Hiroshima: 70 Years After the A-bombing: Donated Items 2
Aug. 29, 2014
Kimonos to celebrate her birth are stained with black rain
Tomiko Suzuki, 70, a resident of Eba Nihonmatsu, Naka Ward, has preserved the kimonos she wore to celebrate her birth. The kimonos, though, are stained with the radioactive “black rain” that fell over the city in the aftermath of the atomic bombing. Her mother, Teruko, who died in 1996 at the age of 91, kept them in a wicker trunk.
Tomiko lived with her parents and her grandmother in Kawaramachi (part of today’s Naka Ward). Anticipating air raids, they moved their important possessions, like these kimonos, to a friend’s house in Koi-machi (part of today’s Nishi Ward). From late July of 1945, the family stayed nights at this friend’s house.
On August 6, Tomiko’s grandmother, Fusa, 74, who had remained at their home in Kawaramachi, perished in the A-bomb blast. Tomiko’s aunt and cousin, who lived in the neighborhood, also died in the bombing. The friend’s house was located about three kilometers from the hypocenter, and part of the roof was blown off. The kimonos, stored in the attic, were probably exposed to the black rain there.
After Tomiko married, her mother gradually began to share details of how the family suffered in the atomic bombing. In 1972, Tomiko and her mother filed applications for the Atomic Bomb Survivor’s Certificate.
Tomiko was one year and three months old at the time of the atomic bombing. She has no direct memory of the event, but connects the history of the war and the atomic bombing with the kimonos stained with blotches of black rain. “I’m really concerned about recent political developments,” she said. “I hope these kimonos will help prevent such a dark history from happening again.” She intends to donate the kimonos to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the hope that many people will see them.
(Originally published on July 8, 2014)
