Documenting Hiroshima of 1946: In March, graduation ceremony held at private home serving as provisional school building
Mar. 28, 2025
by Maho Yamamoto, Staff Writer
In March 1946, graduation ceremonies took place at schools across Hiroshima City. Nakajima National School (present-day Nakajima Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located around 1.1 kilometers from the hypocenter and burned to the ground in the atomic bombing, held its ceremony at a private home within the school district it was using as a provisional school building. Approximately 30 graduating students gathered for the ceremony.
Yoshimaru Muneto, one of the attendees who died in 2016 at the age of 82, later described the ceremony for the publication Nakajima Shogakko Soritsu Hyakushunen Kinen-shi (in English, ‘Commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of Nakajima Elementary School’), published in 1998. Mr. Muneto wrote about how, “There was no graduation certificate given at the ceremony, which was facilitated by my beloved teachers.” He added that “the glorious graduation ceremony concluded” after students listened to remarks made by the school principal. According to the school’s register of enrollment, around 70 students are estimated to have been in Mr. Muneto’s class.
At each school, many children and students were unable to attend graduation ceremonies due to the chaos after the atomic bombing or ended up graduating from different schools. Most of the Nakajima National School district had been reduced to an incinerated ruins, with classes at the school resuming in several private homes starting in December 1945.
On March 26, the Hiroshima War Orphans Foster Home, located in the area of Itsukaichi-cho (in Hiroshima City’s present-day Saeki Ward), held a graduation ceremony for 10 of the children living at the facility, including some who had lost both parents in the bombing. According to an article in the Chugoku Shimbun published on March 28, 1946, Gishin Yamashita, founder of the foster home, celebrated the graduating students in his congratulatory speech with the words, “You have endured hardship resulting from the ravages of war and worked hard at your studies.” Mr. Yamashita added, “I hope you all become people who always get back up again, no matter how many times you stumble in your life.”
Meanwhile, no graduation ceremony was held at Fukuromachi National School (present-day Fukuromachi Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located 460 meters from the hypocenter. At the time of the atomic bombing, most of the school’s students, teachers, and staff who had been at the school were killed. The school was located close to the hypocenter, and its surviving students, who had been evacuated to the suburbs, were scattered around different places because they also had lost family and relatives in the bombing. The school reopened around May 1946.
Based on their desire for evidence of their enrollment at the school, alumni who had been sixth-grade students at the time of the bombing called for a class reunion, resulting in their receiving what was called a “certificate of course completion through the fifth grade,” signed by the school principal, in 2000. The students, including Shozo Kawamoto, who died in 2022 at the age of 88, put together a commemorative magazine titled Fukuromachi, published in 2002, which described the ceremony and included their remarks made in response to receiving the certificate. “The memories of our days at Fukuromachi National School, which always provided us with emotional support and care, are deeply etched into our hearts,” read the remarks.
(Originally published on March 28, 2025)
In March 1946, graduation ceremonies took place at schools across Hiroshima City. Nakajima National School (present-day Nakajima Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located around 1.1 kilometers from the hypocenter and burned to the ground in the atomic bombing, held its ceremony at a private home within the school district it was using as a provisional school building. Approximately 30 graduating students gathered for the ceremony.
Yoshimaru Muneto, one of the attendees who died in 2016 at the age of 82, later described the ceremony for the publication Nakajima Shogakko Soritsu Hyakushunen Kinen-shi (in English, ‘Commemorative publication for the 100th anniversary of Nakajima Elementary School’), published in 1998. Mr. Muneto wrote about how, “There was no graduation certificate given at the ceremony, which was facilitated by my beloved teachers.” He added that “the glorious graduation ceremony concluded” after students listened to remarks made by the school principal. According to the school’s register of enrollment, around 70 students are estimated to have been in Mr. Muneto’s class.
At each school, many children and students were unable to attend graduation ceremonies due to the chaos after the atomic bombing or ended up graduating from different schools. Most of the Nakajima National School district had been reduced to an incinerated ruins, with classes at the school resuming in several private homes starting in December 1945.
On March 26, the Hiroshima War Orphans Foster Home, located in the area of Itsukaichi-cho (in Hiroshima City’s present-day Saeki Ward), held a graduation ceremony for 10 of the children living at the facility, including some who had lost both parents in the bombing. According to an article in the Chugoku Shimbun published on March 28, 1946, Gishin Yamashita, founder of the foster home, celebrated the graduating students in his congratulatory speech with the words, “You have endured hardship resulting from the ravages of war and worked hard at your studies.” Mr. Yamashita added, “I hope you all become people who always get back up again, no matter how many times you stumble in your life.”
Meanwhile, no graduation ceremony was held at Fukuromachi National School (present-day Fukuromachi Elementary School, in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward), located 460 meters from the hypocenter. At the time of the atomic bombing, most of the school’s students, teachers, and staff who had been at the school were killed. The school was located close to the hypocenter, and its surviving students, who had been evacuated to the suburbs, were scattered around different places because they also had lost family and relatives in the bombing. The school reopened around May 1946.
Based on their desire for evidence of their enrollment at the school, alumni who had been sixth-grade students at the time of the bombing called for a class reunion, resulting in their receiving what was called a “certificate of course completion through the fifth grade,” signed by the school principal, in 2000. The students, including Shozo Kawamoto, who died in 2022 at the age of 88, put together a commemorative magazine titled Fukuromachi, published in 2002, which described the ceremony and included their remarks made in response to receiving the certificate. “The memories of our days at Fukuromachi National School, which always provided us with emotional support and care, are deeply etched into our hearts,” read the remarks.
(Originally published on March 28, 2025)
