Documenting Hiroshima of 1946: February 6, significant population decline seen six months after A-bombing
Feb. 6, 2025
by Maho Yamamoto, Staff Writer
On February 6, 1946, six months after the atomic bombing, the Chugoku Shimbun carried on its front page a “comparative diagram” of populations in Hiroshima City before and after the bombing by different district superimposed on a map of the city. The information ran under the headline, “Today marks half a year since the atomic bomb was dropped.” The diagram illustrated significant population declines in such areas near the hypocenter as Nakajima and Honkawa (both in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward).
The diagram compared 33 districts based on the “number of people registered for household rice-ration passbooks” as of June 30, 1945, and data from a population survey as of January 1, 1946. The population of the Honkawa area, located within one kilometer of the hypocenter, showed a dramatic decline, from 5,237 people to 129, a number around two-and-a-half percent of that before the bombing. In areas within two kilometers of the hypocenter, such as Fukuro-machi, Ote-machi, Hirose, and Kanzaki (all in the city’s present-day Naka Ward), where most of the buildings had collapsed and were burned to the ground, a significant population decline was also seen.
The Nakajima area’s population had declined from 9,196 people to 2,364, around one-fourth of the pre-bombing population. The entire Nakajima area, where Peace Memorial Park is now located, including Nakajima-honmachi, which was one of Hiroshima’s bustling commercial districts near the hypocenter before the bombing, had been leveled. But the Yoshijima area, further south, was also included in the calculations for the Nakajima district.
Meanwhile, there were areas surrounding Hiroshima that experienced increases in population because they had avoided major damage from the bombing. For example, the population of Ninoshima Island (in Hiroshima’s present-day Minami Ward), a location to which many wounded survivors had been taken soon after the bombing, had increased from 1,765 people to 1,916. The population of the Koi district, in the western part of Hiroshima (in the city’s present-day Nishi Ward), had changed from 7,780 to 8,786.
Inside the newspaper, on the second page, the Chugoku Shimbun reported on how the downtown areas were being rebuilt. Calling the housing problem the “biggest concern,” the newspaper indicated that about 5,000 housing units had been built by Hiroshima’s citizens, added to the roughly 1,000 units provided by housing-supply corporations affiliated with the government.
Hiroyuki Sora, 28 at the time, was a carpenter engaged in the construction of shacks and the clearing of destroyed structures who died in 1987. Recalling that period, Mr. Sora was quoted as saying in a Chugoku Shimbun article dated October 28, 1978, “After Hiroshima had been so badly destroyed, I didn’t believe the city would ever recover, but new houses began to appear little by little, gradually transforming the ruins.” Having long had an interest in photography, Mr. Sora took photographs of places around the city in April 1946, inspired by the hammering sounds of reconstruction.
A change had also come about in the city’s black markets, which people were forced to rely on due to serious food shortages despite their exorbitant prices. In February, the Hiroshima Prefectural Police Department began to crack down on the black markets. An article in the Chugoku Shimbun dated February 6 reported, “They are changing, albeit slowly, to fair and free markets.”
(Originally published on February 6, 2025)
On February 6, 1946, six months after the atomic bombing, the Chugoku Shimbun carried on its front page a “comparative diagram” of populations in Hiroshima City before and after the bombing by different district superimposed on a map of the city. The information ran under the headline, “Today marks half a year since the atomic bomb was dropped.” The diagram illustrated significant population declines in such areas near the hypocenter as Nakajima and Honkawa (both in Hiroshima’s present-day Naka Ward).
The diagram compared 33 districts based on the “number of people registered for household rice-ration passbooks” as of June 30, 1945, and data from a population survey as of January 1, 1946. The population of the Honkawa area, located within one kilometer of the hypocenter, showed a dramatic decline, from 5,237 people to 129, a number around two-and-a-half percent of that before the bombing. In areas within two kilometers of the hypocenter, such as Fukuro-machi, Ote-machi, Hirose, and Kanzaki (all in the city’s present-day Naka Ward), where most of the buildings had collapsed and were burned to the ground, a significant population decline was also seen.
The Nakajima area’s population had declined from 9,196 people to 2,364, around one-fourth of the pre-bombing population. The entire Nakajima area, where Peace Memorial Park is now located, including Nakajima-honmachi, which was one of Hiroshima’s bustling commercial districts near the hypocenter before the bombing, had been leveled. But the Yoshijima area, further south, was also included in the calculations for the Nakajima district.
Meanwhile, there were areas surrounding Hiroshima that experienced increases in population because they had avoided major damage from the bombing. For example, the population of Ninoshima Island (in Hiroshima’s present-day Minami Ward), a location to which many wounded survivors had been taken soon after the bombing, had increased from 1,765 people to 1,916. The population of the Koi district, in the western part of Hiroshima (in the city’s present-day Nishi Ward), had changed from 7,780 to 8,786.
Inside the newspaper, on the second page, the Chugoku Shimbun reported on how the downtown areas were being rebuilt. Calling the housing problem the “biggest concern,” the newspaper indicated that about 5,000 housing units had been built by Hiroshima’s citizens, added to the roughly 1,000 units provided by housing-supply corporations affiliated with the government.
Hiroyuki Sora, 28 at the time, was a carpenter engaged in the construction of shacks and the clearing of destroyed structures who died in 1987. Recalling that period, Mr. Sora was quoted as saying in a Chugoku Shimbun article dated October 28, 1978, “After Hiroshima had been so badly destroyed, I didn’t believe the city would ever recover, but new houses began to appear little by little, gradually transforming the ruins.” Having long had an interest in photography, Mr. Sora took photographs of places around the city in April 1946, inspired by the hammering sounds of reconstruction.
A change had also come about in the city’s black markets, which people were forced to rely on due to serious food shortages despite their exorbitant prices. In February, the Hiroshima Prefectural Police Department began to crack down on the black markets. An article in the Chugoku Shimbun dated February 6 reported, “They are changing, albeit slowly, to fair and free markets.”
(Originally published on February 6, 2025)
