Yoshinori Kuniwake, 82, Naka Ward, Hiroshima

Encouraged by A-bombed trees

Standing by the A-bombed camellia tree, Mr. Kuniwake said, "I hope we can make a world without war."

Mother and three siblings perish
/ Gave seedlings to students with wish for peace

Yoshinori Kuniwake, 82, the former head priest of Hoshoin Temple in Naka Ward, Hiroshima gazed at the A-bombed camellia and linden trees on the temple grounds. "These trees, which had the strength to survive the atomic bombing despite their wounds, helped encourage me to go on living," he said. Hoshoin Temple is located 1.7 kilometers from the bomb's hypocenter. Mr. Kuniwake was there at the temple when the blast occurred on the morning of August 6, 1945. The bomb stole the lives of his mother and his siblings.

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Mr. Kuniwake at the age of 16 (1945)

Back then, he lived in a home on the temple grounds with his parents, two brothers, and four sisters. He was 16 and attending present-day Sanyo High School. One of the many students mobilized for the war effort, Mr. Kuniwake was set to leave his house to bring lunch boxes to a military factory. Just then he heard the sound of a plane and a flash lit up the sky. He was blown into the air, through the smell of debris and dirt. Although he lost consciousness for a moment, he awoke to find a shaft of sunlight. He eagerly moved in that direction and was able to escape the wreckage of his home.

His father Chitoku, 46, and his younger brother Yoshifumi, 11, managed to survive the collapse of the house, too. They found his younger sister Keiko, 4, crying amid the debris and went to her aid. He then searched the vicinity and saw his mother Haruko, 41, holding his brother Hironobu, just a year old. But Haruko and Hironobu had gotten caught under a falling beam and were dead.

As flames closed in, the surviving members of his family had no choice but to flee. Houses on both sides of the road were on fire so, to prevent burns, they first soaked in a water cistern designed for fire fighting. Then they dashed down the road as quickly as they could.

That night, they returned to the temple and slept out in the open. The temple buildings continued to burn and Mr. Kuniwake recalls seeing red and blue flames rising in the air, beneath a linden tree that had escaped the fire. "Which flames came from my mother and my brother?" he wondered. "I shouldn't have fled. I should have stayed behind and died with them." He could not stop weeping.

His older sister Nobuko, 18, was working at a factory as a member of the women's volunteer corps and survived the bombing, too. But his younger sister, Ikuko, 14, who was mobilized to work outdoors that day, had burns all over her body and died from her injuries. The whereabouts of another younger sister, Kazuko, 7, was unknown, until later her bones were discovered on the temple grounds.

After the war came to an end, his family was thinking of leaving Hiroshima and starting fresh in another city. But when they saw taro plants begin to sprout, this encouraged them to continue living here.

Mr. Kuniwake suffered injuries to his forehead and chest when his home collapsed. He received medical care in Kagawa Prefecture, where relatives lived, and then followed a teacher's advice and returned to high school in November of 1945. After graduating, he went to work at a post office and engaged in training to become a temple priest. In 1970, he took over the family temple by becoming the 18th head priest. He then handed this role over to his eldest son in 2001.

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Mr. Kuniwake hopes that "Everyone will hold thoughts for peace and value the idea of harmony." He said, "Let's reflect on the emptiness of war and the importance of peace by looking at the trees which have survived in Hiroshima when it was said that no plants would grow here." In 2002, Mr. Kuniwake offered seedlings grown from the seeds of the temple's A-bombed linden tree to Hakushima Elementary School, located nearby. He hopes that the feeling of cherishing peace will grow in the students' minds. (Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer)