Memorial Tower Dedicated to Mobilized Students

The Mobilized Student Memorial Tower stands on the southeast side of the Atomic Bomb Dome, a World Heritage site. It was built in 1967, when it was decided that mobilized students would be enshrined at Yasukuni Shrine. Yasukuni Shrine is a shrine in Tokyo that enshrines war dead since the Meiji era (mainly military personnel and others). Mobilized students were students who were forced to work without pay during World War II due to labor shortages. In Hiroshima City, just under 7,000 students died while mobilized. This memorial tower commemorates not only those in Hiroshima, but also about 10,000 mobilized students nationwide whose support contributed to the movement to build it. The Mobilized Student Memorial Tower is a five-tier tower covered with Arita-yaki ceramic panels and stands 12 meters tall. At the base is a goddess of peace, and throughout the tower are eight doves, symbols of peace. On the left and right sides are four relief panels depicting "increased food production," "sewing work," "metalworking," and "lantern floating and the tower’s origins," and on the reverse are the names of 352 schools attended by fallen mobilized students, along with the lyrics of the song "Hono Hatete wa," written in remembrance of mobilized students.