim - the Monument of Hiroshima

The “Atomic Bomb Victims: Hiroshima” Monument was completed in 1982 along the Motoyasu River, about 500 meters south of the Atomic Bomb Dome. There are more than 50 monuments around the Peace Memorial Park area, but only three—including this one—were created with children playing a central role. The project began after 1977, when high school students with no direct war experience excavated thousands of roof tiles that had been scorched by the atomic bomb’s heat rays from the Motoyasu River near the hypocenter and called them “genbaku kawara” (atomic-bomb tiles). In 1981, Hiroshima City planned river works, but the students appealed to preserve the tiles and proposed building a monument using them. Donations gathered from across Japan, and the monument was completed the following year. The monument features a bronze statue expressing the souls of victims ascending, placed atop a square base; part of the base is inlaid with the “atomic-bomb tiles.” The inscription was created based on an original draft by a second-generation atomic-bomb survivor (hibakusha) high school girl, selected from over 2,000 proposals submitted by elementary, junior high, and high school students nationwide.