47 Hiroshima Monument for the A-bomb Victims
Completed : August 5, 1982
Established by : Construction Committee of the Hiroshima Monument for the A-bomb Victims
In the riverbed of the Motoyasu River near the A-bomb Dome (hypocenter vicinity) were buried many tiles with surfaces melted by the heat ray. When Hiroshima City undertook beautification of the Motoyasu River in 1981, high school students made a call for excavation of tiles and construction of a monument to strengthen resolve for building peace. The monument is inlaid with A-bombed tiles collected largely through the efforts of young people born into a generation that does not know war.
"When the sky turned suddenly light, my body began to melt. Friends around the world, join in the cry from Hiroshima!" The monument committee created the monument using as epitaph this poem written by Junko Kurata, a second-generation survivor who was then a student at Yasuda Girls High School. It was chosen from more than 2,000 entries by elementary, junior high, and high school students around the country.
The theme of the bronze statue suggesting the soul of a victim going to heaven is "Wind of No Return." It was created by Professor Hisashi Akutagawa of Hijiyama Women's Junior College.
