A storytelling show about a tree that survived the bombing縲€Fukuyama Junior College for Women

Nanako (left) and Yoshimi perform the storytelling show. (photo by Aya Nakashige, 17)

縲€Six students who graduated this spring from the childcare course at Fukuyama Junior College for Women created a storytelling show with picture cards as part of their graduation work. After seven months of preparation, they have begun giving performances at preschools in the city of Fukuyama.

縲€The heroine of the story is a paulownia tree that survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Although it suffered damage, it still grew new buds the next year. The story goes on to tell how these buds grew into new trees and have been planted in other countries around the world. This growth reflects the rebirth of Hiroshima and its citizens. A member of the group, Nanako Kiyokawa, 20, said, 窶弩e didn窶冲 want to convey only the cruelty of the atomic bomb.窶・/p>

縲€The project began when they met Teruko Hikosaka, 80, an A-bomb survivor living in Fukuyama who raises paulownia trees that are descendants of that original tree. She told the students, 窶弸oung people, like yourselves, who will take care of children in your work have a responsibility to share with them the value of life.窶・/p>

縲€They didn窶冲 avoid depicting shocking scenes from the bombing-in fact, they tried to draw these scenes in detail because they felt the reality was important for children to understand. Yoshimi Abuki, 20, was encouraged when a child remarked, 窶廬t was scary, but it made me feel that life is precious.窶・/p>

縲€The picture cards for the show have been handed to the next group of students in the childcare course to continue these performances. (Aya Nakashige, 17)

Click to watch the storytelling show.

A work of art, made of wood from the rubble縲€Tomiyo Sugitani, Hiroshima

Tomiyo Sugitani

縲€窶廬t窶冱 painful just to remember that day. It was so overwhelming.窶・Tomiyo Sugitani, 84, entered Hiroshima just after the bombing and was shocked to see piles of bodies. After the war, she faced more adversity when she lost her baby through a miscarriage.

縲€She expresses these feelings and her wish for peace through a sculpture called 窶弋hat Day窶・which she created in 2004. She used eight pieces of wood from a building destroyed in the bombing-the Hiroshima University gymnasium-and painted it with figures of children and adults. In May, it was donated to Hiroshima University.