12. Hiroshima Second Prefectural Middle School Monument
However hot summer sunshine is,
Thinking of the fire that burned you,
It will be as cool as a breeze.
You were burned to death by the atomic fire.
The inferno must not be repeated on earth.
Summer heat is no comparison.
Explanation
Most of the students and teachers who had been working at the demolition sites in Nakajima hon-machi, 0.6 km from the hypocenter, were killed on the spot.
On this monument, it is carved: “Alas, on August 6, 1945, seven teachers and 343 students were killed in the atomic blast during their demolition work and became a cornerstone of peace.” According to a later source, however, the death toll is said to actually be 352. Some of the inscribed names have been rubbed off.
The Tanka poem (a Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables) monument of Sadaei Furuta, Principal of the Hiroshima Second Prefectural Middle School stands nearby. This dirge reads,
“As we don' t know the words to comfort, we just weep, recalling your faces and deeds.”
Location: Peace Memorial Park, Naka-ku