Atomic Bomb Victim Hiroshima Monument

Date of construction: August 5, 1982 Many roof tiles whose surfaces had melted due to the heat rays of the atomic bomb were buried in the bed of the Motoyasu River near the Atomic Bomb Dome, which was close to the hypocenter. In 1981, when Hiroshima City began work to clean up the Motoyasu River, high school students called for the excavation of the roof tiles and the construction of a monument to solidify their resolve for peace. This monument, built mainly by a generation that had no experience of war or the atomic bomb, contains the "Atomic Bomb Roof Tiles," the culmination of their efforts. The inscription on the monument, "When the sky burned red, my body melted. Let us join in the cry of Hiroshima, people of the world," was selected from over 2,000 proposals submitted by elementary, junior high, and high school students from all over the country, and was created by the Inscription Committee based on a proposal by Junko Kurata (then a student at Yasuda Girls' High School), a second-generation atomic bomb survivor. The bronze statue, which depicts the souls of the victims ascending to heaven with the theme of "The Wind That Can't Return," was created by Professor Ei Akutagawa of Hijiyama Women's Junior College.