The Establishment of the Hiroshima Literature Museum: 1987-2009

K. NARISADA, Hiroshima University

1 　Atomic Bomb Literature

　 Atomic Bomb Literature involves the literary works which describe the disasters and the human sufferings from the atomic bombing on August 6 and 9, 1945 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. Its genres entail poems, novels, dramas, reportage and essays. Many people, including children, have written a lot of works dealing with the atomic bombings in the last sixty years and some of them are very impressive.

　　The works of Atomic Bomb Literature by professional or semi-professional writers are as follows:

1-1 　Victim writers and their works

1-1-1 　Hiroshima writers and their works

　 Hara, Tamiki (1905-1951)

　　　 Summer Flower (1947)

　　Ota, Yoko (1906-1963)

　　　 City of Corpses (1948), Human Rags (1951), Half Human (1953)

　 Toge, Sankichi (1917-1953)

　　　 The Poems of Atomic Bomb (1951)

　　　　　　 “Give me back my father, give me back my mother”

　 Kurihara, Sadako (1913-2005)

　　　 “Let us be midwives!” (1945), Black Egg (1946),

　　　 All Poems of Kurihara Sadako (2005)

　 Shoda, Shinoe (1910-1965)

　　　 Repentance (1947)

　 Takenishi, Hiroko (1929- )

　　　 The Rite (1964), The festival of Wind and String Music (1978)

1-1-2 　Nagasaki writers and their works

Hayashi, Kyoko (1930- )

　　　　 The Site of Rituals (1975),

　　　 　Complete Works of Hayashi Kyoko 8 Vols　 ( 2006)

1-2 　Non-victim writers and their works

　 Sata, Ineko (1904 -1998)

　　 The Shade of Trees (1972)

　Inoue, Mitsuharu (1926-1992)

　People of the Land 　(1963)

　Ibuse, Masuji (1898-1993)

　　　　 Black Rain (1965)

　 Oe, Kenzaburo (1935- )

　　　　 Hiroshima Note (1965),

　　　 Editor in chief, Atomic Bomb Literature of Japan 15 Vols 　(1983)

　 Oda, Makoto (1932-2007)

　　　 Hiroshima (1981)

1-3 　The Difficulty of Atomic Bomb Literature

　 There is an intrinsic difficulty in Atomic Bomb Literature in that it requires describing “indescribable” events and experiences while using words. Such literary works are not very compatible with established ideas in literature. Indeed, there have been debates among some Japanese writers and critics with regards to Atomic Bomb Literature. Some established writers, and the publishers and reading communities do not recognize Atomic Bomb Literature as a genuine form of literature.

1-4 　The Importance of Atomic Bomb Literature

　　 Atomic bombs are the ultimate products of modern science and engineering. It is said that modern culture and civilization as a whole was undermined ethically because two atomic bombs were dropped on the two cities in which many civilians were living. “If a thing happens twice, it can happen thrice,” this is a Japanese proverb, the chances are high that, sooner or later, human beings will be terminated by nuclear war. T. Adorno, a famous German philosopher, claimed that poetry was impossible after Auschwitz. Similarly and suddenly, after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seems like we can not believe easily in modern ideas of humanism and literature. Based on the traditional ideas of humanism and literature, Atomic Bomb Literature is a local and minor representation of relatively big disasters. But we have lived in a nuclear age since 1945, so we have to construct a new humanism and new idea of literature, if it is possible.

　 There may be many hints or clues for new ideas in Atomic Bomb Literature which tries to represent indescribable events and experiences. So, we have to read Atomic Bomb Literature widely and deeply. Because many victims were killed in the bombing and all survivors are old, we have to recognize the significance of Atomic Bomb Literature to avoid a third atomic bombing.

　 But unfortunately, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there were not any Literature Museums which collected books and materials on Atomic Bomb Literature and exhibited them to the citizens.

　

2 　The Movement to Establish the Hiroshima Literature Museum

2-1 　Literature Museums in Japan

　There are 550 literature museums in Japan. Many of them are very small. There are about 80 relatively large literature museums supported by local governments or foundations, and they form the Conference of Japanese Literature Museums. The 80 literature museums correspond to the number of prefectures and major cities in Japan. Accordingly, major cities in Japan all can have literature museums which collect books and materials to honor their own writers and their works.

2-2 　No Literature Museum in Hiroshima

Fukuyama (population 440,000) which is located to the east of Hiroshima prefecture, has a literature museum. The Fukuyama Literature Museum has collected books and materials focusing on Ibuse Masuji who was from Fukuyama and the author of Black Rain (1965).

　 But Hiroshima (population 1,160,000) which was the first city attacked by an atomic bomb, has had no literature museum. And the second attacked city Nagasaki(population 440,000) has a literature museum in the rural area for Endo Shusaku(1923-1996). But Nagasaki has had no museum for Atomic Bomb Literature.

　Hiroshima has Peace Memorial Hall, and Nagasaki has Peace and Atomic Hall, respectively. The two halls have exhibited many materials damaged by the atomic bombings. From all over Japan and the world, many people visit the two halls, particularly on August 6 and 9. And they wish for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace in the world. But unfortunately, the two halls have paid little attention to Atomic Bomb Literature.

2-3 　The Movement to Establish the Hiroshima Literature Museum (1): 1987~

In 1987, one group took action to establish Hiroshima Literature Museum. This group consisted of professors, writers and the people who had engaged in the cultural events and movements for many years in Hiroshima. They organized “the Association for the Conservation of Hiroshima Literary Materials” to promote a movement for establishing Hiroshima Literature Museum. And they appealed to the Hiroshima City Government and the people of Hiroshima for the importance of a literature museum. Aided by writers from Tokyo, they accumulated 6,000 signatures in favor of their appeal.

In July of 1987, the association met with Mr. Araki, the Mayor of Hiroshima, and demanded the establishment of a literature museum, focusing on Atomic Bomb Literature. The Mayor asked to them, “what kind of literature Hiroshima has, and how many literary materials are there in Hiroshima.” The members of the association collected huge literary materials and books in a short period by themselves to answer the Mayor’s questions, and gifted these materials to Hiroshima City. These materials were stored in Hiroshima City’s Central Library, and in October 1987 “the Room for Hiroshima Literature” was set up in the library. In the Room for Hiroshima Literature, books, portraits and chronologies of Hiroshima writers including Atomic Bomb Literature were exhibited. It seemed that the movement for establishing a literature museum had achieved a considerable success.

But the Room for Hiroshima Literature is located in a remote area where it is not noticed. Indeed, few people visit there. And there is no archivist to file materials. Consequently, huge gifted materials have remained in the boxes on the floor in the library. As volunteers members of the association had to file materials and catalog them.

2-4 　The Movement to Establish the Hiroshima Literature Museum (2): 2000~

　At the end of 2000, Professor F. Komura, who was the leader of “the Association for the Conservation of Hiroshima Literary Materials”, noticed that the old building of the Hiroshima branch of Japan Bank was vacant. Because this building was one of the memorials attacked by the atomic bomb, he planed to utilize it for the Hiroshima Literature Museum. Professors Komura and H. Mizushima and some other people including me, organized a citizens' group to propose the plan to the Hiroshima city government.

　We, the citizens’ group, held “Atomic bomb Literature Exhibition: Five Writers of Hiroshima” in the summer of 2001 at the old building. Many books and literary materials of five writers (Kurihara, Hara, Toge, Ota, and Shoda) were exhibited. Many people visited the exhibition, so we hoped for the realization of our plan. But the Hiroshima City government rejected our plan to transform the old building into the Hiroshima Literature Museum. This building has been used for galleries and events, and for the storehouse of millions of paper cranes brought to Peace Memorial Park.

　 Mr. Akiba, the present Mayor of Hiroshima, appeals for the abolition of nuclear weapons as the chairman of “Mayors for Peace”, and he appeals to the universities of the world to establish “a Hiroshima-Nagasaki chair” to promote peace education. Mayor Akiba is very eager to reserve and exhibit the paper cranes brought to Peace Memorial Park by many people all over the world. But unfortunately, the Mayor and his government never recognize the necessity of Hiroshima Literature Museum. I do not understand the reason.

　 Nevertheless, we have set up a virtual Hiroshima Literature Museum by which many articles on Atomic Bomb Literature and manuscripts can be read on the Internet: for example, Hara’s “Note of the Atomic Bombing”, Kurihara’s note of “Let us be midwives!”, Toge’s “Sketch Book” and “Give me back my father, give me back my mother”, and Dr.Nakayama’s essay on “Atomic Bomb Literature of the World” .

　And we, the citizens’ group, have held literary exhibitions many times to appeal to the people of Hiroshima about the importance of Atomic Bomb Literature and the necessity of the Literature Museum. Newspapers and TV in Hiroshima have taken up the information on our exhibitions and activities. As a result, “the Room for Hiroshima Literature” in Hiroshima City’s Central Library has begun to file and catalog books, and we can see the list of books and magazines in this room on the Internet. But important materials such as manuscripts and letters have not been filed and cataloged.

　Meanwhile, the initiator of our movement, Professor F. Komura, died in 2002, and the great poet-essayist S. Kurihara died in 2005. Since our plan to utilize the old bank building as Hiroshima Literature Museum had been rejected, the movement reached a dead end.

2-5 　The Movement to Establish the Hiroshima Literature Museum (3): Present

New situations and conditions have appeared in recent years. First, Hiroshima University Archives have collected actively many materials relating not only to Hiroshima University but also to literary and peace movements such as T. Yamashiro (1912-2004, writer and activist), T. Hiraoka (1927- , a former Mayor of Hiroshima), M. Omuta(1930-2001, editor of Chugoku Shinbun, the director of the Center for Peace and Culture in Hiroshima), T. Kajiyama(1930-1975, writer). These materials are very important to study the relation between the literary and peace movements in the post war period in Hiroshima. Properly speaking, these materials should be collected in the Literature Museum.

Second, large numbers of books and materials of S. Kurihara have been gifted to Hiroshima Jogakuin University, which is one of the oldest women’s universities in Japan. Hiroshima Jogakuin University has set up “the Kurihara memorial archives for Peace” in its university library to promote peace and gender education.

We are very pleased that the literary materials have been transferred to educational institutes such as Hiroshima University and Hiroshima Jogakuin University from writer’s families for conservation and use of materials. On the other side, I am afraid that literary materials will be dispersed to too many places. For this reason, and many other reasons cited above, the Hiroshima Literature Museum should be established as soon as possible.