In the morning of August 6th 1945, I was at home reading my elementary school text book in a loud voice. Suddenly, I saw a strong, strange and colorful light which I had never seen before. At the same time, I felt a strong shake with a big sound. For a moment, it became dark. While some pieces of the wall collapsed on me, I was thrown a short distance. I murmured “Long live the Emperor” even before I called “Father and Mother”. The phrase was what we Japanese had been taught to say when we were going to die. Though I was only nine years old, I remembered clearly what I had said.
Then, I heard my father’s loud cry “Are you all right? Did you get hurt?” He held me tightly. Mother came to us calling my name. Her forehead was bleeding. Father saw it and tore his ‘yukata’ (Japanese summer kimono) and banded her forehead with it and said “Don’t move, one of the bombs just fell on our house, someone will come to save us soon. Though we waited for quite a long time, nobody came.
Father went to look outside, and exclaimed loudly “Oh my God! What’s happened? All of the houses around here are utterly destroyed.” Luckily, our house was not completely destroyed, so we were able to get out. As soon as we went out, we saw what had happened. Parents began to worry about my eldest sister who was out at that time. Just then, we heard a woman scream “help! help! " It was from my aunt who was living next door. My uncle was stuck under the destroyed house, so he couldn’t move at all. Father went in, and began to help him with my aunt.
Next door opposite, there lived my grandparents, and the family of another uncle of mine. My aunt and a little boy, my cousin, barely managed to crawl out of the collapsed house and said though my grandfather and my uncle were not there, my grandmother was still in the house. Mother and my aunt removed big debris one by one to help my grandmother get out. My cousin and I could do nothing but stand in fear.
Then, I saw my sister coming to us shouting, “where are Father and Mother?” . I pointed to where they were, but saw that the clothes on her back were burning. I cried “fire! fire! Sister!”. Mother rushed to us and held sister and was aware of how her back was . I shuddered in terror. As I had closed my eyes, I don't know how mother extinguished the flame. At that time, sister didn’t complain of her pain at all. But afterwards, her pain became worse and worse both physically and mentally, which continued throughout her life. Meanwhile, father and aunt continued efforts to save uncle whose leg was caught by a big pillar. Long time passed, and though the uncle was saved, his leg was broken. Father next began to search for grandmother, but told us that we should leave here as soon as possible as fires broke out here and there. At last, grandmother was rescued but she was unconscious.
We started for the mountain side. We had to leave behind two infant lives, though nobody knew about them except the uncle, aunt and my father at that time.
As fires surrounded us from the back and both sides, we couldn’t walk fast. Father carried my grandmother on his back, two aunts supported the uncle, mother helped sister, the cousin and I followed them. On our way, we came across heavy rain which was later known as BLACK RAIN or Radioactive Rain; we had no way to avoid it then.
Parents thought if we could reach the house near the mountain, we would survive.
After walking for more than three hours, we, arrived at the destination. The relatives who were the owners of the house, and our family members were pleased to see each other alive.
Not only inside the house but also in the garden, the place was full of people who had escaped from the ruined and burnt city. Among them, there were many boys and girls, wearing high-school uniform, whose faces and clothes were burned. Some of them, cried out “MOM, MOM” groaning out of bitter pain. They craved water, so my father and people who were able, served them one after another. After a while, they fell silent and lifeless. It was the first time for me to see human beings die right before my eyes. Moreover, not only one but many people were to die one after another. I had never seen such a dreadful sight before or after. Oh how many wounded people died in such a short time!
Fortunately grandmother recovered her consciousness. In the evening, we left there, and began walking again to the next destination.
Around that time, sister’s pain became worse and worse. Mother encouraged her and said “the sun is setting, let us cheer up”. How beautiful the sunset was on that day! Strange enough, I still remembered it well. Afterwards we heard that the influence or the effect of the ATOMIC BOMB depends upon the sunshine. I wonder if it had been rain in Hiroshima on the 6th of August…..
On our long journey, I felt very thirsty and went to fetch some water in a little river, only to find that several boys, girls and adults were floating in the river dead. Around at midnight, we arrived at the house where the aunt’s mother lived. From there, we saw the burning city which was just like “a sea of fire”. After I had some food and drinks, I soon fell asleep. It was a long day, indeed. My sister and parents couldn’t sleep at all because of my sister’s severe pain.
Next day, father borrowed a wooden hand drawn cart called “daihachiguruma” and put sister and me on it, pulling it to the next destination. Others decided to stay behind. Father had previously borrowed a room in the suburbs for us evacuation. He had heard of a rumor that the 8th of August was a dangerous day for Hiroshima, and reserved a car to carry us and our baggage on the 7th. He deeply regretted that he had not sent us earlier even if there was no car.
When we arrived there, we were treated kindly, and stayed for eight months.
From that day, sister’s suffering began. Though one-third of her body was burned, she couldn't receive proper treatment at all for a while.
She worked in the factory in Kure-city to make weapon parts with her teachers and high-school mates. Father thought Kure-city, where there were big Japanese Navy ports, was the most dangerous place to be, so he took her back to Hiroshima after graduation as a substitute teacher . It was March of 1945, and people were were not permitted to leave the factory even after graduation. There were two exceptions, one was to get married, and the other was to become a school teacher. She was already engaged to a young doctor, who was drafted to be a doctor in the Army just before her graduation. After the city was bombed, he worked very hard to cure wounded armies and citizens in the epicenter of the bombed city, and he himself suffered from acute leukemia and died within that year.
Before he died, he asked his friend, a fellow doctor, to take care of my sister. He kindly visited us almost every evening, and took the best care of sister for a long time. Thanks to him, she was able to survive.
I have one more sister who was also a high-school student working in the factory in the suburbs. A few days later father brought her back to us. How pleased we were to meet each other! Mother and the second sister devoted themselves all day long to our eldest sister’s care. Father went to look for grandfather in the bombed city almost every day.
On August 15th, we were called to listen to the radio. Some important declaration was made by the Emperor. Though it was very difficult for me to understand what the Emperor said, people there dropped their heads in tears. Japan was defeated, the war came to an end..
Since then, it was revealed that the bomb was not an ordinary one, but a very special one. Many citizens like us, who had barely escaped death on that day began to suffer from curious disease and died one after another. The evident symptoms were bleeding from nose and mouth, losing a lot of hair, and red spots appearing on the skin. Mother checked my body every morning and evening checking for symptoms. Unfortunately, an aunt and sister’s fiancé died of this disease. The house where we lived in Hiroshima was only 1200 meters away from ground zero of the atomic bomb. It only took fifteen minutes on foot.
From the window of the room in the country house, we saw many coffins passing every day. Though I was a little girl, I had a big fear of death, and still have fear of LEUKEMIA.
Father’s office was on the next street from the explosion point of the atomic bomb. Fortunately he was sick on that day and had stayed home. His colleagues in the office died almost instantly. Some of them who could get away, suffered from leukemia.
My eldest sister was a teacher at the primary school just in front of the Ground Zero. At the end of July almost all the pupils went to the countryside in groups so the school was closed. Sister was going to the temple to teach a small number of pupils. If both my father and sister had been there, they couldn’t have been alive.
I was in the third grade of primary school, but stopped going to school, and was taught by sister at home. On that morning, sister instructed me to read a text book and went to the temple. Almost all of my friends had evacuated to outside of the city in groups accompanied by teachers, so they were safe. But unfortunately, many of them lost their father or mother or both.
I should tell about two tragedies surrounding my cousins. When the aunt was giving milk to her little baby, something hard hit him on the head. His little skull was cracked. How terrible it was! What deep sorrow she felt! The aunt didn’t say anything at that time, but only tried to save her husband under the big pillar. The other tragedy was their daughter’s death. She was a very cute four year old girl. She was also caught under the destroyed house, and was not found though the aunt called her name again and again. Someone afterward said that he heard a cry of a little girl when he was passing by the house, but could do nothing. She might have been unconscious like grandmother when mother was calling for her. Her body was burned alive. Afterward, her bones were found there. It’s too cruel, miserable for the uncle and aunt.
As for my grandfather who was out at that time, he has not been found until today. Nobody knows where he died.
The elder sister, who had big handicaps both physically and mentally, fortunately got married with a better-half and had nice families. To her sorrow, she suffered from a kind of sarcoma which might be due to the influence of radioactivity. She passed away, after long bouts in the hospital.
It was just two months after her death; it was the 60th memorial day of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. I watched a TV report of the Archives Museum of the atomic bomb in America. There were two rooms in the museum, one was for the public, and the other was usually locked. Because in the second room, there were many materials too cruel to display. Among them, I found my sister’s picture which was taken from her backside. I knew at once, it was hers. Father took her to the doctor who came from America to cure "keloid". Maybe the photo was taken at that time. It is exhibited as “a girl with keloid” in Japan. Though, anger and sorrow burst out from my heart, I was a little relieved that she and my parents who had passed away already did not know about it.
In April of 1946, we came back to Hiroshima city. I was so much surprised to see my native city so ruined, though I had heard about them. When we left there on the day of the bombing, our house still existed. Now, there was nothing left but for stone lanterns which had fallen in the garden pond.
The new house was very small and modest, but five members of our family felt happy to live there.
Soon I started going to school near my house. The school had no roof, no floor and no wall. We each made a notebook on the ground and wrote letters, calculated with burned nails. Sometimes, we found parts of human bones, which we informed to our teachers.
After I became a junior-high school student I was taken during class, to A.B.C.C (Atomic Bomb Causality Commission) by jeep to have every part of my body examined. Even now, I am examined twice a year. The reason is there has been some influence of radioactivity even though more than sixty years have passed.
Now, many countries have nuclear-weapons which are much stronger than those used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We should say to the world NO MORE HIROSHIMA, NO MORE NAGASAKI.