Paper lanterns float on Motoyasu River, prayers offered to comfort A-bomb victims’ souls
Aug. 8, 2013
by Shigenobu Sakai, Staff Writer
Paper lanterns were floated on the Motoyasu River, which flows by the A-bomb Dome, and other rivers in Hiroshima on the evening of August 6. Intended to comfort the souls of the A-bomb victims and pray for peace, about 10,000 lanterns drifted on the rivers, their soft light from the candles inside reflecting on the surface of the water.
On the bank of the Motoyasu River, family members of the victims and parents with children wrote messages on the lanterns, provided in six colors, before the lanterns were floated starting at 6:00 p.m. Some of these messages read: “We must hand down the A-bomb experience” and “We don’t need nuclear weapons.” A portion of the paper used to make the lanterns was produced by recycling paper cranes that were offered to the Children’s Peace Monument. The floating lanterns looked like colorful ribbons of light.
Masateru Minamoto, 72, a resident of Saeki Ward, experienced the bombing while at home in the Nakahiro district in Naka Ward. His mother and younger brother perished in the blast. He wrote on a lantern: “Nuclear weapons, which sever the ties of family members in an instant, are intolerable” and “Rest in peace.” He set the lantern floating on the river and joined his hands in prayer.
(Originally published on August 7, 2013)
Paper lanterns were floated on the Motoyasu River, which flows by the A-bomb Dome, and other rivers in Hiroshima on the evening of August 6. Intended to comfort the souls of the A-bomb victims and pray for peace, about 10,000 lanterns drifted on the rivers, their soft light from the candles inside reflecting on the surface of the water.
On the bank of the Motoyasu River, family members of the victims and parents with children wrote messages on the lanterns, provided in six colors, before the lanterns were floated starting at 6:00 p.m. Some of these messages read: “We must hand down the A-bomb experience” and “We don’t need nuclear weapons.” A portion of the paper used to make the lanterns was produced by recycling paper cranes that were offered to the Children’s Peace Monument. The floating lanterns looked like colorful ribbons of light.
Masateru Minamoto, 72, a resident of Saeki Ward, experienced the bombing while at home in the Nakahiro district in Naka Ward. His mother and younger brother perished in the blast. He wrote on a lantern: “Nuclear weapons, which sever the ties of family members in an instant, are intolerable” and “Rest in peace.” He set the lantern floating on the river and joined his hands in prayer.
(Originally published on August 7, 2013)
