Photo/Illutration A man takes a photo of the “Genbaku higaisha no haka,” a grave of the atomic bomb victims, after his wife’s burial on July 28 in Hachioji, western Tokyo. (Emika Terashima)

Deceased hibakusha who share their final resting place at a common grave on the outskirts of Tokyo will soon receive some good news. 

At this year’s annual memorial service, the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Nihon Hidankyo (the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) will be read out.

However, the preservation society that maintains the grave is also expected to explain its plan to stop holding the gathering after next year, when the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings will have passed.

The group is thinking of eventually closing the grave. But feelings of the society members are mixed.

Michiko Murata, who established the preservation society, said, “If the grave disappears, there will be fewer reminders of each person’s lives. That would be sad.”

The “Genbaku higaisha no haka” (grave of the atomic bomb victims) holds the remains of atomic bomb survivors who have no relatives.

Those who lost their families in the atomic bombings and moved to Tokyo after the war in fear of discrimination are buried there.

The grave has served as a place of refuge for hibakusha, but its management is becoming increasingly difficult due to the aging of the survivors.

The grave was built in 2005 in the Tokyo Reien, a cemetery in Hachioji, western Tokyo, by Hidenori Yamamoto, a former official of Toyukai, a group of atomic bomb survivors in the capital. 

Yamamoto died in 2021 at the age of 88.

The grave contains the remains of about 60 people. There are also four people whose names are only inscribed on the grave nameplates.

Tokyo has the fourth largest number of living hibakusha in Japan.

When atomic bomb survivors who have no relatives die alone, Toyukai is sometimes contacted by the local government.

The death of man who was involved with Toyukai triggered the idea of constructing the grave.

After the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, the man moved to Tokyo in an attempt to change his impoverished life.

According to Murata, 73, a counselor at Toyukai, the man never spoke much before his death.

But the man left his wife and family behind in Hiroshima. In his later years, he lost touch with his relatives.

Nevertheless, Toyukai contacted the man’s bereaved family, and the man’s nephew decided to take custody of the remains.

Murata transported the remains to Hiroshima.

However, the place the bereaved family told Murata to put the remains was an empty banana box.

Yamamoto was himself a hibakusha, exposed to the atomic bombing in Nagasaki. He had seen the lives of survivors ruined by the bombing.

After Murata told Yamamoto about the banana box incident, Yamamoto decided to build the grave.

Yamamoto said that he did not want to see another hibakusha not have a place to live, not only while they are living, but also after they die.

A stone slab is attached to the grave.

The inscription on it reads, “We, with our lives, hereby testify that the atomic bombings were unforgivable.”

These words were drafted by the late Takeshi Ito, who chaired Toyukai and also served as a representative member of Nihon Hidankyo.

The inscription expresses the belief that the lives of the hibakusha themselves are proof of the damage caused by the atomic bombings.

Currently, Murata has taken over as caretaker of the gravesite and started the preservation society that looks after it.

At its peak, about 50 people attended the memorial service that has been held annually at the end of October. 

But due to the aging of the population and the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of attendees decreased to 15 last year.

As the grave's caretaker, Murata has been present at the laying of the ashes.

But Murata’s legs and back have weakened, making it difficult for her to walk up the steep hill to and from the grave.

According to the health ministry, there were 106,825 atomic bomb survivors as of the end of March this year, with an average age of 85.58.

There were 3,557 survivors in Tokyo, followed by 51,275 in Hiroshima Prefecture, 25,966 in Nagasaki Prefecture and 4,311 in Fukuoka Prefecture.



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