Documenting Hiroshima of 1945: In December, displaced children continue to be cared for at orphanage
Dec. 10, 2024
by Kyosuke Mizukawa, Senior Staff Writer, and Minami Yamashita, Staff Writer
In December 1945, children separated from their families because of the atomic bombing continued to be cared for at the Hijiyama Orphanage, which the Hiroshima City government had established within Hijiyama National School (present-day Hijiyama Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward).
According to the national school’s “Fiscal 1945 Daily Journal” (archived at Hijiyama Elementary School), “The orphanage opened its doors” on August 8. Yoshie Tomasu, a staff member at the school who died in 1991 at the age of 76, wrote in her personal account about how on that day she had taken in a girl around two years old brought to her from a city government employee who was naked except for a white shirt wrapped around her. The girl was so frightened that, wrote Ms. Tomasu, “When I put her on the ground, she would cry and cling to me.”
Based on her idea that she “had to do everything possible,” Ms. Tomasu brought clothes and diapers from her own home. Thereafter, more and more children were placed in the facility, and for the babies who would not drink milk, she had them suckle from her own breast.
According to the document “Summary of Orphanage,” dated September 2 (archived at the Hiroshima Municipal Archive), “One or two city nurses,” along with the school staff, would work at the orphanage in shifts. The national school building, located around 2.8 kilometers from the hypocenter, was half-destroyed in the atomic bombing with a severely leaking roof. A total of 91 children, including 40 aged five years or younger, were housed in the facility. Of that number, 32 children were adopted and nine died.
“They suffered from severe diarrhea, grew weak, and died.” The radiation had also attacked young children without mercy.
Ms. Tomasu cremated the bodies of the children on the school’s playground. In her personal account, she wrote, “When I think about the children who did not know their own names or could barely say their own names that died without even being able to depend on us, I am filled with profound pity.”
Care for the orphaned children continued in and after September. Misao Watanabe, an instructor at Kanzaki National School (present-day Kanzaki Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward) whose students were part of mass evacuations to what today is the town of Kitahiroshima-cho in Hiroshima Prefecture, revealed in her personal account, “I took two remaining children to the orphanage at Hijiyama National School around the end of November as December fast approached.” Regarding the students at her school for whom no one arrived to pick them up, Ms. Watanabe sought out relatives for their care, but she had to take the last two students to the facility because she ultimately was unable to locate guardians.
In February 1946, 16 children at the orphanage for whom no guardians had appeared moved to the Hiroshima War Orphans Foster Home, opened by Gishin Yamashita in Itsukaichi-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Saeki Ward).
(Originally published on December 10, 2024)
In December 1945, children separated from their families because of the atomic bombing continued to be cared for at the Hijiyama Orphanage, which the Hiroshima City government had established within Hijiyama National School (present-day Hijiyama Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward).
According to the national school’s “Fiscal 1945 Daily Journal” (archived at Hijiyama Elementary School), “The orphanage opened its doors” on August 8. Yoshie Tomasu, a staff member at the school who died in 1991 at the age of 76, wrote in her personal account about how on that day she had taken in a girl around two years old brought to her from a city government employee who was naked except for a white shirt wrapped around her. The girl was so frightened that, wrote Ms. Tomasu, “When I put her on the ground, she would cry and cling to me.”
Based on her idea that she “had to do everything possible,” Ms. Tomasu brought clothes and diapers from her own home. Thereafter, more and more children were placed in the facility, and for the babies who would not drink milk, she had them suckle from her own breast.
According to the document “Summary of Orphanage,” dated September 2 (archived at the Hiroshima Municipal Archive), “One or two city nurses,” along with the school staff, would work at the orphanage in shifts. The national school building, located around 2.8 kilometers from the hypocenter, was half-destroyed in the atomic bombing with a severely leaking roof. A total of 91 children, including 40 aged five years or younger, were housed in the facility. Of that number, 32 children were adopted and nine died.
“They suffered from severe diarrhea, grew weak, and died.” The radiation had also attacked young children without mercy.
Ms. Tomasu cremated the bodies of the children on the school’s playground. In her personal account, she wrote, “When I think about the children who did not know their own names or could barely say their own names that died without even being able to depend on us, I am filled with profound pity.”
Care for the orphaned children continued in and after September. Misao Watanabe, an instructor at Kanzaki National School (present-day Kanzaki Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward) whose students were part of mass evacuations to what today is the town of Kitahiroshima-cho in Hiroshima Prefecture, revealed in her personal account, “I took two remaining children to the orphanage at Hijiyama National School around the end of November as December fast approached.” Regarding the students at her school for whom no one arrived to pick them up, Ms. Watanabe sought out relatives for their care, but she had to take the last two students to the facility because she ultimately was unable to locate guardians.
In February 1946, 16 children at the orphanage for whom no guardians had appeared moved to the Hiroshima War Orphans Foster Home, opened by Gishin Yamashita in Itsukaichi-cho (in Hiroshima’s present-day Saeki Ward).
(Originally published on December 10, 2024)
