49 Cenotaph for A-bomb Victims in the Coal Industry
Date of completion August 6, 1957
Established by People in the coal industry all over Japan
Designer : Konan Hanami
Shape
A 1.5-meter high stone guardian deity stands atop a lotus-shaped base placed on a 1.2-meter high stone pedestal. A stone called honkomatsu-ishi, quarried from Mt. Ashigara in Soshu (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture), is used for the cenotaph.
Motive for the erection
In prayer for the souls of the employees of coal control organizations who were victimized by the atomic bomb
Epigraph
"To console the spirits of A-bomb victims"
Noteworthy characteristics
1. Coal control organizations
Former Japan Coal Co., Ltd., former Chugoku Coal Distribution Control Co., Ltd. and former West Japan Coal Transportation Co., Ltd were located in the same building.
2. A-bomb Jizo (guardian deity of children)
Commonly known as "A-bomb Jizo," this cenotaph is located where stood the building housing the three coal control organizations when the atomic bomb was dropped. Inside the cenotaph is a copperplate engraved with the names of 76 victims.
3. Background for erecting the cenotaph
Of the 77 employees who were inside the building, all but one woman died as a result of the atomic bomb. In prayer for the souls of the victims, the surviving employees of the three organizations erected the cenotaph by collecting contributions from people in the coal industry in areas ranging from Kitakyushu to Hokkaido.
