Striving to fill voids in Hiroshima, evidence of victims remains—40 items including manuscript and notes of Hagie Ota, physician who provided aid starting on day of A-bombing, donated to Hiroshima University Archives
Jul. 14, 2022
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer
A total of 40 items left behind by Hagie Ota, a physician who began providing first-aid starting the day the U.S. military dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, including a manuscript for an A-bomb testimony and previously undisclosed memoirs, have been donated to the Hiroshima University Archives in Higashihiroshima City. Ms. Ota, who died in 2018 at the age of 96, is known to be the physician captured in a photograph that was taken at a first-aid station in Hiroshima City two months after the atomic bombing. She called for the abolition of nuclear weapons at an international conference as a representative of a group of physicians that had experienced the bombing. From her materials can be understood the thoughts and ideas of a physician in Hiroshima who was in direct contact with people affected by the atomic bombing through her relief work.
On August 6, 1945, the 23-year-old physician, who worked at the Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, was at her home about 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter when she experienced the atomic bombing. Despite suffering from symptoms such as vomiting and headache, Ms. Ota persisted in treating victims of the atomic bombing.
In October, later that year, Shunkichi Kikuchi, a photographer in Tokyo who died in 1990 at the age of 74, visited Hiroshima as part of a production team for the Special Committee for Investigation of Atomic Bomb Damages, established by the former Japan Ministry of Education. Mr. Kikuchi took photos of a temporary relief station that had been set up on the grounds of the Fukuromachi National School (now Fukuromachi Elementary School), 460 meters from the hypocenter. Ms. Ota was photographed there caring for the wounded. At a meeting held in Hiroshima City in 1989 of the World Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), an organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, she shared a testimony of her A-bombing experience as a representative of physicians who had experienced the Hiroshima atomic bombing.
The donated materials include the handwritten manuscript for the testimony Ms. Ota presented at the conference at that time, in which she stressed the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons. “We physicians were at a total loss regarding what to do in the face of the devastation caused by the atomic bombing and could only stand, powerless to help, before the horribly wounded.” She appealed to the participants for their understanding. “It is our earnest desire to abolish nuclear weapons and realize genuine peace,” she said.
On six pages of personal notes on stationary she wrote in 1979, Ms. Ota described how her poor health after the war was caused by “A-bomb disease.” Among the materials, there is another account of her experiences that has never been archived at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, a center located in the city’s Naka Ward that collects memoirs written by A-bomb survivors.
Akiko Kubota, assistant professor at the Hiroshima University Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine (RIRBM), in the city’s Minami Ward, points out that “the nuclear issue has gained prominence since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From the original materials she donated to the IPPNW, the organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons, we can discern Ms. Ota’s wishes. The materials, some of which have never before been identified, are undoubtedly valuable.”
The materials were donated by Hisako Fujishima, 80, Ms. Ota’s niece who lives in Chiba City, to the Hiroshima University Archives, which soon plans to release to the public a list of the donated materials.
(Originally published on July 14, 2022)
A total of 40 items left behind by Hagie Ota, a physician who began providing first-aid starting the day the U.S. military dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, including a manuscript for an A-bomb testimony and previously undisclosed memoirs, have been donated to the Hiroshima University Archives in Higashihiroshima City. Ms. Ota, who died in 2018 at the age of 96, is known to be the physician captured in a photograph that was taken at a first-aid station in Hiroshima City two months after the atomic bombing. She called for the abolition of nuclear weapons at an international conference as a representative of a group of physicians that had experienced the bombing. From her materials can be understood the thoughts and ideas of a physician in Hiroshima who was in direct contact with people affected by the atomic bombing through her relief work.
On August 6, 1945, the 23-year-old physician, who worked at the Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, was at her home about 2.2 kilometers from the hypocenter when she experienced the atomic bombing. Despite suffering from symptoms such as vomiting and headache, Ms. Ota persisted in treating victims of the atomic bombing.
In October, later that year, Shunkichi Kikuchi, a photographer in Tokyo who died in 1990 at the age of 74, visited Hiroshima as part of a production team for the Special Committee for Investigation of Atomic Bomb Damages, established by the former Japan Ministry of Education. Mr. Kikuchi took photos of a temporary relief station that had been set up on the grounds of the Fukuromachi National School (now Fukuromachi Elementary School), 460 meters from the hypocenter. Ms. Ota was photographed there caring for the wounded. At a meeting held in Hiroshima City in 1989 of the World Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), an organization that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, she shared a testimony of her A-bombing experience as a representative of physicians who had experienced the Hiroshima atomic bombing.
The donated materials include the handwritten manuscript for the testimony Ms. Ota presented at the conference at that time, in which she stressed the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons. “We physicians were at a total loss regarding what to do in the face of the devastation caused by the atomic bombing and could only stand, powerless to help, before the horribly wounded.” She appealed to the participants for their understanding. “It is our earnest desire to abolish nuclear weapons and realize genuine peace,” she said.
On six pages of personal notes on stationary she wrote in 1979, Ms. Ota described how her poor health after the war was caused by “A-bomb disease.” Among the materials, there is another account of her experiences that has never been archived at the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims, a center located in the city’s Naka Ward that collects memoirs written by A-bomb survivors.
Akiko Kubota, assistant professor at the Hiroshima University Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine (RIRBM), in the city’s Minami Ward, points out that “the nuclear issue has gained prominence since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From the original materials she donated to the IPPNW, the organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons, we can discern Ms. Ota’s wishes. The materials, some of which have never before been identified, are undoubtedly valuable.”
The materials were donated by Hisako Fujishima, 80, Ms. Ota’s niece who lives in Chiba City, to the Hiroshima University Archives, which soon plans to release to the public a list of the donated materials.
(Originally published on July 14, 2022)
