“Void” of 91 A-bomb deaths of residents of former Sarugaku-cho, A-bomb Dome area, uncovered for first time in 52 years, pre-bombing photos also discovered
Jul. 23, 1997
Up until July 22, 1997, detailed information about the damages and survival status of former residents of “Hiroshima City’s Sarugaku-cho,” the area that disappeared in the atomic bombing except for the A-bomb Dome, had been uncovered for the first time in 52 years by people involved in the area. Ninety-one residents of the area were confirmed to have died due to the bombing by the end of 1945, including 76 who died in the bombing itself. Meanwhile, 86 people in 45 area households were found to still be alive, with rare photographs of buildings and streets in the area taken before the bombing also discovered.
Sarugaku-cho was located in the present-day Ote-machi 1-chome and Kamiya-cho 2-chome of Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, the center of this city of one million people. Many of the residents of the area who died were heads of households, their wives, or children still too young to participate in schoolwide evacuations to areas outside the city. There were numerous cases of parents who had experienced the atomic bombing while at work on the demolition of homes and other structures based on a building-demolition order passed down by the national government in the area of Zakoba-cho, located on the east side of Hiroshima City Hall around 1.1 kilometers from the hypocenter, but whose remains have never been found.
Among households in the area, the largest death toll in one such family was seven people. They are thought to have died in the bombing while seated around the breakfast table. Suggestive of the fact that the full circumstances of damages wrought by the atomic bombing are still unclear, many differences were found between the Hiroshima City government surveys, used as the basis for creating a register of the names of A-bomb victims, and the information confirmed by bereaved families about victims’ names, age at death, and location where they experienced the bombing.
A majority of the bereaved families experienced the atomic bombing but survived because they had been at different sites for work as mobilized students or were exposed to A-bomb radiation upon entering the city from evacuation sites outside the city, such as present-day Asaminami Ward, after the bombing. The oldest surviving family member is now 100 years old. The youngest, born at the end of 1945 after the father’s death in the bombing, is 51.
Eiichi Ise, 59, a tobacco shop owner who still lives next to the A-bomb Dome, among others, called on former residents to uncover records of A-bombing damages in Sarugaku-cho. “To pass on the reality of the atomic bombing to our children and grandchildren, we ourselves need to recreate the area and mourn the victims,” said Mr. Ise. Starting this spring, the Chugoku Shimbun worked on locating surviving families and, with their support, collected records and testimonies of their experiences. With confirmation of the situation of damages in Sarugaku-cho, a “void” of information to that point, it became known that valuable photos not contained in the records of the atomic bombing compiled by Hiroshima City are stored at the homes of surviving family members.
On August 2, former residents of the area will hold a memorial ceremony at Saiko-ji Temple, located to the east of the A-bomb Dome, and discuss future activities within the group known as “Yagura-kai” (chaired by Karoku Masumoto), a name derived from the area’s beginnings as a castle town.
Mr. Ise said, “I hope former residents who have lost connections with each other since the day of the bombing will get together and expand this circle through each of our acquaintances. We hope to recreate the area where we were born and raised in a visible way and pay tribute to the victims.”
For further details about the Yagura-kai group, please contact Mr. Ise at 082-247-5324.
(Originally published on July 23, 1997)
Sarugaku-cho was located in the present-day Ote-machi 1-chome and Kamiya-cho 2-chome of Hiroshima’s Naka Ward, the center of this city of one million people. Many of the residents of the area who died were heads of households, their wives, or children still too young to participate in schoolwide evacuations to areas outside the city. There were numerous cases of parents who had experienced the atomic bombing while at work on the demolition of homes and other structures based on a building-demolition order passed down by the national government in the area of Zakoba-cho, located on the east side of Hiroshima City Hall around 1.1 kilometers from the hypocenter, but whose remains have never been found.
Among households in the area, the largest death toll in one such family was seven people. They are thought to have died in the bombing while seated around the breakfast table. Suggestive of the fact that the full circumstances of damages wrought by the atomic bombing are still unclear, many differences were found between the Hiroshima City government surveys, used as the basis for creating a register of the names of A-bomb victims, and the information confirmed by bereaved families about victims’ names, age at death, and location where they experienced the bombing.
A majority of the bereaved families experienced the atomic bombing but survived because they had been at different sites for work as mobilized students or were exposed to A-bomb radiation upon entering the city from evacuation sites outside the city, such as present-day Asaminami Ward, after the bombing. The oldest surviving family member is now 100 years old. The youngest, born at the end of 1945 after the father’s death in the bombing, is 51.
Eiichi Ise, 59, a tobacco shop owner who still lives next to the A-bomb Dome, among others, called on former residents to uncover records of A-bombing damages in Sarugaku-cho. “To pass on the reality of the atomic bombing to our children and grandchildren, we ourselves need to recreate the area and mourn the victims,” said Mr. Ise. Starting this spring, the Chugoku Shimbun worked on locating surviving families and, with their support, collected records and testimonies of their experiences. With confirmation of the situation of damages in Sarugaku-cho, a “void” of information to that point, it became known that valuable photos not contained in the records of the atomic bombing compiled by Hiroshima City are stored at the homes of surviving family members.
On August 2, former residents of the area will hold a memorial ceremony at Saiko-ji Temple, located to the east of the A-bomb Dome, and discuss future activities within the group known as “Yagura-kai” (chaired by Karoku Masumoto), a name derived from the area’s beginnings as a castle town.
Mr. Ise said, “I hope former residents who have lost connections with each other since the day of the bombing will get together and expand this circle through each of our acquaintances. We hope to recreate the area where we were born and raised in a visible way and pay tribute to the victims.”
For further details about the Yagura-kai group, please contact Mr. Ise at 082-247-5324.
(Originally published on July 23, 1997)
