Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: Mid-October, deaths of students amidst ruins of Koami-cho area
Oct. 20, 2024
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer
In mid-October 1945, Shunkichi Kikuchi, a photographer who was in charge of still photography for the production of a documentary film by Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.), took a photograph of the ruins in the area of Koami-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward). The area is located around 900 meters southwest of the hypocenter, near the Dobashi streetcar stop. In that location, many students had been killed in the atomic bombing as they were being mobilized to help with clean-up activities following building-demolition work for the creation of fire lanes.
In the morning of August 6, Mutsuko Ishizaki, 12 at the time and a first-year student at Hiroshima Prefectural First Girls’ High School (present-day Minami High School), was mobilized for the same work and left her house headed in the direction of the Koami-cho area. She lived with her parents and older and younger sisters, making up a family of five, in the area of Funairikawaguchi-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward).
Mutsuko’s younger sister, Kyoko Enoki, now 90 years old and a resident of Joyo City in Kyoto Prefecture, said, “I still remember the happy expression on the face of Mutchan (Mutsuko’s nickname) as she left the house saying, ‘I’ll be back later.’” Ms. Enoki said Mutsuko had received some money from their mother to buy a straw hat.
When the atomic bomb detonated, Kyoko, at the time a fifth-grade student at Nakajima National School (present-day Nakajima Elementary School), and her parents were all at home and survived the bombing as a result. Later, she was able to reunite with her older sister, who had been mobilized for work at a different site, but Mutsuko never returned. About one week after the bombing, Kyoko and her father, Shuichi Ishizaki, who had been searching for Mutsuko day after day, entered the Koami-cho area.
It was there that Kyoko happened upon something amidst a pile of rooftiles. When she pulled on the object she had seen, a school uniform with Mutsuko’s nametag sewn on it appeared from out of the rubble. As soon as her father saw it, he looked up to the sky.
Hugging the school uniform, her mother, Yasuyo, wept continuously and was filled with regret. Her feelings were rooted in a situation when, on August 5, Mutsuko had told her mother that she wanted to eat canned mikan rations, but Yasuyo replied that the canned tangerine oranges should be kept for emergencies. Ms. Enoki said, “My mother regretted that she had not let Mutsuko eat the fruit at that time. My mother never ate mikan ever again.”
Mutsuko’s remains have never been recovered. Her school uniform and the journal she kept until August 5 are currently held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. In her journal entry dated August 5, she wrote about how she had helped with clean-up work, adding, “I hope to continue doing one good deed a day in the future.”
(Originally published on October 20, 2024)
In mid-October 1945, Shunkichi Kikuchi, a photographer who was in charge of still photography for the production of a documentary film by Nippon Eigasha (Japan Movie Co.), took a photograph of the ruins in the area of Koami-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward). The area is located around 900 meters southwest of the hypocenter, near the Dobashi streetcar stop. In that location, many students had been killed in the atomic bombing as they were being mobilized to help with clean-up activities following building-demolition work for the creation of fire lanes.
In the morning of August 6, Mutsuko Ishizaki, 12 at the time and a first-year student at Hiroshima Prefectural First Girls’ High School (present-day Minami High School), was mobilized for the same work and left her house headed in the direction of the Koami-cho area. She lived with her parents and older and younger sisters, making up a family of five, in the area of Funairikawaguchi-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward).
Mutsuko’s younger sister, Kyoko Enoki, now 90 years old and a resident of Joyo City in Kyoto Prefecture, said, “I still remember the happy expression on the face of Mutchan (Mutsuko’s nickname) as she left the house saying, ‘I’ll be back later.’” Ms. Enoki said Mutsuko had received some money from their mother to buy a straw hat.
When the atomic bomb detonated, Kyoko, at the time a fifth-grade student at Nakajima National School (present-day Nakajima Elementary School), and her parents were all at home and survived the bombing as a result. Later, she was able to reunite with her older sister, who had been mobilized for work at a different site, but Mutsuko never returned. About one week after the bombing, Kyoko and her father, Shuichi Ishizaki, who had been searching for Mutsuko day after day, entered the Koami-cho area.
It was there that Kyoko happened upon something amidst a pile of rooftiles. When she pulled on the object she had seen, a school uniform with Mutsuko’s nametag sewn on it appeared from out of the rubble. As soon as her father saw it, he looked up to the sky.
Hugging the school uniform, her mother, Yasuyo, wept continuously and was filled with regret. Her feelings were rooted in a situation when, on August 5, Mutsuko had told her mother that she wanted to eat canned mikan rations, but Yasuyo replied that the canned tangerine oranges should be kept for emergencies. Ms. Enoki said, “My mother regretted that she had not let Mutsuko eat the fruit at that time. My mother never ate mikan ever again.”
Mutsuko’s remains have never been recovered. Her school uniform and the journal she kept until August 5 are currently held at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. In her journal entry dated August 5, she wrote about how she had helped with clean-up work, adding, “I hope to continue doing one good deed a day in the future.”
(Originally published on October 20, 2024)
