Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: October 4–6, man undergoes treatment until end of year after being at death’s door
Oct. 6, 2024
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Staff Writer
During the period October 4–6, 1945, cameras were brought into the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward). A medical team at Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.), a film company producing a documentary on the damage caused by the atomic bombings that accompanied a scientific survey of the city, and the photographer Shunkichi Kikuchi, who died in 1990 at the age of 74, all had cameras at the hospital.
Tatsutaro Hattori, who died in 1993 at the age of 89, was the hospital’s chief surgeon at the time. In his publication titled Atomic Bombing: Testimony by an A-Bombed Doctor," which was published in 1969, Mr. Hattori wrote that “A film crew shot scenes of me on rounds visiting patients and explaining their conditions.” Mr. Hattori had been absent from work for a time after experiencing the atomic bombing and, on October 4, he had just returned to the hospital for work.
On August 6, while commuting to the hospital by bicycle, he had been blown over by the A-bomb’s blast at a location around 2.8 kilometers from the hypocenter. He then returned to his home in the area of Furuta-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Nishi Ward) and set about treating severely wounded acquaintances alongside his wife, despite his burned hands from the bombing. Because he also suffered from intense fatigue, he was forced to take time off from work.
Two of the six surgeons at the hospital had died in the bombing, and one physician was on sick leave. Concerned about the hospital’s situation, Mr. Hattori returned to work for the first time in around two months. However, in the middle of the filming of his rounds, he suffered from a coughing fit and decided to go home midway through his shift because he clearly still had not recovered completely.
The hospital patient appearing in a photograph with Mr. Hattori taken under such circumstances was Eiichi Sakogoshi, 21 at the time, who died in 1985 at the age of 60. Both his wounds and effects from radiation were serious. The caption written by the photographer Mr. Kikuchi reads “Miraculous survival.”
Serving as an aide at the Imperial Army Hospital in the area of Motomachi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward), Mr. Sakogoshi experienced the atomic bombing at a location around one kilometer from the hypocenter. Along with a metal fragment that had become impaled in his head, both of his ears were deformed from severe burns. His home in the central part of the city was burned down, and his mother was killed in the bombing. He fended off hunger in an area near the remains of his home, but on August 21, a nurse put him on a stretcher and took him to the hospital.
Mr. Sakogoshi also suffered from such symptoms as hair loss, fever, and subcutaneous hemorrhagic spotting. In his personal account, he wrote, “I think I was on the brink of death for two or three months.” He continued undergoing treatment at the hospital until the end of the year.
Meanwhile, around the beginning of December, Mr. Hattori started to once again work at the hospital. He concluded that the cause of his cough was inhalation of “particles that were radioactive.”
(Originally published on October 6, 2024)
During the period October 4–6, 1945, cameras were brought into the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward). A medical team at Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.), a film company producing a documentary on the damage caused by the atomic bombings that accompanied a scientific survey of the city, and the photographer Shunkichi Kikuchi, who died in 1990 at the age of 74, all had cameras at the hospital.
Tatsutaro Hattori, who died in 1993 at the age of 89, was the hospital’s chief surgeon at the time. In his publication titled Atomic Bombing: Testimony by an A-Bombed Doctor," which was published in 1969, Mr. Hattori wrote that “A film crew shot scenes of me on rounds visiting patients and explaining their conditions.” Mr. Hattori had been absent from work for a time after experiencing the atomic bombing and, on October 4, he had just returned to the hospital for work.
On August 6, while commuting to the hospital by bicycle, he had been blown over by the A-bomb’s blast at a location around 2.8 kilometers from the hypocenter. He then returned to his home in the area of Furuta-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Nishi Ward) and set about treating severely wounded acquaintances alongside his wife, despite his burned hands from the bombing. Because he also suffered from intense fatigue, he was forced to take time off from work.
Two of the six surgeons at the hospital had died in the bombing, and one physician was on sick leave. Concerned about the hospital’s situation, Mr. Hattori returned to work for the first time in around two months. However, in the middle of the filming of his rounds, he suffered from a coughing fit and decided to go home midway through his shift because he clearly still had not recovered completely.
The hospital patient appearing in a photograph with Mr. Hattori taken under such circumstances was Eiichi Sakogoshi, 21 at the time, who died in 1985 at the age of 60. Both his wounds and effects from radiation were serious. The caption written by the photographer Mr. Kikuchi reads “Miraculous survival.”
Serving as an aide at the Imperial Army Hospital in the area of Motomachi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward), Mr. Sakogoshi experienced the atomic bombing at a location around one kilometer from the hypocenter. Along with a metal fragment that had become impaled in his head, both of his ears were deformed from severe burns. His home in the central part of the city was burned down, and his mother was killed in the bombing. He fended off hunger in an area near the remains of his home, but on August 21, a nurse put him on a stretcher and took him to the hospital.
Mr. Sakogoshi also suffered from such symptoms as hair loss, fever, and subcutaneous hemorrhagic spotting. In his personal account, he wrote, “I think I was on the brink of death for two or three months.” He continued undergoing treatment at the hospital until the end of the year.
Meanwhile, around the beginning of December, Mr. Hattori started to once again work at the hospital. He concluded that the cause of his cough was inhalation of “particles that were radioactive.”
(Originally published on October 6, 2024)