Water offerings for Hiroshima bombing victims: A ritual of remembrance
A Japanese woman remembering the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and paying tribute to its victims with water offerings.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Hear Encyclopædia Britannica editor Michael Ray talk about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the United States on August 6, 1945.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: Mr. Tani is preparing for the ritual cleansing with ice-cold water. He is doing this for Mrs. Une and the many victims of the Hiroshima bombing. This Japanese city was the target of the first atomic attack at the end of the Second World War, on the 6th of August, 1945. Mrs. Une was 26 years old at the time but to this day she has not been able to forget that experience.
TOSHIE UNE: "They were burned all over their bodies and their faces no longer looked human. They tried to speak to me, but all they could do was babble like this. Then they tried to use body language, and I finally realized they wanted water. They were desperately thirsty."
NARRATOR: Mrs. Une wandered through the bombed-out city in search of water. Police officers grabbed her and told her the water was contaminated. Mrs. Une was unable to fulfil her promise; this has preyed on her conscious ever since. For over 60 years she has been bringing water to the dead. Mr. Tani has assisted her in recent years.
YASUHIRO TANI: "I don't know if we're actually able to reach the dead in this way, but I do hope the water offering is helping them in some way."
NARRATOR: Mrs. Une is in a hurry. There are 126 memorials in Hiroshima, and, yet again on this 6th of August, she and Mr. Tani are placing water offerings to the dead at every single one. They then bow 126 times in tribute to the victims.
A police officer approaches Mrs. Une at one of the memorials on this 6th of August as well. When she tells him what she experienced in 1945, he nods and shows his respect for the extraordinary feat of this extraordinary elderly woman and her young helper.
TOSHIE UNE: "They were burned all over their bodies and their faces no longer looked human. They tried to speak to me, but all they could do was babble like this. Then they tried to use body language, and I finally realized they wanted water. They were desperately thirsty."
NARRATOR: Mrs. Une wandered through the bombed-out city in search of water. Police officers grabbed her and told her the water was contaminated. Mrs. Une was unable to fulfil her promise; this has preyed on her conscious ever since. For over 60 years she has been bringing water to the dead. Mr. Tani has assisted her in recent years.
YASUHIRO TANI: "I don't know if we're actually able to reach the dead in this way, but I do hope the water offering is helping them in some way."
NARRATOR: Mrs. Une is in a hurry. There are 126 memorials in Hiroshima, and, yet again on this 6th of August, she and Mr. Tani are placing water offerings to the dead at every single one. They then bow 126 times in tribute to the victims.
A police officer approaches Mrs. Une at one of the memorials on this 6th of August as well. When she tells him what she experienced in 1945, he nods and shows his respect for the extraordinary feat of this extraordinary elderly woman and her young helper.
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