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Hiroshima A-bomb Survivors
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| This exhibit utilizes drawings, journals, A-bomb artifacts, and video testimony to present the A-bomb experiences of those who submitted drawings. The war and the A-bomb destroyed the everyday lives of ordinary people. The lives taken will never return. We hope this exhibit enhances your awareness that the world today remains under the threat of war, even nuclear war. What you see here is not a relic of the distant past. It could easily happen again right here. |
| Masao Matsumoto Exposed approx. 800m from the hypocenter Masao Matsumoto (then, 11) was in the sixth grade of elementary school. He, his mother Natsumi (35), his sister Hideko (7), and his brother Seiji (11 months) were exposed to the bomb on their way from their home in Funairi to their evacuation site in Kabe. They were riding a completely full streetcar and had just passed the stop at Tokaichi. His mother, little brother and sister died one after the other of A-bomb disease in August. His father, Gunzo, who was conscripted and fighting in China, died of disease in the line of duty in November 1945. Masao lost four members of his family to the war. 
7 Skeleton of a burned-out streetcar Photo / Yuichiro Sasaki Courtesy / Yugo Sasaki September 1945 |
 5 Getting out of a streetcar in mass confusion Drawing and text / Masao Matsumoto Immediately after the A-bomb drop, August 6, 1945 Approx. 800m from the hypocenter North side of the Tokaichi Intersection "Very soon after we left the Tokaichi stop, everything went black. I had no idea what was happening. Inside the car was great confusion. 'Let me out.' 'Open the door!' People were pushing and shoving. I made my way out when it got a little lighter. I saw a sea of fire in all four directions, as hot as the fires of hell. The surface of the road was hot enough to burn shoes. The streetcar had been blown about 60 centimeters to the west. Looking eery and demonic, people began fleeing toward Yokogawa. I heard voices of people trapped under their houses calling for help." |
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6 Surrounded by the sea of fire, having no place to run, going down to the riverbank Drawing and text / Masao Matsumoto 8:40 a.m., August 6, 1945 Approx. 1,290m from the hypocenter Yokogawa Bridge "After crossing Yokogawa Bridge, I saw a small boat heading upstream. So much steam was rising from the river surface it seemed the river was on fire. 'Give us a ride,' I shouted. 'Can't take anymore.' It was high tide, so there was no place to stand on the bank. I put my shirt over my head and ran along a burning street as fast as I could. I could no longer cry or sweat. The water in my body was gone. I was so thirsty all I wanted was water." |
| Tomiko Ikeshoji (Kubo) Exposed approx. 1,500m from the hypocenter Tomiko Kubo (then, 17) was a nursing student working at the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital. Her night shift had just ended and she was still on the ward when the A-bomb exploded. Almost immediately afterwards, many injured victims came seeking help. Tomiko was injured on her face and arms and had a cracked rib, but ignoring her own injuries she began treating others. Because the ward was full of patients, she slept outdoors. On August 22 she was finally able to take a break and return to her hometown to recuperate. 
8 Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital badly damaged by the blast Photo / Toshio Kawamoto Around October 1945 Approx. 1,500m from the hypocenter Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital Senda-machi 1-chome |  
9．10Child's skeleton in the rubble Drawing and text / Tomiko Ikeshoji (Kubo) August 7, 1945 Approx. 1,500m from the hypocenter Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital Senda-machi 1-chome "In the ruins of a private home outside the hospital grounds, I found the skeleton of a child. At that instant, mysteriously I saw on those bones the cute face of a child. It was a face without injury, without suffering, the face of a first or second grader. I was overwhelmed. Why was such a child here? Yet I never even shed any tears. When I went to that spot again in November, the child was gone, probably recovered by family. Nearby, some tiny sprouts were coming up." |
| Rikuo Fukamachi Exposed approx. 2,200m from the hypocenter Rikuo Fukamachi (then, 13) was exposed in his home in Ushita-machi. He helped to dig out his aunt, who was trapped under the house, then with his aunt, his mother and three siblings he fled to the river. His father Kan (then, 53) was on his way to work and was never seen again. Rikuo searched for Kan day after day, but never found a trace. His aunt, Tomo, was severely injured. She gradually weakened and died two months after the bombing. 
13 Bullet-proof vest Donation / Rikuo Fukamachi Approx. 2,200m from the hypocenter Ushita-machi (now, Ushita-minami 1-chome) |
 11 A ray of light that stabbed like an arrow Drawing and text / Rikuo Fukamachi August 6, 1945 Approx. 2,200m from the hypocenter Ushita-machi (now, Ushita-minami 1-chome) "A tremendous flash of light stabbed like an arrow yet filled every space. I was in the entrance hall, just about to leave the house. The blast blew me, the house, the walls, and all our furniture away. I lost consciousness and lay buried under the rubble until I heard my mother's voice calling me." 
12 Carrying my sister on my back, I went into the river to look for my missing father. Drawing and text / Rikuo Fukamachi August 6, 1945 Approx. 2,200m from the hypocenter Ushita-machi (now, Ushita-minami 1-chome) "We believe my father was close to the hypocenter. I searched for him every day, looking for the German-made watch with the black band of which he was so proud. My sister, who had just turned 1, was barely breathing. She did well to endure that midsummer heat. In the end, I never found any trace of my father." |
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| Hatsuko Abe Exposed approx. 1,900m from the hypocenter Hatsuko Abe (then, 24) was exposed at home in Hakushima-kuken-cho with her one-month-old daughter Hiroko. The house collapsed on the two, but Hatsuko managed to extricate herself and her infant. She and her gravely burned husband, Katsushige (then, 24), fled to the suburbs. Two days later, they returned to Hatsuko's family home in Fukuoka City, where they received treatment. In September her daughter Hiroko's condition worsened drastically, and she died on the 23rd.  15 Blouse Donation / Hatsuko Abe Approx. 1,900m from the hypocenter Hakushima-kuken-cho This blouse Hatsuko wore at the time of the bombing was brand new when she put it on that morning. |
 14 Carrying my child, I escape to the suburbs with my husband. Drawing and text / Hatsuko Abe August 6, 1945 "Skin is hanging from my husband's face. His sleeves and pants are torn over the burned, peeling skin of his arms and legs. I am bleeding from the face and head and carrying my child despite broken bones in my hands. At the relief station nearby, they turn us away. 'We can only treat soldiers here, not civilians.' Neither can the next one do anything for us, because they have run out of medicine. The three of us stagger across fields to get to the outskirts. With nothing to eat, my milk dries up. Hiroko cries and I cry too. My husband says, 'It's too sad if you cry. Don't cry, don't cry.' Even so, we were so wretched that we all walked along weeping." |
| Kanji Yamasaki Exposed approx. 1,800m from the hypocenter The neighborhood that is now Peace Memorial Park was home to many, but was also a major entertainment and shopping district. The house of Kanji Yamasaki (then, 17) stood in Tenjin-machi, precisely where the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum stands now. He was exposed and severely injured at his workplace, Second Hiroshima Prefectural Junior High School. When Kanji finally made it home the next day, the area was a burned plain with no sign of his family. His mother Tomi (54), his aunt, and five of his cousins who were living with them at the time were all killed in the bombing.  17 Small dishes Donation / Kanji Yamasaki Approx. 350m from the hypocenter Tenjin-machi (now, Nakajima-cho) In mid-September, 1945 Kanji and his sister (then, 32) dug up the ruins of their house in search of the remains of their mother, their aunt, and their cousins. They found no remains. They did find these small plates that the family had used since Kanji was small for sweet bean and boiled vegetable side dishes. These were all they had to remember them by. |
 16 Corpses in the rubble, corpses in the fire cisterns Drawing and text / Kanji Yamasaki August 7, 1945 Approx. 350m from the hypocenter Tenjin-machi (now, Nakajima-cho) "Crawling in a dreamlike state, I managed finally to get home, but there was nothing there. Complete rubble, nothing to arrest the eye but corpses, everywhere, piled like mountains. There were four or five people lying in the same position facing the same direction in each fire cistern. The way they looked, the way they died, was so pitiable I couldn't look straight at them. There was a whole line of fire cisterns, each with humans in them. I heard voices crying 'Water, water,' but I couldn't help them, couldn't even think." |
| Ekiji Sasayama Exposed approx. 3,200m from the hypocenter Ekiji Sasayama (then, 26) belonged to Unit 111 of the Hiroshima Division stationed at the anti-aircraft artillery corps at Shinjo-cho. He was exposed to the bomb while resting in his barracks. He took care of injured soldiers who came fleeing from the headquarters in Moto-machi. Later, he gathered and cremated corpses in the Western Drill Ground in Moto-machi. 
20 Water bottle,tent canvas used for stretchers Donation / Ekiji Sasayama |
 18 Carrying and cremating charred corpses Drawing and text / Ekiji Sasayama August 7, 1945 Approx. 400m from the hypocenter Moto-machi "Some turned to charred corpses. Some suffering, groaning in pain, unable to stand. I can still hear the voices of soldiers who had been singing so lustily their military songs. The drill ground stank with all the burned or partially burned corpses lying under the blazing sun. Our task was to gather and cremate them. Day after day we made piles of bodies interspersed with layers of wood, then set them on fire." |
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19 Burned soldier just before death Drawing and text / Ekiji Sasayama Approx. 3,200m from the hypocenter Shinjo-cho "I cared for about 30 officers and soldiers who fled from our headquarters near town, but I had no medicine. They all lacked the strength to eat and wanted nothing but water. They weakened and died. This soldier was just about to die. His eyes were open, but he could not bend his fingers. He groaned weakly, then fell face up and breathed his last. I watched over him to the end." |
| Haruno Horimoto (Akamatsu) Exposed approx. 2,700m from the hypocenter Haruno Akamatsu (then, 16) was a student at Hiroshima Dentetsu Domestic Science Girls School. She worked half of each day as a streetcar conductor, and the other half she studied at school. That day, she was exposed to the bomb in her dormitory in Minami-machi 2-chome. She fled to the designated refuge, the Jissen Girls High School in Inokuchi-mura, Saeki-gun(now, Inokuchi 4-chome Nishi-ku), and there she cared for the dying students. Also, beginning August 9, she rode the streetcar that ran back and forth between Koi and Nishi-tenma-cho. Her mother, Aki, who had been in Nakajima-cho near the hypocenter, was never found.  23 A-bombed streetcars running through the city Photo / Michio Ide April 1995 Ote-machi 4-chome The streetcars started running three days after the bombing. All the main lines were in operation within two months. The sight of the streetcars moving through the city turned to a burned plain was tremendously encouraging to the people. Four A-bombed streetcars manufactured in 1942 are still in service today. |
 21 A friend whose hair fell out; purple spots appeared all over her body, and died Drawing and text / Haruno Horimoto Approx. 7,750m from the hypocenter Inokuchi-mura, Saeki-gun (now, Inokuchi 4-chome, Nishi-ku) "I had started suffering from diarrhea that night and was going back and forth to the toilet all night long. The next day, when I lacked even that much energy and was just sitting in the hall, I was found by an acquaintance who gave me some medicine. I was able to move again the next day. My friend, who had been lying next to me, got purple spots all over her body and, singing incessantly the nursery rhyme, 'The Sea Is Wide, The Sea Is Big', she passed away." |
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22 Inside the first streetcar after restoration Drawing and text / Haruno Horimoto August 9, 1945 "A company person gave me a bag with no tickets and no change saying, 'You don't have to take money from people who don't have it'. Once I got on, we went back and forth between Koi and Tenma-cho (note: Nishi-tenma-cho). We had no scheduled running times or break times. We started when the seats were about full of passengers. Many people were surprised. 'What? The streetcars are moving?' But many were grateful saying, 'I'm afraid to cross the bridges myself.' Many who couldn't pay the fare said, 'Thank you. I'm sorry." |
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A-bomb Drawings -A People's Record of Hiroshima
A-bomb Drawing Campaign Hiroshima A-bomb Survivors Vanished Scenes of Hiroshima A People's Record of Hiroshima Individuals and Group Contributors to This Exhibition Return to TOP |