"I PRAY" by Yoko Kihara

While children in today's world are playing soccer and jumping rope, the atomic bomb explodes. The injured hear a voice, encouraging them to stand, and they rise up. "I PRAY" is performed by children, who dance and sing, conveying the wish for peace. The play runs about 40 minutes and will be held at Aster Plaza in Hiroshima on August at 2 p.m. An advance ticket costs 1,000 yen for elementary school students and above.

Making a world where children are always smiling

Yoko Kihara

Born in the city of Hiroshima. As a student at Yasuda Girls High School, she formed a baton twirling club. After graduating from college in the city, she ran a coffee shop and a disco. In the 1980s, she served as president of the regional Chugoku and Shikoku branch of the disco association. She now heads the "Studio Y" dance studio and is a lecturer at the Koide Fashion Beauty College.

"I PRAY" is an original play that is performed by a cast of children. It depicts the horror of the atomic bombing and the strength of the survivors who rise from a charred field. The children perform the play to convey a wish for peace. "I PRAY" was created and produced by Yoko Kihara. "I want to make a world where children are always smiling," she said.

About the title of the play, she explained, "'I PRAY' is the prayer of children, hoping that there will be no more war."

Ms. Kihara is the daughter of an A-bomb survivor. On August 6, 1945, her uncle, who owned a shipping company on the island of Osakikamishima, went to Hiroshima on business. After the bombing, her mother, grandmother, and employees of the company traveled from the island to Hiroshima to search for him. They visited schools, which were serving as first aid stations for the victims, but her uncle could not be found.

Her mother and grandmother told her: "We saw the bodies of survivors infested with maggots" and "Survivors begged us to give them water." Ms. Kihara thought: "Perpetrating such a horrible fate on fellow human beings should never have happened."

When she was teaching dance in Hiroshima, in 1996, she was asked to perform at a peace gathering. That served as the spark for creating "I PRAY." The students of her dance studio, and other children who wish to take part, make up the cast for each performance.

Over the years, she has observed a number of changes in the minds of her performers. One elementary school girl told her mother: "Thank you for giving birth to me." Another elementary school student felt bored spending day after day studying, but after the performance, the student said: "I realized that I'm happy with my life as it is."

"I PRAY" will be presented in Hiroshima on August 6. Prior to this performance, they will stage the play in the city of Daegu, South Korea on July 24. Ms. Kihara shared her eagerness for the first performance overseas, saying, "I want to offer an opportunity for people to think about peace, beyond political and ethnic considerations, and for all of us to unite, hand in hand."

After the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the children of "I PRAY" have voiced the wish "to do something for the victims of the disaster." Ms. Kihara said that they will perform the play in the affected area to cheer people up by showing the smiles of children and sharing the scene where survivors of the atomic bombing rise again strongly after the blast. (Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer)