Miyajima

Day two in Hiroshima starts with a visit to the Peace Museum. It’s obviously a moving experience and presents unpalatable details directly, not shying away from the horrors of the day. Much is made of personal statements, and displays of torn and bloodstained clothing - particularly those of children - are particularly heart wrenching.  We hadn’t realised until today that the death toll amongst children was so high as many were involved in ‘demolition work’, bringing down buildings largely by hand to provide fire breaks in the bomb attacks Japan was expecting. Of course, they were not expecting anything like this, and working in the open, many children stood no chance. 

Initial survival was often only a prelude to further suffering as radiation took effect, but the immediate injuries through burns and glass fragments are shown in graphic detail - perhaps slightly lessened by the black and white images. Statements from news photographers are also moving; the dilemma of whether taking photographs of suffering is exploitative and unfeeling, or whether it is a duty to show the world what has happened.  A dilemma which continues today.  

The museum is busy, but we all move around in complete silence - out of respect and sheer horror. And the knowledge that current weapons have so much more destruction power is spine chilling. I fear that now man has this knowledge, it can never disappear; that box just can’t be closed and locked. 

We leave the museum and spend some time in the park. We come to the Children’s Peace Monument, to commemorate the children lost here - and particularly Sadako Sasaki whose story is told in the link below. We are invited to walk through and ring the bell etched with the words ‘This is our cry, this is our prayer, to build a world of peace".  The monument is surrounded with brightly coloured strings of tiny origami cranes from around the world. Such a simple idea that has travelled so far.  

And while we are there a class of primary ages children arrive to add their strings to the colourful array; it’s an important message that continues to be heard.

https://www.japan-experience.com/decouvrir/hiroshima/musees-galeries/monument-paix-enfants-statue-sadako-sasaki


The remainder of our day is very different. We take the boat from the Peace Park over to Miyajima, a beautiful little island most amous for the  ‘floating’ torii gate  of Itsukushima-jinja Shrine. We are fortunate with the weather. Not only is it a beautifully warm winter day (I abandon my coat), but the sea is wonderfully calm.  We’ve planned our arrival to coincide with the tide coming in - in fact it’s close to high tide - so the toriii can be seen at its best. 

Of course, there’s the whole shrine and temple complex to be seen as well, and we enjoy our wander round this special place, soothing us after this morning’s horrors. The island’s also home to a herd of Sika deer that mix freely with the tourists, liberally helping themselves to any titbit they can find. G nearly loses his ice cream when one gets a little too close for comfort and there ensues a bit of a chase around a bench as he tries to get the better of his new fiend.  The deer gets his own back as he delivers a not-quite-gentle head-butter to G’s rear. Fortunately, most of the deer have had their antlers removed!

As the afternoon draws to a close, we catch the ferry back to the Peace Park,where I take a final look at the dome, and head back to our hotel. G, meanwhile, walks to the castle which, judging by his photographs, is pretty amazing - but I just had to admit defeat and let him complete this long walk on his own. 


I always find it difficult to decide on how to approach popular photographic subjects. Do you go for the conventional shot or try something different? In the end, I’ve gone for the former, but I’ve included a different view in extras. There’s also the Children’s Peace Monument and a couple of deer amongst the shrine’s stone lanterns.