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Junior Writers Reporting

Hiroshima group stages A-bomb performance “I Pray”

“I Pray,” an NPO based in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, stages an original performance on the theme of the atomic bombing.

The “I Pray” performance was created in 1996 by Yoko Kihara, a resident of Minami Ward who remains the group’s driving force, to express her wish for a world without war and bullying. The performance depicts the atomic bomb exploding over the city today, but the victims rise up from the burnt landscape.

Since its creation, the performance has been staged annually in the city of Hiroshima in early August. In 2010, the group became a registered NPO.

This year, “I Pray” will be performed at Aster Plaza, an arts center in Naka Ward, on August 1. The cast consists of about 40 people, including students from elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools in Hiroshima, Kure, and Iwakuni, and they are now rehearsing hard.

Ms. Kihara, a second-generation A-bomb survivor, serves as director and she helps the children imagine the feelings of A-bomb survivors by asking such questions as: “How would you feel if you suffered burns all over your body and were searching for your parents and your friends?”

Through the rehearsal process, the performers come to feel the horror of war. One of the cast members, Yuuki Ishida, 16, is a second-year student at Sanyo High School and a resident of Naka Ward. He portrays someone who dies in the bombing. “When I see people in the audience shed tears, it makes me feel that they’ve gotten our message,” he said. “I want to convey the horror of the atomic bombing to people.” (Written and photographed by Junichi Akiyama, 17)

(Originally published on July 8, 2013)

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