Documenting Hiroshima 80 years after A-bombing: September 20, 1951, Sankichi Toge publishes A-bomb poetry collection, imbued with poet’s anguish about tragedy
Feb. 20, 2025
by Michio Shimotaka, Staff Writer
On September 20, 1951, the Hiroshima poet Sankichi Toge, 34 at the time, published the poetry collection Genbaku Shishu (in English, “Poems of the Atomic Bomb”). The first edition was comprised of 500 mimeographed copies. In the collection’s opening remarks, Mr. Toge wrote a dedication to “those whose lives were stolen by the atomic bombings” as well as to “people around the world who despise atomic bombs.” Following the table of contents, he wrote the following preface all in Japanese hiragana script.
Give back my father, give back my mother
Give back the elderly
Give back the children
Give me back myself
Give back human beings associated with me
So long as this world of humans, of humans, exists
Give back everlasting peace
Mr. Toge began writing poems from before the war and experienced the atomic bombing at his home in the area of Midori-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Minami Ward), located around three kilometers from the hypocenter. Through 1946, the year after the atomic bombings, he managed such businesses as a flower stand and a rental book shop. In 1947, he was hired by the social affairs department of the Hiroshima Prefectural government and engaged in the work of promoting Japan’s new constitution.
Anxious about era, he hastily compiled collection On the other hand, he worked in collaboration with other local poets and writers of tanka short poems, publishing such collections as Hansenshi Kashu (‘Anti-war poems’), which was released in 1950. He hurriedly compiled his manuscript for Genbaku Shishu (“Poems of the Atomic Bomb”), his first personal collection of poems, with the approach of the August 6 A-bombing anniversary in 1951, while he was staying at the National Hiroshima Sanatorium (in present-day Higashihiroshima City) for treatment of bronchitis. His feelings at that time are expressed in the collection’s afterword, as indicated below.
“I felt ashamed of my six-year negligence as a poet and of the fact that the collection was so poor … and weak. However, despite feeling that way, I knew it was an era that demanded quick publication and felt I could not afford to take more time to wait another day for perfection.”
In June 1950, the previous year, the Korean War had begun. The flames of war persisted even more than one year later. Among the 20 poems in the collection was one titled “August 6, 1950,” which described cancellation of the Hiroshima Peace Festival in 1950 with the language, “A-bombed Hiroshima, occupied by armed and plainclothes police officers.”
Archived at the Hiroshima City Central Library is a postcard dated July 24, 1951, that Mr. Toge had received from Shigeharu Tsuboi, a poet to whom he had entrusted his manuscript. According to the postcard, Mr. Tsuboi had taken the manuscript to a publisher in Tokyo, but the company refused to publish the work. Mr. Tsuboi wrote, “There is not enough time to submit for publication by August 6, so please mimeograph the collection and release it yourself immediately.”
g>Experiences vividly rendered g>
The collection was released more than one month and a half after the commemorative date of the atomic bombing in 1951, but Mr. Toge’s experiences from “August 6” were deeply imbued in the work. His poem titled “Soko no Kiroku” (‘Record of warehouse’) described the horrific conditions in the former Hiroshima Army Clothing Depot, located near his home. He used the poem to express the situation in the depot, to which many wounded people had been rushed immediately after the bombing, with such language as “unusual odors piercing my bones” and “bodies piled up on a vacant lot.” He also included descriptions in his own journal that read, “Strong smell of death,” about his experience upon entering the depot.
Chieko Kiriaki, 95, a resident of Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward, said, “The situation in the depot was just as he expressed in his poems. I can’t forget the smells of burned skin and blood.” She had visited the Clothing Depot in the afternoon on the day of the atomic bombing to visit her grandmother, who had been taken there with serious wounds.
After the war, Ms. Kiriake deepened her friendship with Mr. Toge through student gatherings she used to attend. “When debates between the students became too heated to conclude, he would intervene and called the discussions a draw. He always spoke gently,” she said.
In September 1952, after Japan’s occupation concluded, Mr. Toge compiled the poetry collection Genshi-gumo no Shita Yori (‘From under the atomic cloud’), which contained poems submitted by a wide range of people, from children to adults, describing their experiences in the atomic bombings and their hopes for peace. The following year, Mr. Toge died at the young age of 36, while undergoing surgery on a lung lobe. The Genbaku Shishu (“Poems of the Atomic Bomb”) was the only personal collection of his poems published while he was still alive.
(Originally published on February 20, 2025)
On September 20, 1951, the Hiroshima poet Sankichi Toge, 34 at the time, published the poetry collection Genbaku Shishu (in English, “Poems of the Atomic Bomb”). The first edition was comprised of 500 mimeographed copies. In the collection’s opening remarks, Mr. Toge wrote a dedication to “those whose lives were stolen by the atomic bombings” as well as to “people around the world who despise atomic bombs.” Following the table of contents, he wrote the following preface all in Japanese hiragana script.
Give back my father, give back my mother
Give back the elderly
Give back the children
Give me back myself
Give back human beings associated with me
So long as this world of humans, of humans, exists
Give back everlasting peace
Mr. Toge began writing poems from before the war and experienced the atomic bombing at his home in the area of Midori-machi (in Hiroshima’s present-day Minami Ward), located around three kilometers from the hypocenter. Through 1946, the year after the atomic bombings, he managed such businesses as a flower stand and a rental book shop. In 1947, he was hired by the social affairs department of the Hiroshima Prefectural government and engaged in the work of promoting Japan’s new constitution.
Anxious about era, he hastily compiled collection On the other hand, he worked in collaboration with other local poets and writers of tanka short poems, publishing such collections as Hansenshi Kashu (‘Anti-war poems’), which was released in 1950. He hurriedly compiled his manuscript for Genbaku Shishu (“Poems of the Atomic Bomb”), his first personal collection of poems, with the approach of the August 6 A-bombing anniversary in 1951, while he was staying at the National Hiroshima Sanatorium (in present-day Higashihiroshima City) for treatment of bronchitis. His feelings at that time are expressed in the collection’s afterword, as indicated below.
“I felt ashamed of my six-year negligence as a poet and of the fact that the collection was so poor … and weak. However, despite feeling that way, I knew it was an era that demanded quick publication and felt I could not afford to take more time to wait another day for perfection.”
In June 1950, the previous year, the Korean War had begun. The flames of war persisted even more than one year later. Among the 20 poems in the collection was one titled “August 6, 1950,” which described cancellation of the Hiroshima Peace Festival in 1950 with the language, “A-bombed Hiroshima, occupied by armed and plainclothes police officers.”
Archived at the Hiroshima City Central Library is a postcard dated July 24, 1951, that Mr. Toge had received from Shigeharu Tsuboi, a poet to whom he had entrusted his manuscript. According to the postcard, Mr. Tsuboi had taken the manuscript to a publisher in Tokyo, but the company refused to publish the work. Mr. Tsuboi wrote, “There is not enough time to submit for publication by August 6, so please mimeograph the collection and release it yourself immediately.”
The collection was released more than one month and a half after the commemorative date of the atomic bombing in 1951, but Mr. Toge’s experiences from “August 6” were deeply imbued in the work. His poem titled “Soko no Kiroku” (‘Record of warehouse’) described the horrific conditions in the former Hiroshima Army Clothing Depot, located near his home. He used the poem to express the situation in the depot, to which many wounded people had been rushed immediately after the bombing, with such language as “unusual odors piercing my bones” and “bodies piled up on a vacant lot.” He also included descriptions in his own journal that read, “Strong smell of death,” about his experience upon entering the depot.
Chieko Kiriaki, 95, a resident of Hiroshima’s Asaminami Ward, said, “The situation in the depot was just as he expressed in his poems. I can’t forget the smells of burned skin and blood.” She had visited the Clothing Depot in the afternoon on the day of the atomic bombing to visit her grandmother, who had been taken there with serious wounds.
After the war, Ms. Kiriake deepened her friendship with Mr. Toge through student gatherings she used to attend. “When debates between the students became too heated to conclude, he would intervene and called the discussions a draw. He always spoke gently,” she said.
In September 1952, after Japan’s occupation concluded, Mr. Toge compiled the poetry collection Genshi-gumo no Shita Yori (‘From under the atomic cloud’), which contained poems submitted by a wide range of people, from children to adults, describing their experiences in the atomic bombings and their hopes for peace. The following year, Mr. Toge died at the young age of 36, while undergoing surgery on a lung lobe. The Genbaku Shishu (“Poems of the Atomic Bomb”) was the only personal collection of his poems published while he was still alive.
(Originally published on February 20, 2025)
