Trivia on local economy: Stone jizo statue in Okonomimura (in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward) memorializes younger sister, brother killed in A-bombing
Oct. 3, 2024
by Kyoko Morioka, Staff Writer
Okonomimura (Okonomi Village) is a Hiroshima food hotspot in the city’s Naka Ward made up of 23 restaurants serving okonomiyaki (a Japanese-style savory pancake). In a space on the ground floor of the Okonomimura building quietly stands a statue of a stone jizo (Buddhist guardian deity of children), called Shintenchi Jizo-son, measuring 1.7 meters in height including its pedestal. Why was the jizo enshrined on that spot?
Building owner erected statue
In early 1992, when the building that houses Okonomimura was undergoing renovations, Kazuya Sumida, the building’s owner, who died in November 1992 at the age of 71, erected the statue to mourn the souls of children who had died in the atomic bombing. Mr. Sumida had lost his own younger sister, Fumiko, 12 at the time, and younger brother, Teruo, 9, in the bombing, a time when he was serving as a soldier in the field of battle on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
While alive, Mr. Sumida had said, “My sister’s crying voice at Hiroshima Station as I left to serve in the military, saying ‘Don’t go,’ still rings in my ears.” After the war ended, he was detained in Singapore. Nearly two years after the deaths of his family members, he finally made it back to Hiroshima. He passed away less than one year after witnessing completion of the jizo statue.
Mr. Sumida placed a water basin and bowl in the area surrounding the statue to comfort the souls of A-bomb victims who had called out for water after the bombing. But passersby would throw their cigarette butts there. Kazuhide Sumida, president of the liquor wholesaler Sumida Co., located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, carries on his father Kazuya’s sentiments for victims of the atomic bombing. To foster a more respectful atmosphere at the site, he aims to complete work on renovations by the end of December, based on a proposal made by a vocational school student.
“I want to convey my father’s hopes for peace from a neighborhood spot accessible to everyone,” said Kazuhide.
(Originally published on October 3, 2024)
Okonomimura (Okonomi Village) is a Hiroshima food hotspot in the city’s Naka Ward made up of 23 restaurants serving okonomiyaki (a Japanese-style savory pancake). In a space on the ground floor of the Okonomimura building quietly stands a statue of a stone jizo (Buddhist guardian deity of children), called Shintenchi Jizo-son, measuring 1.7 meters in height including its pedestal. Why was the jizo enshrined on that spot?
Building owner erected statue
In early 1992, when the building that houses Okonomimura was undergoing renovations, Kazuya Sumida, the building’s owner, who died in November 1992 at the age of 71, erected the statue to mourn the souls of children who had died in the atomic bombing. Mr. Sumida had lost his own younger sister, Fumiko, 12 at the time, and younger brother, Teruo, 9, in the bombing, a time when he was serving as a soldier in the field of battle on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra.
While alive, Mr. Sumida had said, “My sister’s crying voice at Hiroshima Station as I left to serve in the military, saying ‘Don’t go,’ still rings in my ears.” After the war ended, he was detained in Singapore. Nearly two years after the deaths of his family members, he finally made it back to Hiroshima. He passed away less than one year after witnessing completion of the jizo statue.
Mr. Sumida placed a water basin and bowl in the area surrounding the statue to comfort the souls of A-bomb victims who had called out for water after the bombing. But passersby would throw their cigarette butts there. Kazuhide Sumida, president of the liquor wholesaler Sumida Co., located in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, carries on his father Kazuya’s sentiments for victims of the atomic bombing. To foster a more respectful atmosphere at the site, he aims to complete work on renovations by the end of December, based on a proposal made by a vocational school student.
“I want to convey my father’s hopes for peace from a neighborhood spot accessible to everyone,” said Kazuhide.
(Originally published on October 3, 2024)