Monument in memory of actors

by Kenji Namba, Staff Writer

About 500 meters to the east of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in the green belt at the corner of Peace Boulevard and Namiki-dori Street, stands a triangular prism-shaped stone monument. This 3.5-meter-tall monument is dedicated to the Sakura-tai traveling theater troupe, whose nine members were killed in the atomic bombing.

The Sakura-tai was formed in January 1945 and based in Hiroshima. Its leader was the renowned actor Sadao Maruyama, an original member of the Tsukiji Little Theater. One of the members was Keiko Sonoi, a movie actress and former star of the Takarazuka Revue. The troupe toured Shimane and Tottori prefectures in July and returned to Hiroshima before August 6. They were staying in the Horikawa area in central Hiroshima, preparing for their next performance.

Five of them were killed instantly. The other four members fled to Miyajima, Kobe, and Tokyo, but they all died before the end of the month. Because of the effects of radiation exposure from the A-bomb blast, they are said to have died tragic deaths. Their story was featured in the film “Sakura-tai Chiru” (“The Deaths of the Sakura Troupe”), directed by Kaneto Shindo.

During the war, traveling theater troupes were created by order of the national government with a view to boosting fighting spirit. Many actors joined these troupes since they could perform nowhere else.

After the war, fellow actors erected monuments for the members of the Sakura-tai troupe, first at Gohyaku Rakanji Temple in Tokyo in 1952 and in Hiroshima, close to the place where they experienced the atomic bombing, in 1955. Every year on August 6, people involved in theater gather at the monument and pray for the actors who died before fulfilling their life’s ambitions.

(Originally published on February 6, 2012)