My Book Ⅰ
Written by Hiroyuki Ikeda
［No.22］ Visit to Father's Grave 6/3/2014
July 4,2014 is the day of my father’s 100th birthday. He died on Apr.18,1997. Last Wednesday, May 28, I planned to go to Kashima City, Saga Prefecture, Kyushu, where the tomb of my father is.
My father, Kumao, was born in South Korea, Gunsan-si, Jellabuk-do（韓国全羅北道群山市）and Korea was a colony of Japan at that time, in 1914( 大正4年). He graduated from Lushun University of Technology（旅順工科大学） of Liaoning Province, Dalian city, China（中国遼寧省大連市 ）. Also there was leased territory of Japan at that time, and he took a job in a steel company. My father 's life became eventful with the war. He had a hard life because his body was weak, and such a father passed away in great despair soon after the Great Hanshin Earthquake on April 18, 1997 at 82 years old. He had little strength for his 4 sons but my wife and I traveled after a long time to the grave of my father.
On the way home from Saga to Kobe by Shinkansen, we stopped one night in Hiroshima. Next morning, Thursday May 29, we went to see the Atomic Bomb Dome and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Atomic Bomb Memorial) and after that, in the afternoon, we visited Miyajima, Itsukushima Shrine. The atomic bomb was dropped by the United States and killed more than 200,000 Hiroshima citizens on August 6, 1945. Although the city was hit by catastrophic destruction, it became a symbol of reconstruction after the war. Hiroshima has become a city of international peace and culture with more than 1 million people now. I had once visited the Bomb Dome, but I had never visited the Atomic Bomb Museum, where you can see the history of the casualties of that bomb. My heart ached at the sight of the cruel record of the war, in which many people were killed. Although not as big as Hiroshima, more than 6,000 victims died by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which happened January 17, 1995. The wounds of the war and that disaster have not healed even now.
After the museum visit, we made an excursion to Miyajima ( Itsukushima ) one of the three most famous scenic spots in Japan. We went by ferry. Before going to Miyajima, near JR Miyajima-Guchi Station, we ate Anago-meshi, sea eel(conger)and rice with much gusto. It was very delicious. The weather was sunny , but very hot. However Miyajima was hazy as if a silhouette of the island, due to yellow sand from China. Many travelers had gathered under the torii in the sea because of the low tide. A lot of foreigners from all over the world who visited Hiroshima also came to enjoy Itsukushima-Shrine. It was made very popular by Taira-no-Kiyomori in the Heian Era and his story on NHK two years ago. Its popularity does not decline even now and we were tired out by the crowds of people. Anyway, I had a nice time. The wind of the sea felt good. I thought of the extensive history of Kiyomori at the shrine.
My journey of mourning for people in the past and my father had ended and I came back home with a heart filled with satisfaction.
墓参り
今年の7月4日（父はアメリカの建国記念の日だといって自慢にしていた）は亡くなった父の生誕100年の日になる。思い立って5月28日水曜日父の墓がある佐賀県鹿島市に墓参りへ行って来た。父の熊雄は1914年大正4年にその当時日本の植民地であった韓国全羅北道群山（クンサン）市に生まれ、当時日本の租借地であった今の中国遼寧省大連市の旅順工科大学を卒業、製鉄会社に就職したが、父の人生は戦争をまたいで波乱に満ちたものとなった。体も弱くて苦労したがそんな父は1997年4月18日82歳で阪神大震災後間もなく失意のうちに亡くなった。私たち兄弟へは父は余り力にはなってくれなかったが、そんな父の墓参りで私たち夫婦は久しぶりに旅をした。
帰り道に新幹線で広島迄戻って1泊、5月29日木曜日、朝から原爆記念館（広島平和記念資料館）や原爆ドームを見て、午後から宮島へ足を伸ばした。広島へアメリカにより投下された原爆は1945年8月6日二十数万の死者を出し、市街は壊滅的な破壊に見舞われたが、戦後に復興して今では人口100万人を超える国際平和文化都市となった。私はかって原爆ドームを訪ねた事があるが原爆資料館の訪問は初めてだったように記憶する。多くの人々が犠牲になった生々しい記録の数々を目にして心痛んだ。1995年1月17日のあの阪神淡路大震災の犠牲者は6,000人余だったが、あの戦争の傷も今も癒されない。
その訪問の後昼から日本三景の宮島（厳島）へと向った。昼過ぎ駅の近所で名物のあなご飯で舌づつみをうち、船で厳島へ渡った。天気は快晴、しかし大変暑かった。それに黄砂が舞っていて霧がかかったような島影だったが、丁度干潮だったのか海の中の鳥居の下には沢山の旅行者が集まっていた。広島を訪れた世界各地からの外国人も広島からの帰り道厳島へ遊びに来て大いに楽しんでいた。厳島は一昨年のNHKのドラマの平清盛で大変な人気だったがその人気は今も衰えず、大変な人で私たち夫婦も同じような人ごみに大いに疲れたが、楽しい時間を過ごした。海を渡る風が気持ち良かった。神社で遠く清盛を思い、今回の夫々の遠い人々を弔った旅は終わり、家へと帰った。
原爆ドーム The Atomic Bomb Memorial Dome
原爆死没者慰霊碑（公式名は広島平和都市記念碑）は、ここに眠る人々の霊を雨露から守りたいという気持ちから、埴輪の家型に設計された。中央には原爆死没者名簿を納めた石棺が置かれており、石棺の正面には、「安らかに眠って下さい 過ちは繰り返しませんから」と刻まれている。この碑文の主旨は、原子爆弾の犠牲者は、単に一国一民族の犠牲者ではなく、人類全体の平和のいしずえとなって祀られており、その原爆の犠牲者に対して反核の平和を誓うのは、全世界の人々でなくてはならないというもの。広島市は1983年（昭和58年）に慰霊碑の日英語の説明板を設置し、2008年仏、独、露、伊、中、ハングルで説明板を設置した。それには、「この碑は昭和20年8月6日 世界初の原子爆弾によって壊滅した広島市を平和都市として再建することを念願して設立したものである。碑文は すべての人々が 原爆犠牲者の冥福を祈り戦争という過ちを再び繰り返さないことを誓う言葉である 過去の悲しみに耐え 憎しみを乗り越えて 全人類の共存と繁栄を願い 真の世界平和の実現を祈念するヒロシマの心が ここに刻まれている」 中央の石室には 原爆死没者名簿が納められており この碑は また 原爆慰霊碑 とも呼ばれている。
The Atomic Bomb Deceased Cenotaph ( formula name is Hiroshima Peace City Monument) was designed like a house type of the clay figure in which it’s desired to protect from hard rain of the soul of lost people who sleep here. In this stone coffin which dedicate atomic bomb list of the war victim is placed in the center. On the front of the stone coffin it cut a letter "Please sleep peacefully, since our fault does not repeat ". Main object of this monument is the victim of an atomic bomb is not only a victim of one-country one race but based on the peace of the whole mankind and so on, antinuclear and peace must be pledged to the victim of atomic bomb by whole global people. Hiroshima installed the instructing board of the Japanese-English word of a cenotaph in 1983 (Showa 58), and also it installed the instructing board in six languages of French, Russia, Italian, Chinese and Korean in 2008. On the board, "this monument, in August 6, Showa 20,1945. It wishes for and establishes rebuilding of a peace city of Hiroshima which was destroyed completely by the world first atomic bomb attack. This monument’s language which swears to pray for an A-bomb victim's bliss and not to repeat a fault of war again. To endure the past sadness, hate is overcome, wishing about coexistence and prosperity of all mankind, the heart of Hiroshima which prays for realization of true global peace, it is mentioned fine here." In the central tomb, the atomic bomb list of the dead is dedicated and this monument is also called Atomic bomb cenotaph .
↑Bomb Dome
厳島神社 Itsukushima-Jinja Shrine
& 宮島 Miyajima Island
( 日本三景 Japanese 3 most scenic spots )
↑ Miyajima and Itsukushima ↑ Bomb Dome
Dalian 大連 , Lushun 旅順 and Gunsan 群山
聖書の言葉 from The Bible
今、あなたの友が苦しんではいませんか。
And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
ヨブ記 42章10