Features

by Hiromi Morita, Staff Writer

“It represented a kind of sowing of seeds for world peace. We must continue to engage in realistic action to achieve the growth and the fruits of such work.” Takuo Matsumoto, an A-bomb survivor and leader of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki World Peace Pilgrimage who died in 1986, spoke those words at the pilgrimage’s debriefing session held at the Hiroshima City Peace Memorial Hall (located on the site of the present-day East Building of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum) on July 6, 1964. The Chugoku Shimbun published the next day, July 7, 1964, reported the words spoken by Mr. Matsumoto. The previous day, the pilgrimage group had returned to Hiroshima, its starting point, after spending 75 days traveling to nuclear weapons states and other nations.

Amid Cold War between U.S. and Soviet Union

Realistic action is a phrase that resonates deeply when thinking about the kind of era that 1964 was. The pilgrimage members visited the United States and the Soviet Union, which were threatening each other with nuclear weapons, amid the tense Cold War period. The conflict between South and North Vietnam was seen as a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. As a result of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August of that year, the U.S. military became fully engaged in the Vietnam War. In Japan, the campaign against atomic and hydrogen bombs became more politicized against the backdrop of the Cold War, leading to a decisive split at the movement’s world conference in 1963. The anti-nuclear peace movement, which had gained momentum from great public support, became chaotic.

Under such circumstances, a woman by the name of Barbara Reynolds, an American peace activist living in Hiroshima at the time who died in 1990, proposed the formation of a peace pilgrimage. “In principle, this must be launched in a non-partisan, non-denominational, and non-ideological manner from a shared human perspective with a broad and deep love of humanity,” were words expressed in the prospectus of the pilgrimage executive committee (chaired by Tomin Harada), which, after adopting Ms. Reynold’s concept, set about working on the member selection process and initiating fund-raising activities in the A-bombed cities.

Those selected to join the pilgrimage were A-bomb survivors of diverse backgrounds, including farmers’ wives, teachers, physicians, students, and childcare workers. The prospectus stated that, “The truth of the atomic bombings must be heard in person from the experiences and testimonies of those directly involved, otherwise the atomic bombings will seem unreal to people, the truth being so far removed from them.” The pilgrimage was a challenge for the A-bomb victims, directly calling for nuclear abolition in trying times.

The pilgrimage delegation arrived in Hawaii on April 21. The members divided into three teams and toured the mainland of the United States, after which they visited European nations and the former Soviet Union. Dividing up, they visited 150 cities in eight nations and spoke about the A-bombed Hiroshima.

However, especially in the United States, the nation that dropped the atomic bombs, such calls from “living witnesses” did not apparently resonate so easily. The opinions holding that the atomic bombings helped end the war and save the lives of many American soldiers as well as the weariness toward communism was still deeply rooted in the country.

Akira Mitsui, a Chugoku Shimbun staff writer who had been selected to serve as a member of the pilgrimage, wrote an article after returning to Japan about the experience of appearing on the radio in Hawaii. The questions he said he received from listeners assumed that the pilgrimage members were communists and justified the atomic bombings by equating them with Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Mr. Mitsui found that the letters “openly put forward the ideas that those advocating for the prohibition of atomic and hydrogen bombs and world peace are communists and that communism is evil.”

Venues for speaking were prepared

While local groups and people of goodwill provided accommodations and meals for the pilgrimage members and prepared many venues for them to speak, there was also interference in their activities. When they visited the former East Germany and the Soviet Union, they were criticized for being “exploited by communist countries.” The original plans called for pilgrimage expenses to be covered by donations, but the group found itself in financial difficulties.

“We can see the journey was filled with hardship as the name ‘pilgrimage’ implies,” said Shizuo Tachibana, chair of the World Friendship Center (WFC), an organization established in 1965, the year after the pilgrimage, by Ms. Reynolds in Hiroshima.

The WFC continues the work of organizing more than several hundred materials related to the pilgrimage. As that work continues, the materials are said to reveal the social climate 60 years ago, the concept of the grand journey, and the enthusiasm with which the A-bombed cities supported the pilgrimage group. In April of this year, the organization held a panel exhibit in Hiroshima, releasing some of the materials to the public and sharing with visitors “the significance of citizen action.” Mr. Tachibana, in an expression of his beliefs, said, “I think such acts as learning from history, considering, and communicating to others will lead to peace.”

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This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Hiroshima-Nagasaki World Peace Pilgrimage, which was led by the late Barbara Reynolds, who was later designated a Special Honorary Citizen of Hiroshima City. By tracking the records and accounts of the pilgrimage in order to shed light on the present, the Chugoku Shimbun reviews what the pilgrimage achieved in trying times and what it left behind.

(Originally published on July 17, 2024)