Otake District Volunteer Citizen Corps

Otake City is a leading coastal industrial area along the Seto Inland Sea, located in the western end of Hiroshima Prefecture.
On August 6, 1945, a dispatch mission for building demolition in Hiroshima City was assigned to Volunteer Citizen Corps of Kuba-cho, Ogata-mura and Otake-cho.
Among approximately 1,000 members who had been mobilized from Otake District, almost all the approximately 100 members of Kuba Corps and approximately 80 members of Ogata Corps were annihilated. Approximately 100 members of the Otake Corps also died.

Mobilization Status and Damage to Otake District Volunteer Citizen Corps

From the “History of Otake City” issued by Otake City Government on March 31, 1970


List of Kuba-cho Volunteer Citizen Corps, Second Company’s Members

Collection of Otake City


Shirt beaten by black rain

In the morning on August 6, Tokuso Wakamoto (then, 28) was dispatched in the backup party of the Otake-cho Volunteer Citizen Corps. On the way to his building demolition worksite, he was exposed to the bomb on a road in Fukushima-cho and passed out. When he came to, he found that he had sustained burn injuries on his face and hands and realized that most of the other corps members were not around him. He was caught in the black rain in the vicinity of Takasu, on his way to escape from the disaster site. The sticky black rain left speckles on his shirt.

Donated by Tokuso Wakamoto

Hiroshima City Volunteer Citizen Corps
Kusatsu Battalion

Kusatsu, located in the western part of Hiroshima City approximately 5 km from the hypocenter, was a village mainly supported by the fishing industry in the pre-war period and flourished as a pickup point for marine products. As the coastal area was reclaimed after the war, the district today no longer faces the ocean.
The Hiroshima City Volunteer Citizen Corps Kusatsu Battalion, which was based on the Neighborhood Association Alliance of the Kusatsu District, was composed of 6 companies from Kusatsu-higashi-machi, Kusatsu-hon-machi, Kusatsu-minami-machi, Kusatsu-hama-machi, Kogo-minami-machi and Kogo-cho. In August 1945, as marching orders to Koami District (now, west of Nishi-heiwa-ohashi) were issued to the Kusatsu Battalion for building demolition, approximately 180 members of the Kusatsu-minami-machi Company were assigned for that purpose on August 6. The majority of the assigned members were women.




Battalion Journal

The mobilization status of the volunteer citizen corps, damage done by the A-bombing and the situation of rescue and relief operations were kept in this journal.

Collection of Sakae Ogawa
Entrusted to the Hiroshima Prefectural Archives