The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 9 | Issue 43 | Number 4 | Article ID 3623 | Oct 26, 2011

1

Photographer Fukushima Kikujiro - Confronting Images ofAtomic Bomb Survivors　写真家福島菊次郎−−被爆者の映像に直面する

Yuki Tanaka

Photographer Fukushima Kikujiro -Confronting Images of Atomic BombSurvivors

Yuki Tanaka

Kikujiro’s Lucky Escape from the AtomicBombing of Hiroshima

A video of Fukushima Kikujiro went viral inJ a p a n . H e r e(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MklEqq-qqY).

Just before 8:16 am on August 6, 1945, theatomic bomb named Little Boy dropped fromthe Enola Gay B-29 bomber and exploded 580meters above Shima Hospital near the AioiBridge in the center of Hiroshima City. Afterthe bomb was detonated, powerful heat rayswere released for approximately 0.2 to 0.3seconds, heating the ground to temperaturesranging from 3,000 to 4,000ºC. These heat raysinstantly burnt people to ashes and meltedbricks and rocks within a 1.5 kilometer radiusof the hypocenter. In addition, heat rays burntbuildings, triggered large-scale fires andignited an enormous firestorm. The blast andfire from the atomic bomb destroyed all 75,000wooden houses within a 2.5 kilometer radius,leaving only the skeletal remains of a fewconcrete buildings. In the areas surrounding

the hypocenter, people were slammed intowalls and crushed to death by collapsinghouses. Injuries were sustained from flyingglass and other debris even in areas far fromthe hypocenter. People who survived the blast,many of them severely injured, ran through theflames trying to escape, but many burnt todeath.

Hiroshima City destroyed by the atomicbomb, August 6, 1945

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

2

An A-bomb victim with burns over hisentire body, August 7, 1945

The fires quickly spread to the outskirts of thecity, and firestorms were created at many spotsby large and intense fires. Hounded by theflames, people ran into the river in search of asafe refuge. They found little sanctuary,however, as flames licked the surface of thewater and soon all six tributaries of the OtaRiver that ran through the city were filled withdead bodies. Many more went into the river,seeking water to relieve their thirst, but passedaway as soon as they reached the water. Abouthalf an hour later, it rained hard in thenortheast part of the city, quickly bringingdown the temperature. As many people werehalf naked, having had their clothes burnt bythe fires, the rain made them shiver with cold.The rain, which contained large quantities ofradioactive fallout, was black. To slake theirthirst, many people opened their mouths tocatch raindrops or licked the puddled rainwaterin the street oblivious to the danger ofradiation.

The houses between 2.5 and 5 kilometers of thehypocenter were either completely or partiallydestroyed, and many died trapped undercollapsed and burning houses. The injuredescaping to the suburbs walked ghost-like withtheir arms outstretched, skin hanging off,

having been melted by the blast. Every placewas a hell-like scene. It is estimated that theatomic bombing killed between 70,000 and80,000 people instantly in Hiroshima on thatday. In the following two weeks, 45,000 otherdied from burns, blast and acute radiation.

On the night of July 30, 1945, i.e., six daysbefore the atomic bombing of Hiroshima,together with about 150 soldiers, FukushimaKikujiro, a 24 year old private, was transferredfrom the headquarters of the Western 10th

Battalion in Hiroshima to the Nichinan Beachof Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu Island. Hisunit was a transport force, but for the last threemonths he and his fellow soldiers had beentraining to make suicide attacks against Alliedheavy tanks. Each soldier was supposed to dashout of a foxhole carrying a depth charge on hisback, and race to the caterpillar of a movingenemy tank to destroy it. Another attackmethod was to use a long bamboo pole with adepth charge attached to its end. Each soldierwould carry the long bamboo pole, run towardsthe enemy tank and throw it into the loopholeof the tank. Both methods were utterlyhopeless tactics to stop the expected invasionforces.

During the journey from Hiroshima to theMiyazaki seacoast, the train stopped manytimes because of frequent air-raid warnings.Each time the soldiers disembarked and hid inthe nearby wood. When they finally reached thedestination, they were ordered to dig foxholesten meters apart along the beach. They were tostay in their foxholes and keep watching thesea day and night, with a depth charge on theirbacks as well as two hand grenades hangingfrom their waists at all times. They were notallowed to come out. Small rice balls and waterin bamboo containers were supplied every day,and each soldier had to make a small hole in hisown foxhole for toileting. Machine guns were inthe pine wood behind the foxholes. They wereaimed at the soldiers in case any attempted todesert. Kikujiro and his fellow soldiers thought

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

3

that enemy troops would land in a few days asAmerican fighter planes flew over almost dailystrafing the shore. They were ready to die.

On August 6, they were informed that all of thesoldiers of the Western 10th Battalion who hadremained in Hiroshima had been annihilated bythe new-type bomb that the U.S. had droppedon the city. The compound of the Western 10th

Corps was located just 500 meters from thehypocenter of the atomic bombing. Of course,at the time, they were unaware of the nature ofthe bomb or how extensively the city wasdamaged. This news did not particularly botherKikujiro and his fellow soldiers who thoughtthat they would also all perish as soon as theAllied troops’ landing commenced. At noon onAugust 15, they were assembled in front of aradio speaker hanging from a pine tree. It wasEmperor Hirohito’s “Imperial Message of theEnd of the War.” One of the soldiers whojumped for joy was severely beaten by thecommander, who drew a sword and shouted atthe soldiers to go back immediately to theirfoxholes and prepare to fight to the death. Hethreatened to kill anyone who tried to escape.However, the fol lowing morning, thecommander quickly disappeared after tellingthem that they would clean up the site and thenbe dismissed. Perhaps he feared his soldierswould take revenge for the ruthless treatmentthat he had inflicted upon them. With thecommander gone, the soldiers spent severaldays dumping all the weapons and ammunitionin the sea and destroying official documents.

At the end of August, Kikujiro returned home toShimomatsu, a small fishing town in YamaguchiPrefecture. He was carrying only a blanket anda small quantity of rice in a sock, the lastsupplies given to each demobilized soldier.Kikujiro’s mother and sister were astonished todiscover that he was alive, assuming that hehad been killed in Hiroshima by the atomicbomb.

At home Kikujiro was shocked to read a leaflet

entit led “The Manual of the NationalRes is tance” i ssued by the Imper ia lHeadquarters and distributed earlier tohouseholds throughout Japan. It said: “Fightyour way into the enemy position when theycome to land. In hand-to-hand fighting, stab theenemy’s stomach with a bamboo spear, ormake a surprise attack from his back with asickle, knife or hatchet, and kill him. Ingrappling with him, poke him in the pit of thestomach and kick his testicles hard.” Women,as well as men were equally expected tosacrifice their lives for the Imperial Nation ofJapan. Reading this leaflet, Kikkujiro realizedhow lightly military leaders regarded the livesof women and children and their lack of qualmsabout sending defenseless citizens to be killed.Kikujiro also learned that while he was awayhis sister had married a noncommissionedofficer on a submarine. The couple spent twodays together before he went off. BeforeKikujiro returned home, his sister was informedof her husband’s death.

Kikujiro’s Life during the Asia-Pacific War

Kikujiro was a typical rural youth growing up inpre-war Japan. He was deeply influenced byemperor nationalism during adolescence. Hewas 10 years old in 1931when the JapaneseArmy used the pretext of an explosion to seizeManchuria and establish Manchukuo underJapanese aegis. This was the start of the Asia-Pacific War, which Japan fought continuouslyfor the next 15 years, extending the battlefieldfrom Manchuria to China to Southeast Asia andthe Pacific. From that time on school childrenwere more and more influenced by Imperialmilitarism and contempt for Chinese, Koreansand other Asians. When Kikujiro graduatedfrom elementary school, two of his classmatesvolunteered for military service and were sentto Manchuria. In those days, children whocompleted the 9 year elementary school at theage of 15 were eligible to “volunteer formilitary service.” Both classmates were killedin action at age 17. Kikujiro thought that it

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

4

would be a great honor to die for the emperorlike these classmates if he could kill at least 50Chinese “bandits” before he died.

Therefore, it was natural for him to think ofserving in military as soon as possible.However, because his father died when he wastwo years old and his family’s fishing businesswent bankrupt, when he graduated fromelementary school Kikujiro was apprenticed toa local watchmaker in order to support hisfamily. Three years later, he quit theapprenticeship and went to Tokyo hoping topass the entrance examination for a technicalschool. He delivered newspapers in the earlymorning, which allowed him to live in a shopand study during the day. Two years later,however, in April 1941, he was called backhome for a health check and physical fitnesstest required for conscription. Because of hisphysical weakness, he was not draftedimmediately but instead was enrolled in thereserve army. He felt ashamed as many of hisold friends were drafted. For the next threeyears he worked as a watchmaker in his hometown. Following escalation of the war afterPearl Harbor, many of his conscripted friendswere killed in action. Ashamed and frustratedat being unable to contribute to the war, heoften went to the local railway station toparticipate in the ceremony of receiving theashes of dead soldiers.

In April 1944, when the war situation in thePacific turned sharply against Japan, Kikujiro,with many reservists, was finally drafted. Hewas elated. In October, 1943 all healthy maleuniversity and college students studying theHumanities and Social Sciences were subject tothe draft. Previously, students were exemptfrom conscription. In December 1943 theconscription age was reduced to 19 years ofage. In 1943, more than one million Japanesemen were drafted, and another 410,000enlisted.

Drafted as a private into the Western 10th

Battalion of the 5th Division in Hiroshima,Kikujiro quickly learnt that the rank and file ofthe Japanese Imperial Army were constantlybeaten and ruthlessly bullied by veteransoldiers. Within the first few months oftraining, a few men unable to endure thecruelty inflicted upon them committed suicide.Kikujiro survived the first few months despitesuffering from jaundice. He was not included inthe special unit formed from some of the newdraftees and sent overseas by ship from Ujina,the main port of Hiroshima. Their ship wassunk by a U.S. submarine shortly after itpassed the Bungo Channel between Shikokuand Kyushu heading towardshimomatsus thePacific Ocean. Most of the men on board werekilled.

Four months after being drafted, he was kickedby an army horse while attending to it and washospitalized for three weeks with fractured ribsand a broken left arm. While in hospital, themajority of his fellow soldiers were transferredto Okinawa where they perished during theBattle of Okinawa between the end of Marchand the end of June 1945. During the battle,nearly 66,000 of 96,000 Japanese soldiers sentfrom other parts of Japan died – a death rate ofalmost 70%. In addition to the deaths of thesoldiers, more than 120,000 Okinawancivilians, one of every four Okinawans, died.American casualties were 12,000 dead and38,000 wounded. Fortuitously, Kikujiro escapeddeath again.

Although he was released from the hospitala f t e r th ree weeks , on the doc to r ’ srecommendation, he was assigned to clericalwork at the Hitachi shipyard in Ube, not farfrom his home, where submarines wereconstructed. As he was fond of handlingmachines, he often volunteered to do manualwork in the factory as well. However, in April1945, when the Battle of Okinawa began, andaerial bombing of Japanese cities intensified, hewas drafted again, this time into the Inoue Unitof the Yamaguchi 42nd Regiment. The members

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

5

of this unit were mainly veterans who hadserved in China and Southeast Asia .Surprisingly it seems that senior officers of theInoue Unit, perhaps influenced by the practiceof Mao’s Red Army, did not wear their rankbadges and rarely inflicted violence upon rankand file soldiers. Indeed, they treated theirsubordinates quite humanely. Some veteransoldiers of the Inoue Unit openly expressedtheir opinion that Japan would lose the warsoon. One month later, Kikujiro, along withabout 30 young soldiers from the Inoue Unit,was suddenly transferred to his old unit inHiroshima, and mobilized into the suicideattack team mentioned earlier. Yet again,because he was included in this special force,Kikujiro escaped annihilation by the atomicbombing.

Photographing War Orphans and Widows

After the war, Kikujiro resumed life as awatchmaker in his home town. He happilymarried at the end of 1945 and had threechildren in the following years. He became adistrict welfare commissioner, that is, avolunteer social worker, who looked aftersocially and economically deprived people likewar orphans, war widows with children, andold people who had lost sons and daughtersduring the war. A Ministry of Welfare survey in1952 placed the number of widows in Japanthat year at 1,883,890, 88.4% of them withchildren under 18 years of age. 70,000 suchhouseholds were jobless and struggling tosurvive, and many of the disadvantaged workedas day laborers or peddlers. According to theresults of the national survey conducted by thesame Ministry in 1948, the number of warorphans was 123,511, of whom only 12,202were under the care of orphanages. There wereonly 276 orphanages throughout Japan at thetime, 238 of them privately run and just 38public orphanages. These figures do notcapture the real state of war orphans at thattime. The Asahi Newspaper that year estimatedthat there were between 35,000 and 40,000

juvenile vagrants who were not included in thegovernment survey. Many orphans wereexploited as “child laborers” at various placesthroughout Japan, many of them traded bydub ious “ l abor b rokers . ” W i th thegovernment’s priority of rehabilitating theeconomy, social welfare for war victims wasneglected for some years.

Kikujiro was drawn to looking after orphansbecause of his personal experience of losing hisfather in early childhood. He combinedvolunteer work with his new hobby ofphotography. His idea was to hold photoexhibitions of war orphans to raise money forthe “Kibo no Ie (House of Hope)” orphanage.This orphanage was set up by a former schoolprincipal, who returned from Manchuria afterthe war, and his wife, a former teacher inManchuria. It was built on a small island, Sen-jima, in Tokuyama Bay, off Tokuyama City(presently Shunan City), about five kilometersaway from Kikujiro’s home town, Shimomatsu.Tokushima City was destroyed and 500 of itscitizens killed by U.S. fire bombing on May 10,1945. Many of the 30 children admitted to thisorphanage lost their parents in this firebombing. They ranged in age between 4 and18. The orphanage relied on the small publicfunding by the Yamaguchi PrefecturalGovernment as well as private donations, butdue to lack of funding, the facilities wereextremely poor, and all of the children had towork at the orphanage’s vegetable garden togrow potatoes and other various crops for theirown consumption. They were always hungry,and because of their shabby clothes andphysical weakness, other children at the localschool bullied and discriminated against them.Even teachers ostracized them. Kikujiro visitedthe orphanage many weekends over two yearsbetween 1945 and 1947, and occasionally wentto the local school as well, recording the harshlife of the orphans in hundreds of photos. Theteacher couple who ran “Kibo no Ie,” wereinitially reluctant to allow Kikujiro tophotograph the children, but they permitted

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

6

him to do so when he proposed to raise moneyby exhibiting the photos.

A boy cuddling a piglet at the orphanage“Kibo no Ie”

Through the close contacts he made withorphans at “Kibo no Ie,” he found that oneboy’s grandmothers was living in “Kisan-en,” anold people’s home run by a local Buddhist monkin Tokuyama City. In fact, “Kisan-en,” adilapidated wooden house, was located rightnext to the temple. Here, about 50 old people,who had no children of their own or close kin tolook after them, were literally waiting to die.Many had lost sons and daughters in the war,were stricken with serious illnesses and lackedadequate medical care.

The boy’s grandmother had two sons. Her elderson was drafted into the army during the war.

His wife was pregnant at the time. Her secondson was drafted into the army soon after.Several months later it was reported that herelder son had died in action. By this time hiswife had a baby boy. Shortly after the war, thesecond son returned home and it was arrangedfor him to marry his deceased brother’s wife,adopt the boy, and become the head of thefamily. This was common practice during andimmediately after the war. However, the elderson, who had been believed to be dead, wasalive and returned home almost a year after theend of the war. Finding that his youngerbrother was now married to his wife, he lefthome without saying where he was going afterembracing the son he had never seen. Hisyounger brother committed suicide in the hopethat his elder brother would come back. Theyoung mother, who lost her husband twice,could not control her grief and hung herself,leaving the young boy in the care of hermother-in-law. The grandmother, who had lostboth sons and her daughter-in-law, looked afterthe boy for a while, but unable to cope with thegrief she became ill. Therefore, the boy wassent to the orphanage “Kibo no Ie” and sheentered “Kisan-en.” At “Kisan-en,” Kikujirofound many elders who had undergonesimilarly sad wartime experiences. He startedcollecting information about their lives andphotographing as well.

Through his volunteer work as a districtwelfare commissioner, he also came to knowsome war widows with children, who lived in aplace called “Tsutsumi-en,” a home forfatherless families, in Tokuyama. Here 73people from 30 families shared essentialfacilities like kitchen, toilet and bath. Eachfamily had a tiny room and struggled tosurvive. Many of these families had lost theirhouses in the U.S. fire bombing. The motherswere all engaged in heavy work such as daylaborers in construction. Many other fatherlessfamilies in Tokuyama were on a waiting list,hoping to be accommodated at “Tsutsumi-en.”Families that lost fathers in action during the

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

7

war were entitled to receive a survivor’spension. If, however, a father returned homesafely from the war and later died from acondition that had developed during hismilitary-service, such as malaria, his familyreceived no pension. There were many suchcases in the immediate post-war period.Kikujiro recorded the hard lives of some of thefamilies living in “Tsutsumi-en” in his photos.

In the autumn of 1947, Kikujiro held his firstphoto exhibition – a traveling exhibition - atseveral cities in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It was agreat success, allowing him to donate somemoney to the orphanage “Kibo no Ie.” Some ofhis photos of fatherless families were exhibitedin the Nikon Photo Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo, andwere praised as profoundly humanistic work bytop contemporary photographers such asDomon Ken. Some of the revenue from thisexhibition was donated to “Tsutsumi-en.”

Through this amateur photographic work,Kikujiro gradually came to realize the tragicconsequences of war for ordinary citizens, andhow easily the state—government, militaristsand politicians—exploit and sacrifice people fortheir own political ends. In particular, herealized that Japan’s emperor system ideologymade Japan an extremely undemocratic andinhumane nation.

Encountering A-Bomb Survivors

Despite having narrowly escaped the atomicbombing of Hiroshima, Kikujiro’s interest in the“hibakusha (A-bomb survivors)” did not developimmediately after the war. Liv ing inShimomatsu, only a few hours by train toHiroshima, he visited Hiroshima several timesa month to purchase parts and tools for watch-making on the black market. While inHiroshima, he sometimes walked through thecity center, the most seriously damaged part ofthe city, photographing the ruins of the fewremaining buildings such as the A-bomb Domeand the human bones remaining under therubble. However, given strict U.S. Occupation

censorship on publication related to the atomicbombing, Kikujiro took those photos hurriedly,quickly fleeing the site to avoid arrest.

Homeless people in front of the A-BombDome in the late 1940s

On August 6, 1952 he was struck by the factthat he had survived the atomic bombing whilefellow soldiers of his own battalion and manyHiroshima citizens were sacrificed. This cameto him during the first Memorial Service for A-bomb Victims in Hiroshima. Seeing for the firsttime the faces of many A-bomb survivors withkeloid scars shocked him, and he determined totake photos of survivors from that moment on.At the Memorial Service, he met NukushinaMasayoshi, who had lost his left leg in theatomic bombing. During the war Masayoshi had

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

8

headed the Neighborhood Association of one ofthe districts of Hiroshima City, and he feltdeeply responsible for the deaths of manyresidents in his district, having mobilized themto destroy buildings on the morning of thebombing in an order to create a firebreak.

Citizens of Hiroshima were puzzled about whytheir city had been spared while many othercities were destroyed by U.S. aerial bombing,but they were preparing for attacks by makingfirebreaks throughout the city. On the morningof August 6, 1945, many local residents as wellas high-school children were mobilized for thiswork and as a result many of them becamevictims of the atomic bombing. Indeed,Masayoshi was working hard to help thehibakusha, spending his own money to aidthose who were impoverished. He was greatlyadmired for his devotion to these activities.Despite illness, he refused to be hospitalized inorder to continue to practice charity. He died in1965.

Masayoshi introduced Kikujiro to a few otherhibakusha. One of them was NakamuraSugimatsu. Sugimatsu was among those whowere constructing a firebreak 1.6 kilometersfrom the hypocenter. Knocked down by theblast, he was buried under a collapsed building,and fa in ted . However , he rega inedconsciousness when he was surrounded by fire.He madly crawled out the rubble, leavingbehind many others crying for help. He couldnot remember how he returned to his homeeight kilometers away. But it was close toevening when he reached home, meaning thathe had wandered around the ruined city forhours trying to find his home. As soon as hearrived, he fainted again. Fortunately his housewas not damaged, and his pregnant wife,Haruko, and all three children were safe. Heregained consciousness, but his whole bodywas severely burnt. Soon the burnt skinsuppurated and became infested with maggots.His hair fell out and he became bald – asymptom typical of radiation sickness. For the

following month he hovered between life anddeath, in and out of consciousness. Every dayhis wife walked four hours to farmhousesoutside the city to get some special herbs thatwere believed to cure burns. During thisdifficult time, Haruko gave birth to their fourthchild, and miraculously Sugimatsu recoveredfrom the serious illness.

Sugimatsu suffering from lethargysickness at home

By mid-1947, having gradually regained hishealth Sugimatsu started working as afisherman as before. Until then, two of his fourchildren had been raised by his relatives as hehad hardly any income to support them. The

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

9

four children were Mitsuseki (an 8 year oldboy), Yoko (a 6 year old girl), Misuzu (a 4 yearold girl), and Tsukasa (a 2 year old boy). In1948, his wife gave birth to another baby girl,Miyoko, and the family looked forward to thereturn of normalcy.

However, from 1949, Sugimatsu’s healthsuddenly deteriorated, and because of fatigue,he could not work. Heavy fatigue was acommon symptom among many hibakusha inthe 1950s and 1960s, and people called it“burabura byo (lethargy sickness).” His wifeworked hard to earn money by peddling fish inorder to enable Nakamura to see a doctor. Thefollowing year, however, she started sufferingfrom anemia. In March, 1951, shortly aftergiving birth to their sixth child, Sugiko, adaughter, Haruko died of cervical cancer. Itwas suspected that her cancer was caused bythe exposure to radiation when she walkedthrough the radioactive city center every dayover several weeks in order to get herbs forSugimatsu. Sugimatsu did not even haveenough money to hold a funeral for Haruko. Atthe request of the ABCC (Atomic BombCasualty Commission),1 he supplied Haruko’sbody for an autopsy at the ABCC, and in returnhe received 3,000 yen. This allowed him tohave a simple funeral. After the funeral, only180 yen was left. That night he decided to killhis six children by strangling and then commitsuicide. With the remaining money, he boughtrice and fish and fed the children, and waiteduntil they fell asleep. On seeing their innocentsleeping faces, however, he could not gothrough with the act. The following night, hetried to commit suicide, but failed again.

In late August 1952 Kikujiro visited Sugimatsufor the first time at his home in Eba at themouth of the Ota River at the southern end ofHiroshima City near Hiroshima Bay. Frommid-1952, shortly after his wife died,Sugimatsu and his children were on welfareprovided by the city council. The family’smonthly allowance was 7,815 yen. According to

a survey conducted by the Ohara Institute forSocial Research of Hosei University, theaverage income of Japanese households in 1952was 23,066 yen. Because of the high inflationcaused by the Korean War, from 1950commodity prices soared, and the poorestfamilies, with revenues between 4,000 and8,000 yen, needed at least 13,045 yen tosurvive. One can imagine how hard it was forSugimatsu with six children to survive with7,815 yen. Sugimatsu’s older children often didnot go to school because they had nothingdecent to wear when their clothes were beingwashed. They wandered around the rivercollecting shell fish or anything else edible, andbegging for left-over vegetables at grocerystores.

Sugimatsu and his son, Sekimitsu, in aboat going out to fish

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

10

Sugimatsu catching a fish

In order to supplement the meager welfarerelief allowance, Sugimatsu occasionally wentout to fish despite his poor health. Yet, as hewas unable to row the boat and fish at the sametime by himself, he brought his eldest son,Mitsuseki, then 11 years old. Since Mitsusekiwas at school during the day, they alwaysfished at night. Mitsuseki rowed a small boatwhile Sugimatsu speared the fish - mullet andsea bass - which were attracted to the boat by agaslight. They usually spent a few hours on theboat and caught 20 or 30 fish, which wereworth 500 to 600 yen. Sometimes, Sugimatsuhad a fit on the boat and was unable tocontinue to work. Mitsuseki then franticallyrowed back to the landing, carried his father onhis back up the riverbank, put him on a cart,and pulled him home. It was an extremely hardtask for the 11-year old boy. They earned atmost 5,000 yen a month from fishing. It wasnecessary to sell the fish surreptitiously,

because if the city council discovered they wereearning money from fishing, the amount theyearned would be deducted from their monthlyallowance.

As Sugimatsu suffers a violent fit, one ofhis daughters runs from the house

Sugimatsu’s frequent violent fits always startedwith excruciating stomach pain and shiveringand ended with splitting headache and highfever. He would thrash about, crying out “mybody is burning and my head is cracking.” Noone could help him once it started and he hadto be left alone in bed for a few hours. If thechildren were at home, they usually ran out ofthe house unable bear to watch their father’sagony and screaming at them.

Although Kikujiro continued to visit Sugimatsuonce or twice a month, he hardly took anyphotos of him or his family for the first year orso. Kikujiro did not have the courage to takephotos of a man in ill health and in extremepoverty with six chi ldren. He clearlyunderstood that the goal of taking documentaryphotos was to reveal the human dignity of hissubjects, yet, he was also acutely aware that itcould deeply violate their privacy. In lateAugust 1952, he was visiting a few otherhibakusha in Hiroshima and tr ied to

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

11

photograph them. One was a hibakusha withthree children, who lost her husband becauseof radiation sickness caused by the bomb. Shewas also dependent on welfare. She hadworked as a day laborer, but due to radiationsickness, could no longer work. She was livingin a special accommodation set up for widowswith children like “Tsutsumi-en” in Tokushima.One day, Kikujiro took a photo of her threechildren eating a meager dinner - just rice withno side dishes at all. She herself was noteating, being unable to afford to do so. Kikujirorealized that one child was glaring fiercely athim when he took a photo. The next time hevisited, she told him never to return. Herealized that he had grossly intruded on thefamily’s privacy, wounding their dignity.Because of this experience, he became hesitantabout asking for permission to take photos ofSugimatsu and his family. Despite his strongdesire to use his camera, he contented himselfwith acting as a volunteer social worker,bringing food and clothing to Sugimatsu’schildren and advising him about the welfaresystem and medical assistance.

A hibakusha with her three children atdinner

Sugimatsu squatting on his futon(bedding)

Recording Sugimatsu’s Agony and theTravails of the Nakamura Family

After about a year from Kikujiro’s first visit,Sugimatsu suddenly confronted him and askedhim for a favor. He told Kikujiro “Please takerevenge for me so I can die in peace.” Kikujirocould not understand Sugimatsu’s words.Sugimatsu explained in tears that he wantedKikujiro to record his life in detail so thatpeople throughout the world could know howpainful the life of the A-bomb survivors was.Kikujiro responded that he would do so, but heneeded permission to photograph withoutregard to the privacy of Sugimatsu or his

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

12

family. Sugimatsu promptly grantedpermission. From then on, Kikujiro commutedto Hiroshima every Sunday and over the nexteight years, in many moving photographicimages, he recorded the anguished life ofSugimatsu and the gradual breakdown of hisfamily.

Until Kikujiro informed him, Sugimatsu wasunaware of the availability of medicalassistance for people on welfare. In the autumnof 1952 Sugimatsu went to see a local doctorfor the first time, utilizing the medicalassistance service. Several symptoms werediagnosed: fatigue, dizziness, headache,difficulty breathing, intracranial hypertension(pressure inside the skull that can result fromor cause brain injury), stomach and boweltenderness. Despite this diagnosis, he refusedto go through more comprehensive medicalexaminations for fear that he would bediagnosed with “A-bomb disease” and wouldhave to undergo several operations. He did notthink that he had the physical strength tosurvive major operations, and he knew thatmany hibakusha had died soon af teroperations. In fact, the peak time of the deathsof hibakusha was between 1951 and 1952, andat that time, with leukemia prevalent, manywere dying with or without operations.Therefore, during the following year,Sugimatsu kept going to a local doctor,receiving only painkilling and nutritionalinjections.

His condition rapidly deteriorated, and in late1953 he was hospitalized. The pressure insidehis skull was five times higher than normal, andto ease it he received more than 100 spinalpunctures – an extremely painful treatment -over the next two years. Doctors were unableto find the cause of this symptom so he went tofour hospitals in the next three years. At onetime it was suspected that he had a braintumor, but this was never confirmed. Once hebecame critically ill when his nose continued tobleed for ten days following a nose operation.

He was seen as insane because he had to havecold showers whenever he had a spasm and hisbody became hot, even in mid winter. He wasalways discriminated against by other patientsand hospital staff who viewed him as a “filthyman” because of his shabby futon (bedding)and worn out, unkempt clothes. In those dayseach patient brought his or her own bedding aswell as clothing to the hospital, and Sugimatsucould not afford clean bedding or new clothes.Finally, after spending three years in fourdifferent hospitals, he was sent home asdoctors could find neither the cause of hisillness nor any effective treatment. The factthat he tried to commit suicide a few times inhospital also made the doctors wary of treatinghim. As a last resort, he went to the ABCCwhere he received an extensive examinationonly to be told that he had no particular illness,and that his symptoms were probably causedby hysteria.

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

13

Sugimatsu enduring the pain, scratching awooden fence

During the three years that Sugimatsu washospitalized, his eldest daughter, Yoko,dropped out of junior high school to work at anearby oyster farm during the day, breakingoyster shells. In the morning and evening, shelooked after her brother and three sisters. Yokoreceived only 3,000 to 4,000 yen a month, but,astonishingly, the social welfare officededucted even this meager sum from thefamily’s monthly allowance rather thanproviding financial assistance that would allowthe 13 year old to attend school. WhileSugimatsu was in hospital, his eldest son,Mitsuseki, graduated from junior high school.He immediately became an apprentice rooferand left home, fleeing the family’s poverty-

stricken life. As he was no longer living athome and was earning a salary, the family’smonthly allowance was reduced. This imposedgreater responsibility on Yoko to provide forthe family. In postwar Japan, it was oftenmothers and daughters whose labor madepossible family survival.

In 1957, Sugimatsu returned home but wasunable to work due to his debilitated conditionand Yoko continued to support the family.Sugimatsu took to drinking cheap alcohol,making his children’s lives more difficult.Furthermore, because of the doctors’ diagnosesand the ABCC report, welfare workers thoughtthat Sugimatsu was feigning illness in order toreceive the welfare allowance, and startedwriting extremely negative reports about hisbehavior. This created a vicious circle:Sugimatsu mistrusted the welfare workers andbecame antagonistic towards them, and inreturn, they scrutinized Yoko’s meagerearnings ever more harshly.

Sugimatsu with his four remainingchildren in 1957

In 1958, Sugimatsu’s second daughtergraduated from junior high school and becamea waitress. Like her elder brother, she also lefthome and soon started living with herboyfriend, abandoning the family. Tsukasa,

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

14

Sugimatsu’s fourth child, completed junior highschool in 1959, and became a factory worker.He commuted from home, but spent almost hisentire salary on his new hobby of raising racingpigeons, hardly contributing to the family’sf inances . I t seems that he needed apsychological escape from the depressingfamily atmosphere. In 1961, Miyoko also lefthome when she finished schooling withoutinforming anyone where she was going. A fewmonths later, Kikujiro encountered Miyokoworking as a waitress at a coffee shop in thecity, but she pretended not to know him, tellinghim that she was Asano Sanae, a descendant ofthe warlord of Hiroshima during the Edoperiod. As Sugimatsu’s children abandonedhome and family one after another, the family’swelfare allowance shrank. A few years later,after her youngest sister finished her schooling,Yoko started working as a nightclub hostess.Although Sugimatsu’s economic conditionimproved thanks to Yoko’s income, he lostcontact with most of his children, so thatpsychological damage compounded his long-term illness. Sugimatsu lying next to a large plaster

cast provided by the A-Bomb Hospital

In September 1956, the A-bomb Hospital wasset up at the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshimato treat hibakusha patients. From April 1, 1957,the Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Support Law tookeffect as a result of persistent lobbying byhibakusha groups. For the first time, hibakushawho were recognized by the Minister of Health,on the recommendation of the A-bombSurvivors’ Medical Examination Board, ashaving illnesses directly caused by the atomicbombing, became eligible for free medicaltreatment. The recommendation of the A-bombSurvivors’ Medical Examination Board wasmade on the basis of a comprehensive medicalexamination that was conducted twice a year ata hospital designated by the government. Inlight of the rigid rules compounding the lack ofrecords from the period of chaos that followingthe bombing, it was difficult for many

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

15

hibakusha to be officially acknowledged as “A-bomb patients.” Hibakusha groups continued tolobby, demanding that the government amendthe law to provide receive free medical serviceregardless of illness for all hibakusha. In 1960,the government finally amended the law,making the “special hibakusha” eligible for freemedical treatment for any type of disease, andproviding a 2,000 yen monthly allowance inaddition to free medical service for patientswhose illnesses were officially acknowledged asresulting from the atomic bombing. The“special hibakusha” meant those who werewithin 3 kilometers of the hypocenter at thetime of the bombing, those who entered thecity within 2 kilometers of the hypocenterwithin three days of the bombing, and those incertain areas of the city which were officiallyacknowledged as “hot spots,” i.e., areas thatwere highly radioactive following the bombing.The amended law enabled some 28,000hibakusha to access full free medical service.

The amended law enabled Sugimatsu tobecome one of these “special hibakusha”entitled to receive free medical treatment atthe A-bomb Hospital. On his 52nd birthday onSeptember 15, 1960, he went into the A-bombHospital with hopes that his illness would becured by doctors specializing in A-bombdisease. Having borrowed money from heremployer, Yoko prepared a brand new futonand clean clothes for her father to assure thathe would not be discriminated against at thehospital this time. About a month later,however, Sugimatsu was advised to see apsychiatrist and was sent home. The doctorscould find no cause for his illness. He receiveda large plaster cast that extended from his neckto his hip to wear when he experienced a fit.From this day, he lost all hope of recovery. Hestayed in bed almost all day long, from time totime doing water color painting – a hobby thathe had recently acquired – while in bed.Themes of his paintings ranged from imaginarycityscapes to self-portraits. As time passed,however, the painting became more and more

dramatic and darker, and eventually he paintedmany falling nude women. Seven years later,on January 1, 1967, he died at the age of 59after a 22 year long bitter struggle with hisillness.

Sugimatsu’s physical and psychologicalsuffering compounded by poverty was sharedby many A-bomb survivors in the 1950s and1960s. In this sense, the record of his life isemblematic of the plight of A-bomb survivors inearly post-war Japan, a time when littleattention was paid to the manifold dimensionsof the struggle that victims of radiation inHiroshima and Nagasaki were going through ata time when the entire nation sought to recoverfrom the devastation of the destruction of thecities.

Sugimatsu in despair at home

Kikujiro as a Professional Photographer

Kikujiro took literally thousands of photos ofSugimatsu and his family over eight yearsbetween 1953 and 1960. He fol lowedSugimatsu everywhere he went includinghospitals and recorded his every movementincluding his excruciatingly painful fits. Heeven took photos of Sugimatsu in tears on thetatami as he struggled with pain. Sugimatsu

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

16

often inflicted self-harm, cutting his thighrepeatedly with a knife, leaving multiplegashes. Kikujiro recorded these gashes, too.The striking impression that these photos leavev iewers comes , I be l i eve , f rom theuncompromising exposure of Sugimatsu’sprivate physical and psychological agony.

Sugimatsu’s tears on the tatami mats

Self-inflicted Gashes on Sugimatsu’s thigh

Sugimatsu's foot cramped with pain

Student militants in Sanrizuka opposingconstruction of the Narita Airport in 1971

Kikujiro wanted to exhibit some of the photoswhile Sugimatsu was still alive to fulfill his

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

17

promise to him. He organized the exhibition“Pika Don (Flash Bang, a popular termconveying the sensation of the bomb): TheRecord of An A-bomb Survivor” for one weekbeginning on August 6, Hiroshima Day 1960 atthe Fuji Photo Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo. It was agreat success and he soon published a bookunder the same title based on the exhibition.The book was widely reviewed and praised inthe Japanese press and he received the “JapanPhoto Critics’ Special Award” in 1960.

However, by early 1960, Kikujiro’s watch repairbus iness , l ong neg lec ted wh i l e hephotographed Sugimatsu, was on the verge ofbankruptcy and he too suffered fromdepress ion requir ing three monthshospitalization. In the hospital, he concludedthat he would destroy himself if he continued tophotograph A-bomb survivors like Sugimatsu.Yet, as he gradually recovered from depression,he became determined to become aprofessional photographer. As soon as he wasdischarged, he asked his wife to divorce him,saying that he wanted to go to Tokyo to work.His wife, however, denied his request, sayingthat she would run the business so that hecould work in Tokyo. All three children chose tolive with their father in Tokyo. His first work inTokyo was the photo exhibition “Pika Don: TheRecord of An A-Bomb Survivor.” After theexhibition, he commuted between Hiroshimaand Tokyo once a month or so, continuing tophotograph Sugimatsu and his family.

The A-Bomb Slum

Each time he returned, he also visited the slumarea of Motomachi in Hiroshima, where some1,000 shacks were crowded together on theriverbank stretching over two kilometers alongthe Ota River. People called it the “A-BombSlum” as one third of the 3,000 residents in thisarea were hibakusha including many Koreans.Most of these hibakusha were day laborers and240 households were on welfare. All had losttheir houses and close kin as a result of theatomic bombing. Kikujiro recorded their lives inthe face of extreme poverty, ill health, andsocial and economic discrimination. Children inthe slum were ostracized at school and evensome teachers discriminated against them.Some parents organized a cram school in theslum and ran an abacus night class for theirch i l d ren so tha t they wou ld no t be

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

18

disadvantaged when they applied for jobs aftercompleting school. Korean residents also ranKorean language classes in the evening. Asthey were occupying the land illegally, the citycouncil and the Hiroshima PrefecturalGovernment ignored their repeated requests toprovide water and sewerage. So the residentsshared a single well. They produced their owncommunal fire extinguishers and disinfectingequipment to protect the community—one ofmany self-help practices that allowed them tosurvive.

Kikujiro often visited another slum on the otherside of the Ota River in Fukushima-cho. Thisarea, 1.7 to 2.5 kilometers east of thehypocenter, was the ghetto of the so-calledBuraku people, i.e., untouchables who wereregarded by many Japanese as “contaminated.”Many Koreans also lived there. At the time ofthe atomic bombing, there were about 6,000residents. The bomb destroyed virtually all thehouses and killed 600 people. Four hundredothers were missing and presumed dead. Inother parts of Hiroshima, school children hadbeen evacuated to the countryside inexpectation of U.S. firebombing. But because ofdeep-rooted discrimination, more than 300children in the ghetto were not evacuated andbecame victims of the atomic bomb. Soon afterthe bombing, Japanese troops were sent to thisarea. They limited the movements of residentsso that most survivors could not escape to theoutskirts of the city. The authorities probablyanticipated that Burakumin and Koreans mightcommit crimes, taking advantage of the totalconfusion at the time. (This reminds us of thefact that many Koreans in Tokyo and Yokohamawere slaughtered by Japanese police andcivilians following groundless rumors about aKorean uprising shortly after the 1923earthquake with a 7.9 magnitude struck theKanto area.) Even those who managed to reachfirst aid stations were denied treatment whentheir identity was discovered. As a result some1,900 people perished within the following yearas a result of injuries from burn and blast as

well as high radioactivity. The death rate in theyear after the bombing among survivors of thisghetto was 33%, 2.5 times that of other areasof the city within 1.5 to 2.5 kilometers of thehypocenter. People in this slum, maintained astrong communal spirit. They collecteddonations from all over Japan and built theirown Cooperative Society Hospital in 1953,three years before the A-Bomb Hospital wasestablished, to look after hibakusha. They evenprovided free counseling in this hospital.Kikujiro made many friends among thesepeople and also photographed them.

A hibakusha in Nagasaki

Kikujiro traveled repeatedly to Hiroshima whileworking as a free-lance photographer in Tokyo,commissioned by weekly and monthly

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

19

magazines to document social and politicalproblems. He was particularly interested inphotographing the most disadvantaged peopleamong hibakusha including slum dwellers,young women who could not find maritalpartners because of keloid scars on their faces,and microcephalic children born physically andmentally handicapped as a result of prenatalirradiation. He also went to Nagasaki,establishing personal relationships withhibakusha before photographing. As in the caseof Sugimatsu, he felt that he had to securecomplete trust if he was to be allowed tointrude into the privacy of the hibakusha withhis camera. Nevertheless, he sometimes failedto grasp the delicate feelings of somehibakusha, at times disturbing them by takingphotos without asking permission, believingthat he had established mutual trust. Somehibakusha wished never to be photographed,including those who enjoyed close friendshipwith Kikujiro.

In the 1970s, Kikujiro became acquainted withmany activists in Tokyo through recording theactivities of student movements against theuniversity authorities and the Japanesegovernment. Among those students was ayoung boy by the name of Tokuhara Toru, whowas a so-called “hibaku-nisei” (2nd generationhibakusha), referring to children born tohibakusha parent(s). His father, Katsu, survivedthe atomic bombing in Hiroshima and moved toTokyo after the war. Kikujiro started visitingToru and Katsu’s home and recording not onlyKatsu’s life but also the relationships betweenKatsu and his three sons including Toru.Kikujiro’s photographic reportage revealed thecommon fear among hibakusha generations ofthe effects of radiation on themselves and theirdescendants and how some eventuallyovercame the generation gap. Through Toru,he met many young hibaku-nisei, who wereinvolved in political and social welfaremovements in Hiroshima in the 1970s andrecorded their activities as well.

Another remarkab le pho tograph icaccomplishment of the 1970s was a rare recordof the ABCC’s autopsy room, researchlaboratories and other facilities. In the early1960s, shortly before becoming a professionalphotographer, he approached the ABCC andmade inquiries about photographining facilitiesinside the ABCC building atop Hijiyama Hill.Not surprisingly, the request was promptlyrejected. Then he asked an editor of BungeiShunju, a leading nation-wide monthlymagazine, to make the same request. He knewthis editor well having worked for themagazine. Kikujiro drafted the letter, writing:

‘Many hibakusha in Hiroshimacomplain that the ABCC uses themas human guinea pigs and providesno medical treatment. However,w e t h i n k t h a t t h e i rmisunderstanding may originatef rom lack o f knowledge o fradiation sickness and medicalscience. We would therefore bemost grateful if you could allowour photo journalist to visit andinterview your staff so that we caninform the people of Hiroshimahow seriously you are working tofind cures for A-Bomb disease andthus relieve their anxiety.’

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

20

Photo taken inside the ABCC building

When the editor received an invitation, Kikujirowas able to visit the ABCC as a Bungei Shunjujournalist, and photographed inside thebuilding. Some of these photos are included inhis 1978 book Genbaku to Ningen no Kiroku(Records of the A-Bomb and Human beings).

Conclusion

For two decades between 1960 and 1981, inaddition to photographing many hibakusha,Kikujiro published numerous photos on studentmovements, the anti-Vietnam War movement,the Self Defense Forces and Japan’s militaryindustry, pollution problems, environmentalissues, Emperor Hirohito, and social welfarei s sues . He pub l i shed more than 10photographic books. In the end, disappointedwith Japan’s materialistic lifestyle, he retired atage 62 in 1982, gave up photography, andmoved to a small, uninhabited island in theInland Sea where he made a self-sustaining lifefor the next seventeen years. Since 2000, hehas lived in Yanai, a small city in YamaguchiPrefecture, not far from Shimomatsu, the hometown he lived in until 1960.

His photos convey the profound human feelingsof their subjects – pain, anger, fear, sorrow,anxiety, and joy. Unlike other famous Japaneseprofessional photographers such as Domon Kenand Tomatsu Teruaki, who also photographedhibakusha in the late 1950s and early 1960s,Kikujiro never tried to portray these subjectsneatly or artistically. Perhaps, this is partlybecause he was a self-taught photographer whonever learnt techniques from professionals. Healways tried to capture the expression of hissubjects without adding sophisticated technicalor artistic embellishment. His work may,therefore, be seen as “crude” and “rough” byprofessional photographers, yet the“d irectness” o f the images conveysextraordinary power. There is no room therefor prevarication. This is particularly so in the

case of the photos of Sugimatsu with theiruncompromising and direct exposure of humansuffering. Kikujiro’s photos of Sugimatsu arestrikingly reminiscent of Kathe Kollwitz’spowerful images of war victims.

Kikujiro’s photo of Sugimatsu and KatheKollwitz’s print

Whether because of his harsh criticism of theHiroshima City Council’s treatment of some ofthe most disadvantaged hibakusha in the 1950sand 1960s, or because his representation of thedaily torments of hibakusha life is toounsettling for the authorities and perhaps forsome hibakusha, the Atomic Bomb Museum hasnever acquired Kikujiro’s work on thehibakusha. Perhaps both factors come intoplay.

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

21

One of Sugimatsu’s daughters looking ather tormented father

Sugimatsu in pain tearing his body withhis fingers

In Hiroshima, the ten years between 1945 and1955 is often described as the “Blank Decade”

because of the lack of information about thelives of hibakusha and their struggles tosurvive in the devastating post-war economicand social conditions. During the early post-wardecades, both hibakusha and non-hibakushacitizens were preoccupied with their ownsurvival and lacked time and resources torecord their life activities, either in writing orin photographic images.2 As a result, Kikujiro’searly work in the 1950s and 1960s hasimmense historical value, particularly his workon the life of Nakamura Sugimatsu, whichconveys perhaps better than any other visualrecord—whether photography or painting—theplight of many hibakusha in post-war Japan.3

It is interesting to note that, through hisphotographic work, Kikujiro became acutelyaware of the tragic consequences that the warbrought not only to ordinary Japanese citizensbut also to Burakumin as well as Koreans andother Asians. In particular, Kikujiro met manyKoreans who had been forcibly removed fromtheir home country to Japanese cities includingHiroshima and Nagasaki. Having been harshlyexploited for labor during the war, they becamevictims of the atomic bombing and suffered notonly from various types of illness but also fromracial discrimination after the war. In the1970s and early 1980s, Kikujiro selected topicsrelated to Japan’s war responsibility for hisphotographic work, in particular EmperorHirohito including his attitude towards civilianwar victims.

It should be noted that one third of youngJapanese men who were born between 1920and 1922 and who comprised the largestsegment of the Japanese Imperial Forces, diedby the end of the war. Consequently manysurviving men came to hold a deep sense ofguilt about not having died. This may havemade it difficult for them to feel a sense ofresponsibility for Asian victims of the war.Typical of their attitude, was the determinationto work hard to help rebuild Japan on behalf oftheir deceased friends, i.e., the “true war

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

22

victims” in their eyes.

Self portrait of Kikujiro

Kikujiro was born in 1921 and belonged to theabove-mentioned generation of returnedsoldiers. However, he acquired a profoundsense of universal humanity through hisencounter with the extreme inhumanity thatthe atomic bombing inflicted upon ordinaryJapanese and Korean civilians and theirpostwar plight.

Kikujiro’s life and work teaches us that, toprevent the dehumanization of citizens of anyrace or nation and thus to reduce acts ofviolence, it is important that we examine suchacts from the viewpoint of the victims. Tocomprehend the problems of violence throughthe eyes of the victims means listening to theirindividual stories, re-experiencing theirpsychological pain, and internalizing such painas one’s own. Through his work, Kikujiro spenthours, days and years internalizing the pain ofwar victims. “Sharing memories” in the truesense becomes possible only through thisprocess of re-living and internalizing the painof others. Kikujiro’s photographic imagescapture the essence of “individual stories” ofvictims. By focusing attention on theseindividual stories, the scope for “sharingmemories” begins to widen, as they lead us to

think about fundamental questions of universalhumanity.

Yuki Tanaka is Research Professor, HiroshimaPeace Institute, and a coordinator of The Asia-Pacific Journal. He is the author most recentlyof Yuki Tanaka and Marilyn Young, eds.,Bombing Civilians: A Twentieth CenturyH i s t o r y(http://www.amazon.com/dp/1595585478/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) and of Yuki Tanaka, TimMcCormack and Gerry Simpson, eds., BeyondVictor’s Justice? The Tokyo War Crimes TrialR e v i s i t e d(http://www.amazon.com/dp/9004203036/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20). His earlier works includeJ a p a n ' s C o m f o r t W o m e n(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0415194016/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20) and Hidden Horrors:Japanese War Crimes in World War II(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0813327180/?tag=theasipacjo0b-20).

Recommended citation: Yuki Tanaka,'Photographer Fukushima Kikuj iro -Confront ing Images of Atomic BombSurvivors,' The Asia-Pacific Journal Vol 9, Issue43 No 4, October 24, 2011.

Major References:

Pika Don: Aru Genbaku Hisaisha no Kiroku(Flash Bang: The Record of An A-bombSurvivor) by Fukushima Kikujiro (TokyoChunichi Shimbun, 1961)

Senjo kara no Hokoku: Sanrizuka 1967 -1977(A Report from the Battle Field: Sanrizuka 1967– 1977) by Fukushima Kikujiro (Shakai Hyoron-sha, 1977)

Genbaku to Ningen no Kiroku (The Records of

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

23

the A-Bomb and Human beings) by FukushimaKikujiro (Shakai Hyoron-sha, 1978)

Nippon no Sengo o Kangaeru:Ten-no no Shinei-Tai (Thoughts on Post-War Japan: TheEmperor’s Bodyguards) by Fukushima Kikujiro(Sanichi Shobo, 1981)

Senso ga Hajimaru (The War Begins) byFukushima Kikujiro (Shakai Hyoron-sha, 1987)

Hiroshima no Uso (Lies About Hiroshima) byFukushima Kikujiro (Gendai Jinbun-sha, 2003)

Korosuna Korosareruna (Don’t Kill and Don’tBe Killed) by Fukushima Kikujiro (GendaiJinbun-sha)

Articles on related subjects

• Robert Jacobs, The Atomic Bomb andHiroshima on the Silver Screen: Two NewD o c u m e n t a r i e s(https://apjjf .org/-Robert-Jacobs/3619)

• Linda Hoaglund, ANPO: Art X War – InH a v o c ’ s W a k e(https://apjjf.org/-Linda-Hoaglund/3616)

(https://apjjf.org/-Linda-Hoaglund/3616)

• Kyoko Selden, Memories of Hiroshima andNagasaki: Messages from Hibakusha: AnI n t r o d u c t i o n(https://apjjf .org/-Kyoko-Selden/3612)

• Ōishi Matashichi and Richard Falk, The Daythe Sun Rose in the West. Bikini, the LuckyD r a g o n a n d I(https://apjjf.org/-Oishi-Matashichi/3566)

• Robert Jacobs, Whole Earth or No Earth: TheOrigin of the Whole Earth Icon in the Ashes ofH i r o s h i m a a n d N a g a s a k i(https://apjjf .org/-Robert-Jacobs/3505)

• Robert Jacobs, 24 Hours After Hiroshima:

National Geographic Channel Takes Up theBomb (https://apjjf.org/-Robert-Jacobs/3446)

• N a k a z a w a K e i j i , H i r o s h i m a : T h eA u t o b i o g r a p h y o f B a r e f o o t G e n(https://apjjf .org/-Nakazawa-Keiji /3416)

• Nakazawa Keij i interviewed by AsaiMotofumi, Barefoot Gen, the Atomic Bomb andI : T h e H i r o s h i m a L e g a c y(https://apjjf .org/-Nakazawa-Keiji /2638)

• John W. Dower, Ground Zero 1945: Picturesb y A t o m i c B o m b S u r v i v o r s(https://apjjf .org/-John_W_-Dower/1604)

Notes

1 The ABCC was set up in November 1946 bythe U.S. National Academy of Science toconduct investigations into the effects ofradiation among hibakusha in Hiroshima andNagasaki, and from March 1947, it opened anoffice within the Red Cross Hospital inHiroshima. Initially it was funded solely by theAtomic Energy Commission, but later the U.S.Public Health Department, the National CancerResearch Institute as well as the NationalHeart, Lung and Blood Institute co-funded it. InNovember 1950, the ABCC research complex,equipped with various types of the mostsophisticated medical instruments, was built ontop of the hill at Hijiyama, about 2 kilometersfrom the city center. It was devoted tocollecting a wide range of data regarding theeffects of radiation on human bodies, but itprovided no medical care to hibakusha. Thefindings of its scientific research and studieswere intended to be utilized to estimate thecasualties of future nuclear wars. To achievethis goal, the ABCC conducted medicalexaminations of many hibakusha, who werebrought to the attention of the ABCC by localmedical doctors and hospitals. It also asked therelatives of the deceased hibakusha to donate

APJ | JF 9 | 43 | 4

24

their bodies for autopsies. As hibakusha werealways suspicious about the purpose of theABCC’s investigation and did not trust its staff,the ABCC had to lure the people by providingpecuniary benefit. For a more detailed analysisof the ABCC’s activities, see “Genetics in theAtomic Bomb Casualty Commission, 1947 –1956” in The Expansion of American Biology,ed. by Keith R. Benson, Jane Maienschein, andRonald Rainger (New Brunswick, 1991); and M.Susan Lindee, Suffering Made Real: AmericanScience and the Survivors at Hiroshima(Chicago, 1995).

2 During the first three years of post-war Japanstrict U.S. censorship of literary publicationsconcerning the atomic bombing led to thebanning of works by Kurihara Sadako, TogeSankichi and Ota Yoko among others. Similarly, the exhibition or publication ofgraphic images – both photographs andpaintings – was forbidden. From July 1948,however, censorship of publications related tothe atomic bombing gradually eased, due tochanges in occupation policies, prompted by

increasingly tense relations between the U.S.and Russia. Censorship ended in September1951 when the Allied occupation officiallyended. In the early 1950s paintings of A-bombvictims by Maruki Toshi and Iri were openlyexhibited for the first time, and some relevantliterary works, as well as small numbers ofwritten testimonies by hibakusha, also began toappear. Overall, however, publications in the1950s tended to focus upon the horrors andsufferings that victims experienced on the daythat the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima andNagasaki, rarely depicting the on-going plightthat victims faced on a daily basis in the yearsfollowing the holocaust.

3 Currently, there exist more than 200,000photos including those of hibakusha inKikujiro’s hands. Between 1989 and 2010,some of his photos were made available tovarious citizens’ groups at no charge andexhibited at more than 700 places in Japan. Themost popular work is a set of 3,300 panels ofphotos entitled “Post War Japan Seen inPhotos,” i.e., the photos on various importantpost-war political and social issues.