Features

by Michiko Tanaka, Senior Staff Writer

Hiromu Morishita, 91, a survivor of the atomic bombing who lives in Hiroshima’s Saeki Ward, wears many hats. He is a calligrapher and poet. After retiring as a high school teacher, he taught calligraphy as a university professor. He has devoted half his life to peace activities. He has poured his heart into peace education and devoted himself to communicating such messages both in Japan and overseas. Mr. Morishita also serves as honorary chairperson of the World Friendship Center, a non-profit organization based in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward that works for the abolition of nuclear weapons at the grassroots level.

My title, well, I guess is a teacher who survived the atomic bombing. Because I would come into contact with children, I came to believe it was my mission to communicate my experience in the atomic bombing. I hoped to help raise people who think for themselves about what they can do to prevent war. That is what I had in mind.

There was a time when I distanced myself from peace activities. I am somewhat introverted by nature, and I could not come to terms with the keloid scars on my face. When I was a student, someone said to me, “You are precisely the kind of person who should lead the anti-war movement.” I was offended at the suggestion and thought, “You’re asking me to become the poster boy with this face?” There were days when I couldn’t face my students because I worried about whether I was “making people uncomfortable with my ugly face.”

But through my encounters with numerous people, I received encouragement to move forward. My wife Hisako, 87, and our three children are a big part of my life. When my oldest daughter was born, I was moved by her overwhelming life energy, which served as great impetus in my life. I felt keenly that young children should never be made victims again.

Mr. Morishita was also inspired by the late Barbara Reynolds, a peace activist from the United States who later became an honorary citizen of Hiroshima.

In 1964, I participated in the World Peace Pilgrimage called for by Barbara, and that paved the way for my activities in the following years. For the first time, A-bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki traveled to European countries as well as the United States to speak of their experiences, spending 75 days on the journey. When I came into contact with people who responded empathetically to my testimony, I felt a sense of mission.

After that, I had the opportunity to travel to other countries. In 2004, I also visited Ukraine and Russia. That rich farmland has now been turned into a battlefield, and Russia is hinting at the use of nuclear weapons. I believe the reality that the “baby-grade” atomic bomb used back then, compared with the modern weapons today, caused such devastation is still not widely known. It makes me so sad.

(Originally published on April 19, 2022)