7-13 Peace Clock Tower
Date of completion October 28, 1967
Established by Hiroshima Rijo Lions Club
Designer Shoji Ohata
Shape
A tower made of 3 iron pillars each twisted by 60 degrees with a spherical clock facing three directions on top (height 20m).
Memorial Epigraph
"With the appearance of nuclear energy, mankind is standing at a crossroads between life or death, downfall or prosperity. Uniting the wide world with one heart, the role of Lions Club members in establishing peace is big. We have built this clock tower and donated it to the city in accord with the perennial preservation of the A-bomb Dome. The chime of the clock tower resounding everyday at 8.15, the time when mankind received its baptism of the atomic bomb for the first time, calls out to the world for "No more Hiroshima" and we pray that the day for lasting peace may soon come to mankind."
October 28, 1967 Celebrating 10 years since the transmission of the charter
Hiroshima Rijo Lions Club
Noteworthy characteristics
1. Construction of the Peace Clock Tower
The plan to construct the Peace Clock Tower was deadlocked at first due to Kenzo Tange, designer of the Peace Park and professor at Tokyo University, saying, "the Peace Park is a holy place and it is not desirable that many things are built". In spite of that, the project could be completed with his agreement when representatives of the project went to Tokyo and explained the circumstances.
2. Shape of the tower
The sphere with a diameter of 2m representing the people of the world is supported by three 20m high steel towers representing the hands of the citizens of the Peace City Hiroshima united in deep prayer and the hope for endless peace surpassing difficulties.
3. Japan's Soundscape − 100 Selected Sounds
It was selected in 1996 for the Environment Agency's "One Hundred Sounds the Japanese People Wish to Preserve." (The selection includes the sounds in the park on August 6, including the ringing of the Peace Clock Tower bell, the Peace Bell, and the bell displayed in Peace Memorial Museum that is used in the Peace Memorial Ceremony.)
