Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: October 11–12, relief hospital established in Oshiba
Oct. 12, 2024
by Minami Yamashita, Staff Writer
During the period October 11–12, 1945, Oshiba Relief Hospital was established in Oshiba National School (present-day Oshiba Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward). A wooden sign in front of the entrance read, “Outpatient reception open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.” The hospital was accepting the wounded and injured.
Immediately after the atomic bombing, the school served as a relief station over a period of two months, until October 5, as required by Japan’s wartime disaster protection law. When the relief station closed, the Hiroshima Prefectural government positioned the school as one of the hospitals of Nihon Iryodan (Japanese Medical Corps), a government-affiliated entity set up in 1942 to establish public hospitals throughout Japan. The prefectural government’s health and medical division served as the Hiroshima branch of the medical corps and managed the relief hospital.
Despite it being called a hospital, two of its three two-story wooden buildings had been completely destroyed by the A-bomb’s blast, with the walls of the second floor of the other building having collapsed.
“On the sumo rings on the east and west sides of the playground, 20 or 30 bodies were piled up and burned after oil was poured on them,” said Yoshio Kiyohara, 90, a resident of Hiroshima’s Aki Ward who was in sixth grade at the time, in a testimony he made about the horrific situation immediately after the bombing.
At that time, many elementary school students, including sixth graders, had been evacuated outside of Hiroshima in groups, something Mr. Kiyohara was unable to do because of ill health. On August 6, he was exposed to thermal rays from the atomic bombing under a willow tree on the grounds of the school, with his skin being burned and turning dark red. He spent the night with his family in a nearby park and returned to school the next morning to find soldiers cremating dead bodies on the school’s grounds.
At one time, hundreds of people had been admitted to the hospital, and classrooms were still occupied by inpatients even in early October. Goro Nagasaki, a physician from the area of Misasa-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Nishi Ward) near the relief hospital, served as its director. Dr. Nagasaki, who experienced the atomic bombing himself, provided first aid to victims at Honkawa National School (present-day Honkawa Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), which was close to the hypocenter, and other relief stations before moving on to the hospital.
Shunkichi Kikuchi, the person in charge of photography for Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.) while the company was engaged in production of a documentary film, photographed scenes of a boy with burns on both legs being carried on a large two-wheeled wooden handcart to the hospital entrance and a physician examining patients in a workshop. According to Oshiba Elementary School’s 50th anniversary publication, classes resumed in so-called “open-air classrooms” in October.
(Originally published on October 12, 2024)
During the period October 11–12, 1945, Oshiba Relief Hospital was established in Oshiba National School (present-day Oshiba Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Nishi Ward). A wooden sign in front of the entrance read, “Outpatient reception open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.” The hospital was accepting the wounded and injured.
Immediately after the atomic bombing, the school served as a relief station over a period of two months, until October 5, as required by Japan’s wartime disaster protection law. When the relief station closed, the Hiroshima Prefectural government positioned the school as one of the hospitals of Nihon Iryodan (Japanese Medical Corps), a government-affiliated entity set up in 1942 to establish public hospitals throughout Japan. The prefectural government’s health and medical division served as the Hiroshima branch of the medical corps and managed the relief hospital.
Despite it being called a hospital, two of its three two-story wooden buildings had been completely destroyed by the A-bomb’s blast, with the walls of the second floor of the other building having collapsed.
“On the sumo rings on the east and west sides of the playground, 20 or 30 bodies were piled up and burned after oil was poured on them,” said Yoshio Kiyohara, 90, a resident of Hiroshima’s Aki Ward who was in sixth grade at the time, in a testimony he made about the horrific situation immediately after the bombing.
At that time, many elementary school students, including sixth graders, had been evacuated outside of Hiroshima in groups, something Mr. Kiyohara was unable to do because of ill health. On August 6, he was exposed to thermal rays from the atomic bombing under a willow tree on the grounds of the school, with his skin being burned and turning dark red. He spent the night with his family in a nearby park and returned to school the next morning to find soldiers cremating dead bodies on the school’s grounds.
At one time, hundreds of people had been admitted to the hospital, and classrooms were still occupied by inpatients even in early October. Goro Nagasaki, a physician from the area of Misasa-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Nishi Ward) near the relief hospital, served as its director. Dr. Nagasaki, who experienced the atomic bombing himself, provided first aid to victims at Honkawa National School (present-day Honkawa Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), which was close to the hypocenter, and other relief stations before moving on to the hospital.
Shunkichi Kikuchi, the person in charge of photography for Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.) while the company was engaged in production of a documentary film, photographed scenes of a boy with burns on both legs being carried on a large two-wheeled wooden handcart to the hospital entrance and a physician examining patients in a workshop. According to Oshiba Elementary School’s 50th anniversary publication, classes resumed in so-called “open-air classrooms” in October.
(Originally published on October 12, 2024)
