Silent Witness

by Hiromi Morita, Staff Writer

The image on the pouch appears to be a person rowing a boat on a body of water. On August 6, 1945, the small pouch, with its faintly colored illustrations, was in the possession of Kimiko Nishimaru, 15 at the time, who was a third-year student at Hijiyama Girls’ High School (present-day Hijiyama Girls’ Junior and Senior High School). With its fashionable design and zipper, the pouch measures six centimeters in length by 10.5 centimeters in width.

Kimiko was exposed to the intense flash of light from the atomic bombing outdoors while at the Imperial Japanese Army’s Chugoku District Military Headquarters (now part of Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), where she had been mobilized to work. The location was about 790 meters from the hypocenter, and Kimiko suffered severe burns over her entire body.

She surely was desperate to see her parents again. A good swimmer, Kimiko swam across the Kyobashi River despite her severe burns and managed to arrive at her home in the area of Ushita-cho (now part of Hiroshima’s Higashi Ward). Her face was so swollen that Suzuko Nishimaru, her mother, was only able to identify Kimiko by her voice when she called out, “Mom.”

Despite her situation, Kimiko is said to have been concerned that, during her escape, she had lost one of the shoes her father had bought her, saying “I’m sorry” as she wept. In those days, when material goods were in short supply, she must have cherished her shoes and pouch.

Before long, fires from the bombing neared their home. Taking Kimiko with them as they fled to the nearby mountains, her parents continued to care for her inside mosquito netting they had hung in a bamboo grove. Nevertheless, Kimiko passed away in the morning of August 10.

Suzuko donated her daughter’s pouch to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in 1972, in the hopes that people would learn about the tragic deaths of young girls in the atomic bombing.

(Originally published on June 11, 2024)