Hiroshima
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Important Quotations Explained
1. There,
in the tin factory, in the first moment of the atomic age, a human
being was crushed by books.
2. He
was the only person making his way into the city; he met hundreds
and hundreds who were fleeing, and every one of them seemed to be
hurt in some way. The eyebrows of some were burned off and skin
hung from their faces and hands. Others, because of pain, held their
arms up as if carrying something in both hands. Some were vomiting
as they walked. Many were naked or in shreds of clothing. On some undressed
bodies, the burns had made patterns—of undershirt straps and suspenders
and, on the skin of some women (since white repelled the heat from
the bomb and dark clothes absorbed it and conducted it to the skin),
the shapes of flowers they had had on their kimonos. Many, although
injured themselves, supported relatives who were worse off. Almost
all had their heads bowed, looked straight ahead, were silent, and
showed no expression whatsoever.
3. “Why
have you not come to Asano Park? You are badly needed there.”
Without
even looking up from his work, the doctor said in a tired voice,
“This is my station.”
“But there are many
people dying on the riverbank over there.”
“The
first duty,” the doctor said, “is to take care of the slightly wounded.”
“Why—when
there are many who are heavily wounded on the riverbank?”
The
doctor moved to another patient. “In an emergency like this,” he
said, as if he were reciting from a manual, “the first task is to
help as many as possible—to save as many lives as possible. There
is no hope for the heavily wounded. They will die. We can’t bother
with them.”
“That may be right from a medical
standpoint—” Mr. Tanimoto began, but then he looked out across the
field, where the many dead lay close and intimate with those who were
still living, and he turned away without finishing his sentence,
angry now with himself.
4. Over
everything—up through the wreckage of the city, in gutters, along
the riverbanks, tangled among tiles and tin roofing, climbing on
charred tree trunks—was a blanket of fresh, vivid, lush, optimistic
green; the verdancy rose even from the foundations of ruined houses.
Weeds already hid the ashes, and wild flowers were in bloom among
the city’s bones. The bomb had not only left the underground organs of
the plants intact; it had stimulated them.
5. Dr.
Y. Hiraiwa, professor of Hiroshima University of Literature and
Science, and one of my church members, was buried by the bomb under
the two storied house with his son, a student of Tokyo University.
Both of them could not move an inch under tremendously heavy pressure.
And the house already caught fire. His son said, ‘Father, we can
do nothing except make our mind up to consecrate our lives for the
country. Let us give Banzai to our Emperor.’ Then the father followed
after his son, ‘Tenno-heika, Banzai, Banzai, Banzai!’ . . . In thinking
of their experience of that time Dr. Hiraiwa repeated, ‘What a fortunate
that we are Japanese! It was my first time I ever tasted such a
beautiful spirit when I decided to die for our Emperor.’
