Fujio Torikoshi, 80, Fuchu, Hiroshima prefecture

Scar on neck is ever-present reminder

Mr. Torikoshi shows the keloid scar on his neck as he shares his A-bomb experience.

Critical condition from bomb's heat rays
/ Plays harmonica with thoughts of his mother

Every time Fujio Torikoshi, 80, removes his clothes when taking a bath, he sees the keloid scar on his neck in the mirror. The sight jolts him back to August 6, the day of the atomic bombing. He has mixed feelings about sharing his story, wanting to forget what happened and yet believing he must recall his experience to hand down his account to others. "I'm already 80 now," he said, "and it's just something I'd like to forget..."

Mr. Torikoshi in the spring of 1945, at the age of 14.

Mr. Torikoshi was born and raised in the Yamate section of Hiroshima, now part of Nishi Ward. His house was located at the foot of a mountain, and from its elevated site he had a full view of the downtown area.

In 1945 he was 14 years old. On the morning of August 6 he was at home, about to head to the hospital to retake a physical exam instead of going to work with other students mobilized for the war effort.

Hearing the sound of American planes, he stepped out of the house. He was looking up in the sky, to the east, when he spotted a dark object in the air above the city center. At that moment he saw a tremendous flash and a wave of heat, like the heat from a blazing fire, struck his face. A roaring wind, the bomb's shock wave, then slammed into him and blew him 7 or 8 meters into the air, to a water cistern intended for fighting fires.

He was wearing a V-neck T-shirt, with short sleeves, and long pants, and he felt pain on his uncovered face and arms. His mother was at home, and she wasn't injured in the blast, so she rushed to him and brought him to an air raid shelter in their yard.

As he slipped in and out of consciousness, his face swelled and he could no longer see. That afternoon, a neighbor took him to a hospital in the nearby city of Hatsukaichi. He came home with his face wrapped in bandages.

He was unconscious for a few days, after August 7, and suffered from a high fever and bleeding. Then he finally came to again, sensing light through his bandages and hearing his mother singing to him. His face was still swollen, though, so he was unable to open his mouth. His mother chewed up food for him and fed it to him using a straw.

In October, he was hospitalized near his maternal grandparents' house in the city of Iwakuni. The next spring he was discharged and he enrolled at a junior high school there. His new classmates teased him about his face, dark red in color, telling him, "You have a funny red face!"

Influenced by his older brother, who was a teacher at the high school and university level, Mr. Torikoshi became a teacher, too, in the spring of 1952. But he didn't want others to see his keloid, so he would wear shirts that covered his neck, even during swimming lessons.

While he was in the hospital, his mother gave him a harmonica. Thinking "I want to learn to play the song my mother was singing when I regained consciousness," after his retirement in 1991, Mr. Torikoshi became engrossed in playing his harmonica. Now he teaches harmonica lessons at his home and performs in concerts around the Chugoku region. "I feel happy that I'm still breathing," he said. "I'm grateful that I survived. I hope children will feel appreciation for their lives." As he plays the harmonica, he thinks of his mother, who loved him so deeply. (Rie Nii, Staff Writer)