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Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims
Erected 6 August 1952
This monument (designed by Tange Kenzo) was erected in the hope that Hiroshima, devastated by the world’s first atomic bomb on 6 August 1945, would be rebuilt as a city of peace.The epitaph reads, "Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil." It summons people everywhere to pray for the repose of the souls of the deceased A-bomb victims and to join in the pledge never to repeat the evil of war. It thus expresses the "Heart of Hiroshima" which, enduring past grief and overcoming hatred, yearns for the realization of true world peace with the coexistence and prosperity of all humankind.
This monument is also called the "A-bomb Cenotaph" for the stone chest in the centre contains the register of deceased A-bomb victims.
Each year the
names of the new victims are written into the register.
This year (1998) 4 927 people were added,
totalling the number of A-bomb victims
at a huge 207 045.
