Hiroshima University Memorial Monument for the Atomic Bomb Victims

[Date of erection] August 6, 1974 [Erected by] Hiroshima University Committee for Memorial Events for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb [History] The Committee for Memorial Events for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima University (chaired by the university president), which was established in March 1972, erected this memorial monument as one of its main projects. Since 1974, Hiroshima University has held a memorial service in front of the monument every August 6. Inside the monument is a list of the victims of the atomic bombing at Hiroshima University and its predecessor schools, and more is added every year at the request of those involved. According to Shigeo Sato (then a professor in the Faculty of Engineering), who was in charge of designing the monument, the design was intended to convey "the immeasurable sorrow of those who fell victim to the atomic bomb, a heavy weight that cannot be fathomed, and an unshakable reality, for which we are filled with a truly silent prayer for the repose of their souls. Therefore, I thought that a large, heavy stone, silently and solidly stable, carved by the boundless forces of nature, with a beautiful natural shape, would be more suitable for this atomic bomb memorial than any man-made monument, and would become a monument of eternal prayer. The large and small sharp broken stones, which have been split and shattered, piled randomly at the bottom, are reminiscent of the contradictions, sorrows and conflicts of the world, and were therefore crushed and piled at the base of the monument." *If you wish to view the monument, please inform the security guard at the main gate that you would like to view the monument.