2. Prayer Monument
We believed we fought a just war.
We carried arms as ordered.
We defended the home front as ordered.
Now
May normal homelife and peace be
In every corner of the world.
Explanation
This was built on August 15, 1960 by the Committee to Carry out a National Festival of Prayers for Peace to Comfort the Spirits of the Dead.
The monument says it was dedicated to A-bomb victims, military people, civilians employed in the army, public workers, policemen, civilian guards, mobilized teachers and students, dispatched nurses, midwives, those who died while detained overseas, executed war criminals, the self-immolated, those who killed themselves, those who died of unnatural causes abroad, and others.
The figures of a young couple holding their child in their arms are the work of the sculptor, Yoshizumi Yokoe. Facing the monument is Atsuo Oki' s poem inscribed on a stone. He was a poet born in Hiroshima.
Location : Peace Memorial Park, Naka-ku
Music : Prayer Monument(1:58)
Keiko Kotoku Marimba Peace Concert
at Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hiroshima (2008/6/26)