Tokyo - Her face gentle and full of affection, a goddess with pigtails spreads her arms as a girl plays with a ball and a boy reads a book.
These figures make up a up a bronze statue in a park along the Kakigawa river that flows through the centre of Nagaoka, Japan in Niigata Prefecture. An air raid in 1945 led to its construction.
At around 10.30pm on August 1, 1945, 125 B-29 bombers flew over Nagaoka in an air raid. About 163 000 incendiary bombs totalling 925 tons were dropped on the city in one hour and 40 minutes, burning down 80 percent. It took four days to cremate all the bodies, and the ashes are said to have filled 34 rice bags. Air raids also occurred over Toyama, Mito and Hachioji until early on August 2. The New York Times reported that four cities in Japan had been burned down, and the number of bombs dropped in one night was the largest in history.
Many residents escaped to the Kakigawa river, but it, too, started to burn as a result of oil leaking from the bombs, causing people to become trapped. In the morning, charred bodies lay scattered among the devastation.
More than 280 of the 1 486 victims were primary and middle school children. When the Korean War began five years after the end of World War II, the teachers’ union in Niigata began working towards the creation of the statue – determined they would never again drag children into war. The funds were raised by teachers throughout the prefecture, by children and parents.
Many of the families were still poor after the war, and many children worked instead of going to high school. But still the collection boxes placed at each school were filled.
“Everybody probably donated money because the teachers regretted what they taught during the war, and the parents knew what tragedy a war could lead to,” said Sadamu Kamogawa, 90, who taught middle school then.
Sixteen people from the prefecture, who lived in the US, donated money in dollars, and Yamakoshi, a city in the prefecture known for raising carp, donated koi. In the end, a total of 1.52 million yen (equivalent to 10 million yen today) was raised.
Local sculptor Kichinosuke Hiroi created the statue, using relatives the same age as the children who died, as models. It was named Heiwa-zo (statue of peace) in the hope of reconstruction and peace, and placed in a square in front of JR Nagaoka Station in November 1951.
The statue, completed in 1955, was transferred to the suburbs due to the expansion of the station building, and following requests from residents to locate it somewhere that could easily be visited, it was placed in the Peace Forest Memorial Park in 1996.
The square is a place of recreation. It features a fountain with koi and a wisteria trellis tree under which people cool off and chat. The statue has become a symbol of the people.
Tomi Kaneko, 82, who survived the air raid at the age of 11 by hiding in the Kakigawa river, remembers the face of her primary school classmate Tadako Kawakami whenever she sees the statue.
“She was the best kid and always helped her mother. I’m sure she tried to protect her brothers during the raid,” said Kaneko, who learned she had died with her brothers.
Many people visit the statue on August 1 to lay flowers. A copper plate with the names of the dead children is tucked away in its chest.
The Japan News/Yomiuri