Remaining relative of destroyed catering shop’s owners—his uncle and aunt—creates wrapping paper map of Hiroshima town before A-bombing
Aug. 6, 2023
by Kyoko Niiyama, Staff Writer
In Hiroshima’s former Nakajima-honmachi area, lined with houses and temples, there was once a catering shop by the name of “Omatsu.” The shop, about 70 meters west of the present-day Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in Peace Memorial Park, located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, was destroyed in the U.S. atomic bombing of that city. Its owner, Magozaburo Omatsu, and his wife, Katsuyo, were killed. Remaining relatives, who operate an okonomiyaki restaurant in Hiroshima, have created wrapping paper based on a map of the area before it was devastated in the bombing. The family hopes the paper can serve to remind people of the two victims’ lives. “We want people to know about the ‘life’ lost in the bombing.”
A map titled “Reconstruction of townscape” was created by the Chugoku Shimbun in 2000, with the aim of recreating the area under the hypocenter and its surroundings. “Omatsu,” with the address of 72 Nakajima-honmachi, is highlighted in red ink on the wrapping paper’s map. “I remember parading through the neighborhood in the Inoko (in English, ‘baby wild boar’) Festival when I was very young. Memories of those days come back to me,” said Yukio Yoshida, 87, as he nostalgically traced the map with his fingers at the okonomiyaki restaurant in the area of Omachi-higashi, located in Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward. His family had lived in the downtown catering shop, which doubled as their home, before the bombing. “Dishes made with fresh fish from Kusatsu Port were a big hit at the shop,” he said.
In 1945, Mr. Yoshida was in third grade at the Nakajima National School. His father, Koichi, was Magozaburo’s younger brother, and their families lived together. The large household of more than a dozen people was “close and always full of laughter,” he recalled.
In June of that year, Mr. Yoshida, his mother, and Magozaburo’s third son moved to his grandmother’s house on the outskirts of Hiroshima due to the worsening war situation. The Chugoku Shimbun feature article “Record of Hiroshima: Photographs of the Dead Speak,” dated August 3, 1999, traced the damage caused by the atomic bombing in the former Nakajima-honmachi area. According to the article, three days after Hiroshima was destroyed, Koichi found Magozaburo’s head on the saddle of a delivery bicycle, with the lower half of his body buried under rubble. Katsuyo’s remains were found under a cutting board in the ruins of the shop. Mr. Yoshida, nine-years-old at the time, returned to his fire-ravaged home 10 days after the bombing, at which time he was exposed to radiation from the bombing.
Twenty-five years later, Mr. Yoshida’s wife, Tamae, 85, opened a restaurant next to their house. In consideration of Mr. Yoshida’s desire to always remember his uncle and his family, Tamae named the restaurant “Daimatsu,” using the same Chinese characters as “Omatsu” but altering the pronunciation. Later, she changed the business to an okonomiyaki restaurant, which has now been passed down to their oldest daughter, Yoshiko, 58, who cooks the popular crepe-style dish on an iron grill in the shop.
The map is important material for Mr. Yoshida and his family to fill “voids” in information, as there are no existing photographs or records of the catering business. “That shop is where we got our start,” said Mr. Yoshida. Yoshiko came up with the idea of creating the wrapping paper map for use in shipping frozen okonomiyaki. After consulting with the Yasufuruichi-cho association of commerce and industry, Yoshiko had 100 maps printed for use on a trial basis starting this month.
The paper used to wrap the nikutama-soba dish (okonomiyaki pancake made with sliced pork, egg, and noodles, among other ingredients) will convey to people throughout Japan images of the town before it was turned into Peace Memorial Park, of the area’s people, and of the residents’ daily lives. The father and daughter said they “hope that people who handle the map will get a sense of the A-bombed city of Hiroshima.”
(Originally published on August 6, 2023)
In Hiroshima’s former Nakajima-honmachi area, lined with houses and temples, there was once a catering shop by the name of “Omatsu.” The shop, about 70 meters west of the present-day Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims in Peace Memorial Park, located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, was destroyed in the U.S. atomic bombing of that city. Its owner, Magozaburo Omatsu, and his wife, Katsuyo, were killed. Remaining relatives, who operate an okonomiyaki restaurant in Hiroshima, have created wrapping paper based on a map of the area before it was devastated in the bombing. The family hopes the paper can serve to remind people of the two victims’ lives. “We want people to know about the ‘life’ lost in the bombing.”
A map titled “Reconstruction of townscape” was created by the Chugoku Shimbun in 2000, with the aim of recreating the area under the hypocenter and its surroundings. “Omatsu,” with the address of 72 Nakajima-honmachi, is highlighted in red ink on the wrapping paper’s map. “I remember parading through the neighborhood in the Inoko (in English, ‘baby wild boar’) Festival when I was very young. Memories of those days come back to me,” said Yukio Yoshida, 87, as he nostalgically traced the map with his fingers at the okonomiyaki restaurant in the area of Omachi-higashi, located in Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward. His family had lived in the downtown catering shop, which doubled as their home, before the bombing. “Dishes made with fresh fish from Kusatsu Port were a big hit at the shop,” he said.
In 1945, Mr. Yoshida was in third grade at the Nakajima National School. His father, Koichi, was Magozaburo’s younger brother, and their families lived together. The large household of more than a dozen people was “close and always full of laughter,” he recalled.
In June of that year, Mr. Yoshida, his mother, and Magozaburo’s third son moved to his grandmother’s house on the outskirts of Hiroshima due to the worsening war situation. The Chugoku Shimbun feature article “Record of Hiroshima: Photographs of the Dead Speak,” dated August 3, 1999, traced the damage caused by the atomic bombing in the former Nakajima-honmachi area. According to the article, three days after Hiroshima was destroyed, Koichi found Magozaburo’s head on the saddle of a delivery bicycle, with the lower half of his body buried under rubble. Katsuyo’s remains were found under a cutting board in the ruins of the shop. Mr. Yoshida, nine-years-old at the time, returned to his fire-ravaged home 10 days after the bombing, at which time he was exposed to radiation from the bombing.
Twenty-five years later, Mr. Yoshida’s wife, Tamae, 85, opened a restaurant next to their house. In consideration of Mr. Yoshida’s desire to always remember his uncle and his family, Tamae named the restaurant “Daimatsu,” using the same Chinese characters as “Omatsu” but altering the pronunciation. Later, she changed the business to an okonomiyaki restaurant, which has now been passed down to their oldest daughter, Yoshiko, 58, who cooks the popular crepe-style dish on an iron grill in the shop.
The map is important material for Mr. Yoshida and his family to fill “voids” in information, as there are no existing photographs or records of the catering business. “That shop is where we got our start,” said Mr. Yoshida. Yoshiko came up with the idea of creating the wrapping paper map for use in shipping frozen okonomiyaki. After consulting with the Yasufuruichi-cho association of commerce and industry, Yoshiko had 100 maps printed for use on a trial basis starting this month.
The paper used to wrap the nikutama-soba dish (okonomiyaki pancake made with sliced pork, egg, and noodles, among other ingredients) will convey to people throughout Japan images of the town before it was turned into Peace Memorial Park, of the area’s people, and of the residents’ daily lives. The father and daughter said they “hope that people who handle the map will get a sense of the A-bombed city of Hiroshima.”
(Originally published on August 6, 2023)
