Introduction

In fiscal 2009, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum will hold a special exhibition, "Yuichiro Sasaki Photo Exhibition," as a two-part event.

Yuichiro Sasaki, as a native photographer, lived in Hiroshima and took photographs of Hiroshima in the post-war period. In over 30 years, he took more than 100,000 photographs. His images, records of the devastation caused by the A-bombing, the city's remarkable reconstruction history, the friction and strains that arose in the reconstruction process, and other various events are also regarded as the epitome of the postwar history of Hiroshima.

In "Part 1: Building Peace," which focuses on the 10 years from the A-bombing, his approximately 100 photographs remind us of the process of reconstructing a city that was reduced to ashes, and the lives of people who lived there. The road to construct a peace memorial city has been bumpy. The scars left by the A-bombing were so deep that many difficulties and much pain awaited the citizens of Hiroshima. Sasaki followed the process quietly and with warm eyes.

Yuichiro Sasaki

1917:	Born in Hiroshima City.
1943:	Arrived in Tokyo aiming to be a professional photographer. Studied at Oriental Photography School; began working for Nippon Shashin Kosha. Took photos for the informational magazine "Weekly Photography," issued by the Cabinet's Intelligence Bureau.
1945 August 9:	Visited Hiroshima as a photo journalist after receiving news that a new type of bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. Prohibited by police from taking pictures so returned to Tokyo.
August 18:	Returned to Hiroshima. Began taking photos from the ruins of his own home. Operated a photo studio, recording the post-war period in Hiroshima from then on.
1980:	Passed away.
(photo) In 1953, around age 36