Surviving the Fire Tornado

Tadashi Takahashi

19 years old at the time of A-bombing

 Fukuromachi Fukoku-Seimei building (350m away from H.center)

The Hiroshima telecommunication bureau  I worked for, was located in the Fukoku-Seimei building only 350m from the hypocenter.

The bureau used the basement through the fifth floor of the building.

My job included telecommunications related tasks, such as military communication and maintenance of the civilian-used telegraph.

The city had been on regular bomb alerts from 9pm through 3am, and on the day of August 5^th, my boss said, “everyday is like this, so let’s have a little rest after the alarm tomorrow morning.”

He went home, but I decide to stay and rest in the basement rather than return to the boarding house where I lived.

Because I was in the basement and taking a nap.

I didn’t notice the lightning of the A-bomb, I heard a big noise and felt the pressure like a blast.

Immediately, I thought the bomb had to be huge if I was feeling the blast so intensely even in the basement.

So I went up to the ground floor in the darkness.

It seemed to me that I went up right after the blast, but it actually took some time to put on my jacket and shoes.

By the time I made it to the ground floor, that shattered wooden houses around the building were already on fire.

It seemed weird that I had heard only one explosion and yet the damage of bomb was so large.

More than that, though, my attention was immediately captured by the sight of staff members coming down the stairs.

They were burned and bleeding.

I met Mr. Tadashi Ueno and his face and chest were covered with ward Hijiyama through the building’s back door.

I went up to 4^th floor.

On my way, I saw some people lying in the hall and stairs.

The chief office and general affairs room’s iron doors were bent and immobilized, so I entered women’s rest room, the only door that would open.

Ms Tetsuko Uemoto was there, clad only in underwear and crying.

I had her put on her clothes, which were on the floor, and sent her downstairs.

Then I heard a woman’s voice cry for help from under the broken mortar.

She had probably heard me talking to Ms. Uemoto.

I could see what looked like a right hand sticking up slightly out of the rubble, struggling to move.

The pieces of mortar were large, maybe 20 cm across and very long.

I could not move the pieces by myself.

So I told the woman, “I will come back, so please hold on.” And went to the general affairs room

I had forgotten to ask the burried woman her name.

I don’t know why, I had thought I had kept a cool head, but maybe I had been in a panic.

I had forgotten about the fire, thinking that it wouldn’t come into this building made of reinforced concrete.

It makes me so sad whenever I think about leaving that woman under the rubble and how the fire must have overtaken her. 

For months afterward, I wished the woman would come to me in my dreams

All staff who had been in the general affairs room were blown into the the chief’s office by the blast.

The boss’s body was upside down and was buried from the waste to the head in broken wall, plaster, and papers.

Next to the boss, Mr. Oshita also was half buried, his right side covered in debris.

He was loosing blood from his temple.

I put a bandage on his head, but he was unconscious.

I dug out the boss, but he was already dead.

Mr. Masaoka was sitting on a breaking chair in a daze.

His head and legs were injured, so I gave him a broom as a crutch as  asked him to go downstairs.

The fourth floor housed the radio equipment and the accounting room, but no one was in the accounting room

In the hall, Isao Nishimoto had fallen prone, and his back was pierced by many pieces of glass.

He couldn’t move due to the pain, and I didn’t know what to do for him.

A student worker, Ms Shinkawa, was lying in the kitchen but I think she was unconscious.

Then Mr. Otani and Mr. Shinagawa came to me, and I helped them to take work papaers from the radio shack.

We wrenched the door open and took the work papers.

When we finishted that, the fire had become strong, and it seemed impossible to evacuate the building, so we decided to stay inside.

Mr. Otani, Mr. Nakao, Mr, Shinagawa and 10 other people with only minor injuries took shelter near the back door on the ground floor.

I think I wasn’t the only person who thought that the fire would not come to the inside of the building.

When everybody began to calm down, we heard a loud noise, something that sounded like another blast and the sound of airplanes.

Some people thought it was the beginning of a second air raid and went back inside of the building.

Soon after, we were struck by the first fire tornado.

Although it came with heavy smoke and strong wind, it went by quickly, so the damage was small

I was worried that staying inside of the building was more dangerous than being outside because of the danger of suffocation.

We left the building and went to the fire cistern located out the back gate of the building.

Soon big black drops of rain began to fall, and someone shouted “this is oil!” the second fire tornado struck.

The second tornado was stronger than the first one.

It was like a pillar of fire, and it came with very hot wind, pieces of wood, stones, and many other things.

The fire pillar struck the bulding and went through windows on the second and third floors.

Soon the radio shack was covered in fire.

The flame coming in through the windows seemed like it was alive.

It went up to the fourth and fifth floor.

We saw people inside the fire shouting and trying to excape.

However, we couldn’t do anything, and we lost them immediately.

At the fire cistern, everybody was trying in put their heads down into the pump to escape the fire.

I thought this situation was really dangerous and would lead to everyone dying, so I punched, shouted , and made them sit down around the pump.

We pumped and there water over each of the people, making sure to douse each one in turn.

Mr. Nakao and I were the last ones left pumping water, and the water started to flow slowly.

Then people waiting for water started to scream, “It’s so Hot!!”

It was more than hot, it was furnace.

We were throwing water on people and had them soaked from the shoulders down, but their heads were burning hot.

Even though people were screaming, they were waiting for their turn.

It is amazing that we could breathe such a condition, and I began to sing a song loudly to cheer them.

I forgot most of the songs I sang.

The only one I remember was the theme song to my communication academy.

When the fire tornado was gone, Takashi Shirai, and Nobuko Kojima disappeared.

Before the fire tornado came, Yoshikazu Wakasa had begged us, “Give me water.” 

But we refused:

“You are injured seriously, so if you drink water, you won’t survive. We can’t give you water.”

But he said, “It’s OK if I die, so please give me water.”

We couldn’t find Mr. Wakasa as well.

Other people were sitting close by and nobody spoke.

Only Mr. Masaoka said to me, “Thank you so much for helping us, it means a lot to me.”

His words still remain strongly in my heart.

Soon, the third fire tornado came,

The power of the fire had decreased but no one had the strength to pump water.

We poured the last of the water in the bucket on us.

We couldn’t open eyes due to the heavy fire smoke.

I put a wet handkerchief on my nose and mouth, but there was no air to breath in, and I could only breath out.

I don’t have the words to express the feeling,

but it felt like my chest was exploding even

I wanted to either pierce a hole in it to relieve the pressure or just rip it away.

I couldn’t even move to touch the bucket.

I lay down with other people and I thought a terrible thing, “It’s so painful. I wish I would just die instantly.”

The black rain became heavy, and the power of the fire had decreased, so we could survive.

However, if the tornado stayed any longer, we wouldn’t have survived.

When we could move around again, I looked for the others.

Mr. Shirai was in the sewage tank.

Ms Kojima had put her face in a toilet.

Mr. Wakasa had died.

I imagined that everyone was in so much pain, and that the inside of th building had gotten even more smoke than we had.

If they had stayed outside with us, they might have survived.

It still fills me with regret.

A mother and her daughter, who were bombed in the city and escaped to our building, had stayed with us during the firestorm.

The mother said, “Thank you very much for your help.”

They went back to the city.

Her words of gratitude intensified my sense of regret for those who had died inside the building.

Only on the next day could I begin to feel grateful for having survived.

However, not long after I began to realisz the full scariness of the Atomic Bomb.

Three days after the bomb, we had built a temporary office, and staff began to come to work.

We after the bomb, we had built a temporary office, and staff began to come to work.

We started working as telegraph staff.

However, staff who had not been visibly injured soon began to lose their hair, developed fevers and skin spots, and started bleeding.

In that first week, many of our staff died.

From the end of August through the middle of September, it became even worse.

More staff died, most of whom  had no immediate injuries from the bomb and had been working fine.

It was a particular shock to me when Mr..Nakano died on September 7^th(1945), only four days after going in  for medical treatment.

He also had been fine.

All of my remaining joy died with him.

By the end of  September , 40 people had died.

It was all due to radiation sickness.

The same thing had happened to people who had come to the city looking for their family and friends.

Today, even though it has been 71 years since the atomic blast, 

people are still suffering from the effects of radiation even in HIROSHIMA.

We cannot forget the horror, cruelty, and atrociousness of the Atomic Bomb.

I must tell my story.

It is my work as an A-bomb survivor.

We must continue telling these stories to future generations, 

until all A-bombs and Hydrogen-bombs are gone from the world.

Hiroshima 広島　ヒロシマ　ひろしま

Nuclear and the Humankind cannot Co-exist / Nuclear Victims Forum  / 竜安寺石庭　Ryoan Temple Stones Garden 

似の島（NINOSHIMA）
An island close to Hiroshima in Seto inland sea 

After A-bombed, everything had been burnt and there were mountains of dead bodies.

Almost all bodies were treated like objects, not human beings.

And many of them were sent to （似の島Ninoshima） for burning,

Publicly, the numbers of HIROSHIMA casualties after the direct bombing was often said 140,000.

However Hiroshima people who know "that day" say, "numbers" could not be counted in such condition.

Nuclear and the Humankind cannot Co-exist / Nuclear Victims Forum  / 竜安寺石庭　Ryoan Temple Stones Garden 

Careing Mother under the Mushroom Cloud

原爆によって死亡した多くの犠牲者へ

Mitsuko Ueda 

上田　満子

Hiroshima 広島　ヒロシマ　ひろしま

At Ueda-san's house in summer 2015

I was born in the year of the Manchurian Incident in 1931, and grew up in a time of war.

私は、1931年「満州事変」が起こった年に生まれ、戦争の中で大きくなりました。

I wore hand-me-downs from my older sister because we didn’t have much at that time,

But, we got along and helped those around us, and people were very warm-hearted.

当時は、着るものも不足し、姉たちのお下がりを着ていました

けれども、私たち家族はなんとか助け合いながら生活しており、

家庭はとても暖かい場所でした。

My brother was born fifth of the five sisters.

私の弟は、5人姉妹の最後に産まれました。

Though I got into the girl’s school I had hoped to, I wasn’t allowed to study and was sent to the East Parade Ground to plant sweet potatoes every day.

私は、行きたい女学校に受かっていましたが、（大東亜戦争で）勉強はできず、東練兵場に、毎日サツマイモを植えに行っていました。

We had to take turns having out day off, and August 6^th was the day of the rest of me.

当時、休日は交代でとるようになっており、8月6日は、私が休みを取る日でした。

On that day, our father went off to work at the Mitsubishi plant in Eba, and then my older sister went to work at the Mitsubishi plant in Kannon.

その日、私の父は、江波にある三菱の工場に働きに出、姉たちも、観音の三菱工場に働きに出ておりました。

That left me, my mother, and my three-year-old brother in the house.

ですから、家にいたのは、母と、3歳になる私の弟の3人でした。

I was relieved when the air raid warning was lifted, but my mother who was mending a bag of rice said, ”The airplane sound you can hear now isn’t Japanese, it’s the enemy’s”

その日、空襲警報が解除になったので安心したのですが、米袋を修理していた母が、

「いま、聞こえる飛行機の音は、日本機ではないよ。敵機だよ。」と言いました。

She had just said that when there was a tremendous flash of light.

母がそう言った瞬間、ものすごい光が差し込んできました。

Suddenly everything went black, and as I was blown back from the porch into the house, I didn’t see what happened.

突然、すべてが真っ暗になり、私は縁側から家の中に吹き飛ばされました。

なにがなんだかわかりません。

I thought, “Oh, we must have been hit by the Enemy”

「アメリカによって攻撃されたにちがいない。」と思いました。

 Though we shouted out, “Help us, help us”, no one came to help.

私たちは、「助けて！助けて！」と叫びましたが、だれも助けに来てくれません。

The three of us, one parent and two children crawled out for dear life from the small hole of the rubble of the house.

私たち3人、母と二人の子供は、命からがら、家が崩壊した瓦礫の穴から這い出てきました。

When I stood on the flattened remains of our two story house, I saw that the whole Hiroshima had disappeared and flames had broken out in the distance.

2階建ての家が、ぺしゃんこにつぶれた場所に立って、広島全体の町を眺めたとき、広島の街すべてが消滅し、遠くに炎（ほのお）があがっていました。

My three-year-old brother’s sweet little face had swollen like a soccer ball and was covered in blisters.

私のかわいい弟の顔は、サッカーボールのように膨れ、水膨れになっていました。

My mother’s hair was a mess, and with the right half of her a face was swollen up and purple-red, she was like a ghost.

私の母の髪はざんばらになり、顔の右側が腫れ上がり、紫に変色し、まるでお化けのようでした。

I don’t have the words to describe how bad they looked; it was just hell on earth.

その状況をどう説明していいか、言葉がみつかりませんが、まさにこの世の地獄でした。

Though I wanted to escape, was only 13 years old and I didn’t know where to go.

私は逃げたかったのですが、まだ13歳でしたし、どこへ行けばいいのかわかりませんでした。

Then a woman rushed past, so we walked slowly after the woman through the heaps of rubble, with my brother on my back and lending my shoulder for my mother to lean on.

一人の急いでいる女性が通りかかったので、私たちはゆっくりその女性のあとを追って、瓦礫の中をあるきました。私は、弟を背負い、母が私の肩に寄りかかっていました。

Our house was between  Kyo Bridge and Sakae Bridge, but two weeks had passed since I’d came there for evacuation, so I had even less idea of the way to escape.

私たちの家は、京橋と栄橋の中間にありました。建物疎開（たてものそかい）でそこへやってきて2週間がたっていたのですが、そこからどこへ逃げていいか、全くわかっていませんでした。

There was a man whose head was bleeding.

そこに、頭から血を流している、ある男性がいました。

He said,” Why not run away to under the Sakae Bridge since it’s low tide,” so we did what he said and went to under the bridge.

彼は言いました。「干潮だから、栄橋（さかえばし）の下へいったほうがいいよ。」そういわれたので、私たちはその橋のたもとへいきました。

Then I wondered what we would do when the tide came in and if we were still under the bridge when it was high tide, and someone on the embankment called out, “Come up, anyone who is under the bridge because it’s going to be high tide.”

そして、考えました。潮が高くなったらどうしようか。潮が満ちてきたら橋の下はどうなるのだろうか。そうすると堤防の上にいた誰かが「橋の下にいる人たちは上がってきなさい。満潮がやってくるから。」

But, there were big stone steps and even if I wanted to come up, I thought maybe I could with my brother on my back, but my mother wouldn’t able to do it.

けれども、そこには大きな踏み石があり、私一人は上がれるとしても、弟や母を背負っては無理だ、と思いました。

I felt so miserable and sad and bitter towards the U.S..

そのとき、私は、とてもみじめな気持で、悲しく、米国を憎んでいました。

Then, from the other side of the river, I heard the voice of my father calling, “Where are you?”

そうすると、もう一方の川の土手から、私は父が呼ぶ声を聞きました。「どこにいるんだ？」

So I answered "We're under Sakae Bridge”, and he shouted back, “I’m coming right now, so wait there, don’t move.”

私は、「栄橋の下！」と父に叫び返しました。

「すぐに行くから、そこにいなさい。動かないで。」

And my father took us to the causeway, but there were so many soldiers, women and children like us there.

そして、私の父は私たちを土手へとつれていきましたが、そこにはとてもたくさんの兵士、そして私たちのような女性、子供たちがいました。

My father put down a futon that he had found on a vacant spot of ground, and the three of us lay down.

私の父は、開いている地面を探し、そこに布団をしき、私たち3人はそこに横になりました。

Around us, I heard only voices calling “Water, water…”

私たちの周りには、ただ「水、水をください、」という声で囲まれていました。

After a short time, a message from the East police station came and said that only people who were healthy should go with them.

しばらくして、東警察署からの伝言で、健康なものだけついてきなさい、と告げられました。

My father carried my brother on his back and I followed with a limp.

私の父は、私の弟を背負い、私は父によろよろとついていきました。

After my brother treatment was finished, the doctor asked me to show my back because it had been burnt.

弟の手当のあと、先生は私にも、やけどをしている背中をみせてといわれました。

While I was being treated, I relaxed as I didn’t have to think about where we fleeing to, and I fainted.

私は手当を受けている間に、気が抜け、気を失ってしまいました。

By then, my sister had already come back, and we spent the night of the 6^th on the causeway.

それまでに、私の姉たちもすでに戻っており、8月6日の夜は、家族と土手で過ごしました。

Early in the morning of the 7^th, my father went to the cousin of my mother to get a yukata and a stretcher.

7日の朝には、私の父は私の母のいとこのところへ、浴衣と「たんか」をもらいに行きました。

After, he came back, the East Police Station told us to come.

父が戻ってきて、東警察署の伝言で、私たちに来るように言いました。

So we put a big futon on the stretcher, and my father and sister carried my mother and brother.

そうして、私たちは「たんか」に大きな布団をのせ、父と姉たちは、母と弟をおぶいました。

When we arrived there, there was a truck.

そこへ着いたとき、一台のトラックがありました。

Then it started moving with us on it, and we didn’t know where we were going.

トラックが動き出しても、私たちはどこへ向かっているのかわかりませんでした。

It was a sizzling hot day, but we had no umbrella to block the sunshine.

その日（7日）は真夏のかんかん照りで、太陽の光を遮る傘もありませんでした。

My father thought two of us, my mother and my brother would die

On the truck.

父は、トラックの上で、母と弟は死んでしまうだろう、とすでに思ったそうです。

We arrived at Akigun fuchu elementary school.

私たちは、安芸郡府中小学校にたどりつきました。

All of the three could be treated in the day, but the next day is only me.

その日は3人全員治療を受けましたが、次の日、治療を受けたのは私だけでした。

My father asked the doctor to treat all of three, but  but the next day was only me.

父は、医者に、全員に治療をするように強く言いましたが、次の日も治療を受けたのは私だけでした。

My father pressed the doctor to treat all, but he said “I don't have any medicine to give people who are going to die.”

もう一度父は、全員に治療を、と強く言いましたが、

医者は「死んでしまうものを治療する薬はない。」と応えました。

My father, getting angry, went to the cousin of my mother who was a head nurse and got an antidote in the next morning.

私の父は怒り、主看護婦をしている母のいとこのところへ行き、解毒剤をつぎの朝、手にいれました。

The next day, my mother was treated by a head nurse from Ujina who cut the skin hanging from her burns.

次の日、私の母は、宇品から来られていたその主看護婦さんから手当を受け、やけどからぶら下がっている皮膚を切られました。

Because my mother had complained of the pain, the nurse cut the skin of her right arm and removed the pus.

母は、痛がっていたので、その看護婦さんは、右腕の皮膚を切り取り、膿をとりのぞきました。

Then her bones appeared.

そうすると、骨がでてきました。

After that, a Sergeant took us to Army Marine Regiment Headquarters in Uzina and we were treated there.

その後、一人の軍曹が宇品の船舶練習部からやってきて、そこで治療を受けることになりました。

Then someone important from the military authorities came along, and said “This is too bad. They are in terrible condition. Please take a picture.”

そこへ、上官がやってきて、「これはひどい。ひどい状況だ。写真を撮りなさい。」

But I have no idea whether or not the picture was confiscated by the U.S. after the war.

けれど、私は、戦後、その写真が米国によって没収されたかどうか、全く知りません。

A few days later, the war ended and the army was dissolved, so we lost our place there and were moved to the aid station in Fukuro-machi.

数日がたち、戦争が終わり、軍は解散され、そこにいることもできなくなり、袋町の治療所へと移されました。

In the aid station, doctor Shima examined us very well and said “Never give up, mother.
(Shima hospital=ground zero)

治療所では、（島外科の）島先生が、私たちをとてもよく見てくださり、「あきらめないで、お母さん。」

 I will give you treatment as soon as I get medicine.”

薬が手に入ったら、すぐにでも手当をするから。」とおっしゃってくださりました。

 But my brother had kept called our family name and a soldier’s name from the evening of August 22^nd.

けれども、私の弟は、8月22日の夜中、私たち家族の名前を呼び、また、ひとりの軍人さんの名前を呼び続けました。

Because it was too loud, he was moved to a makeshift area.

その声があまりにも大きかったので、弟は「霊安所」に移されてしまいました。

He had been calling out these names, but in the early morning of the 23^rd, he said “I saw the beautiful Buddha, so I will go.” And he passed away.

それでも彼は、ずっと名前を呼び続け、

23日の朝

「きれいな、きれいな、まんまんさん。おむかえがきたから、もういくね。」と言い残し、あの世へ旅立ちました。

I thought it was really terrible of them to put him in the make shift even when he was alive.

弟はまだ生きているのに、「霊安所」につれられていくのは、あまりにもむごすぎると、私は思いました。

I thought he would have wanted to live longer, but he was only able to live for three years.

彼はもっと長く生きられると思っていたのに、たったの3歳でこの世を去りました。

After that, he was added to the pile, had oil poured on him and burned up like worms.

その後、弟は、死体の山に加えられ、オイルをまかれ、虫のように焼かれてしまいました。

I can’t image how my father must have felt.

わたしは、父が、どのように感じたのか、想像もできません。

My mother lost her only son and she became suddenly worse.

私の母は、たった一人の息子を亡くし、突然に容体が悪くなりました。

One week after her son died, on the morning of the 29^th, she said, “I want to have a peach.”

弟が亡くなってから1週間がたち、29日の朝、母は「桃が食べたい。」と言いました。

Then she gradually became silent, got reddish-brown spots over her whole body, and passed on without getting any medicine.

そして、母の具合は次第に悪くなり、赤茶色い斑点が体中にでき、何の薬ももらえないまま、あの世へいきました。

As I see it, she was killed.

私は、「母は殺された」と思っています。

After the war, I came back my father’s home town.

戦後、私は父の故郷へもどっていきました。

Then, in this country area, someone told me that if they stood by someone like me who had been affected by the bomb, they would be affected too.

その地では、私のように原爆にあった人間のとなりに立つと、原爆が移る、というものも何人かいました。

So I suffered from serious discrimination;

ですから、私はとてもひどい差別にも苦しみました。

But I endured the discrimination and pointed out clearly error of any other person.

けれども、私はそういう差別にも耐え、はっきりと他人の間違いを指摘もしてきました。

And I left school to take on my mother’s role of taking care of my two younger sisters.

私は、母の役割を担うため、学校をやめ、二人の妹のめんどうを見ました。

Although I sometimes felt I wanted to die, with so many people who lost their lives in the war, I had no right to waste my life.

時には死にたいと思ったこともありました。あまりにもたくさんの人々が戦争でなくなったので。けれどもいただいた命を無駄にする権利は、私にはありません。

So I have lived a hard life.

ですから、私はとても困難な人生を生きてきました。

I was made to train with a bamboo spear during the war.

戦時中は、竹やり訓練をやりました。

I thought if I were shot one time, I would lose my only life, but it wasn’t a time that people could say such things.

やられたら、たったひとつの自分の命を失う、けれども、そのようなことを口にすることはできませんでした。

I couldn’t say what I thought because I would have been slapped by　a military policeman if he had heard that.

そのようなことを言えば、憲兵から平手打ちをくらうと思えば、言えませんでした。

We were told to fight with our mouth or out teeth if we lost our hands and feet.

手や足を失ったなら、口や最後の一本の歯でもってでも、戦えと言われていました。

But I thought this was just absurd.

こんなことは、馬鹿げています。

There were no airplanes that could shoot down the enemy, no food for the people and no weapons for the soldiers.

敵軍を打つ航空機もなければ、食糧もない、軍人に兵器も与えられていなかったのです。

In spite of it being clear that it was losing, Japan said, “We’ve been making major military gains”

敗けているのは明らかだったのに、大本営発表はいつも「我々の損害は軽微なり。」と言い続けました。

If Japan had stopped the war earlier, there would have been no　victims of the war in Okinawa, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

もっと早くに戦争を終わらせていれば、沖縄、広島、長崎での戦争被害者もなかったでしょう。

It makes me beside myself with anger.

それを考えると、とても腹が立ちます。

That reckless war killed no less than three million two hundred thousand people.

この無謀な戦争で、320万人もの人々が命を落としました。

Why was Japan not able to stop it?

どうして、日本は戦争をやめることができなかったのでしょうか？

I think that the leaders of the nation were somewhere safe and they didn’t think about the people.

私は、国のリーダーたちは、安全なところにいて、人々のことなど考えていなかったと思います。

There’s never anything good about war.

戦争に、なんのいいこともありません。

We should never wage war again and nuclear weapons should not be used.

これからも、決して戦争をしてはなりませんし、核兵器は使われてはなりません。

In Japan today, people who graduate from university cannot find work and there are many homeless people.

今日の日本では、大学を卒業しても、仕事を見つけることもできず、ホームレスの人々もたくさんいます。

Japan isn’t simply at peace, despite wishing for peace.

日本は、平和を望むといいながら、平和ではありません。

I want young people to pass these stories down from generations to generations, to keep the peace and not have wars.

私は、若い人々が、この話を世代にわたって、語り継ぎ、平和と戦争のない世界を築いていってほしいと思っています。

上田さんは、原爆の爆発の瞬間に「お化けのようになってしまったお母さん」の姿を眼に焼き付けました。お母さんは、弟さんが亡くなったのをきっかけに、具合が急変し、続いて亡くなったのですが、その年の10月10日、ふとふすまの向こうに目をやると、「白い着物を着た綺麗なお母さんの姿」を見ておられます。瞬間「怖い」と思ったのが悔やまれるそうです。そのとき、「自分のかわりにお母さん役をしてくれ」というメッセージを受け取った、といわれました。

Mrs.Ueda says she has never forgotten her mother’s face like a ghost immediately after A-bombed.

Her mother’s condition went drastically deteriorated after losing her loving  son (Ueda-san’s younger brother.)

However, in October 10^th 1945, she saw a clear vision of beautiful her mother's statue sitting quietly on tatami wearing white kimono.

Firstly she felt scared, but she told me that it was regretful to think so.

In a moment, without words, she received her message that

“Live strong and take care of other family members instead of me.”


「喧嘩両成敗：No winners for any wars. Both sides have evils and the evils would continue」
Nuclear and the Humankind cannot Co-exist / Nuclear Victims Forum  / 竜安寺石庭　Ryoan Temple Stones Garden  / Ave Maria

【Australian nuclear test survivor, Sue Coleman-Hazeldine took her story to the Vienna Conference】

「オーストラリア：核実験地帯におけるヒバクシャ・スー・コレマン・ヘーゼルダインさんの証言」

（ウイーン会議）

December 8, 2014　：2014年12月8日

“Enough.” Time for a ban. (movie)20210902 

「もう十分だ」

Indigenous Australian nuclear test survivor, Sue Coleman-Haseldine, spoke to over 150 governments at the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna on 8–9 December 2014.

2014年「核兵器の人道影響に関する会議」にて、オーストラリア原住民・核実験被害ヒバクシャの、スー・コレマン・ヘーゼルダインさんは、第3会議150か国政府代表の前でスピーチを行った。

The Kokatha-Mula woman was about three years old when the British nuclear weapons tests took place at Maralinga in the remote West of South Australia.

マラリンガ、南西オーストラリアの、そんなに人口の多くない土地で、英国が核実験を行ったとき、彼女はコーカサムラに住んでおり、当時3歳だった。

Coleman-Haseldine told delegations from over 150 governments that the British and Australian governments chose to conduct the tests at Maralinga and Emu Fields because they didn’t believe that the land was valuable.

コーレマン・ヘーゼルダインさんは、150か国の政府から派遣された代表に向かい、「英国とオーストラリア政府は、マラリンガとエム・フィールドという土地で、その地の本当の価値を知らず、その土地で核実験を行いました。」

“There are lots of different Aboriginal groups in Australia. For all of us our land is the basis of our culture. It is our supermarket for our food, our pharmacy for our medicine, our school and our church

「オーストラリアには、たくさんのアボリジニーが住んでいます。私たち、すべてのアボリジニーにとって、土地というのは、文化の基盤となるものです。この土地で、食物を育て、その食物を食べ、薬草を育てるので、（土地は）私たちの学校でもあり、教会でもあるのです。」

“These tests contaminated a huge area and everything in it but people hundreds of kilometers away were also impacted… I noticed people dying of cancer, something that was new to us,” Coleman-Haseldine told the conference.

「これら（核）実験で、その広大な土地は汚染され、そこにあったものすべてに影響し、数百キロも離れたところに住んでいる人までが、ガンを患って死んでいくのに気が付いたのです。こんなことが起こるなんて、なにも知りませんでした。」と、コレマン・ヘーゼルダインさんは、人々の前で語った。

While the British and Australian governments did not acknowledge Sue Coleman-Haseldine’s testimony at the conference, 44 states called for a prohibition of nuclear weapons due to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences.

コレマン・へーゼルダインさんの会議での証言を、英国とオーストラリア政府は認めなかったが、44か国は、その人道的にあまりにもひどい影響を及ぼす「核兵器」を禁止するよう求めた。

The Pope also sent a statement that was delivered at the conference, which declared his position that a ban on nuclear weapons is both necessary and possible.

ローマ法王も、この会議へ、声明を送った。「核兵器は禁止されるべきであるし、また、それは可能である。」という、彼の明確な、核兵器廃絶への姿勢を、その声明は示していた。

“I am convinced that the desire for peace and fraternity planted deep in the human heart will bear fruit in concrete ways to ensure that nuclear weapons are banned once and for all, to the benefit of our common home,” Pope Francis said.

「人々が平和を求める情熱に感服し、人間として深く心に植えつけられる兄弟愛が身を結ぶよう、核兵器が、二度と使用されることがないよう、具体策が示されなければならない。われらのこの共同の〚家〛のために。」、とフランシス教皇は語った。

The Australian Government continues to rely on the nuclear weapons of the United States in its security doctrine, despite half-hearted statements mentioning the ultimate goal of a nuclear weapons-free world.

「核兵器なき世界への道」の全きゴールを語るには、オーストラリアは、米国の安全保障ドクトリンの枠組みにおいて、核兵器に依存しているので、（その声の強さも）半分にならざるおえない。

 Prior to the Vienna conference, ICAN Australia wrote an open letter to the Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop on behalf of more than 30 peace, health, humanitarian, union, Aboriginal, student and environmental organizations in Australia.

ウイーン会議開催に先立ち、ICANオーストラリア支部は、オーストラリア外務大臣ジュリー教に、オーストラリアの３０の平和、人道、ユニオン、アボリジニー、学生、環境団体を代表し、一通の公開レターを送った

The letter urged the Australian Government to support the commencement of negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons, to commission research into the impact of a nuclear winter on agriculture in Australia, and to establish a defense posture that does not rely on US extended nuclear deterrence.

そのレターにて、オーストラリア政府は、核兵器禁止条約の交渉を始めることを支持するよう強く要望するものであり、「核の冬」がオーストラリア農業に影響することの調査、米国に依存しない防衛体制を確立すること、などを強く訴えている

At the conclusion of the Vienna conference, the Austrian government delivered the “Austrian pledge” in which it committed to work to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons” and pledged, “to cooperate with all stakeholders to achieve this goal”.

ウイーン会議の最後には、オーストリア政府が「オーストリア宣言」を提出し、「核兵器を禁止し廃絶するため、法的に抜けている部分を埋めるための法の確立」を訴え、「すべて、各国がこのゴールをめざすべき。」と締めくくった。

Vienna carried forward the momentum for negotiations to begin on a binding international instrument to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons and South Africa has said that it is considering its role in future meetings.

ウイーンでは、国際的な核廃絶の取り組みとして、記録されるべき前進への第一歩が踏み出され」、それは、次期開催を考慮する南アフリカへと引き継がれる。

As Sue Coleman-Haseldine told the Vienna conference, “If you love your own children and care for the children of the world, you will find the courage to stand up and say “enough”.

スー・コレマン・ヘーゼルダインさんは、ウイーン会議にて、「もし、あなた方があなた方自身の子供や孫の世界を愛そうとするのであれば、立ち上がって、もう十分だ！と、勇気を出していうべきだ」と語った。

Nuclear and the Humankind cannot Co-exist / Nuclear Victims Forum  / 竜安寺石庭　Ryoan Temple Stones Garden