Almost 80 years on, 'Hiroshima Panels' pass on memories of atomic bombing

Japan Times

4 days ago

"The Hiroshima Panels," which depict the hell victims experienced in the aftermath of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city, continue to draw viewers ahead of next month's 80th anniversary of the bombing.
"These are paintings that allow everybody living on Earth in this nuclear age to imagine (the bombing) as a future that could happen to them," said Yukinori Okamura, 51, curator at the gallery that exhibits the work. "I want visitors to feel memories of history that speak to us on a life-size scale."
The work, consisting of 15 folding panels, was painted by the late artist couple Iri and Toshi Maruki. Fourteen of the panels are exhibited at the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, with the remaining one at the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in Nagasaki, the other city that the United States dropped an atomic bomb on in August 1945.
The couple engaged in relief activities in Hiroshima soon after the atomic bombing and continued to paint pictures of the devastation for over 30 years based on their experiences and stories from witnesses.
The panels depict not only Japanese atomic bomb victims, but also U.S. prisoners of war and Koreans who met the same fate, as well as the Fukuryu Maru No. 5 fishing vessel exposed to radioactive fallout from a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in 1954.
In early July this year, Okamura was seen talking to visitors to the gallery about the first panel, titled "Ghosts."
Soon after the bombing, details of the damage from the blast were largely unknown outside the affected areas due to restrictions on news reporting.
"The Marukis were worried that the damage would be forgotten, so they began to think about painting the atomic bombing to convey it to people," Okamura said.
The work shows victims dragging their burned skin as they walked, with their kimonos burned away due to the heat and blast. Also depicted are piles of bodies of victims who ended up collapsing.
Each panel is accompanied by an explanatory note by the couple.
Visitors studied the paintings and read the explanations in turn.
"I can't find any words quickly," said a 30-year-old woman visiting the gallery for the first time. "I want to recall the impressions of the paintings many times after I go home."
"I think it's significant that this place continues to exist, allowing us to appreciate the Hiroshima Panels in person," said the woman, who is from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
Okamura, who has faced the work for more than 20 years as gallery curator, said, "The story of the Hiroshima Panels continues even after the artists are gone.
"Living in an age of wars and disasters, we must continue to reinterpret the meanings of the paintings," he said.
The gallery will be closed from Sept. 29 for work to improve temperature and humidity controls in the exhibition rooms and enhance earthquake resistance. It will reopen around May 2027 to mark the 60th anniversary of its founding.
The gallery has collected some ¥350 million in donations since 2017 but will seek an additional ¥100 million to ¥200 million for the upcoming work.