Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Hiroshima resident and church pastor, has provided a detailed eyewitness account of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, describing the immediate aftermath and his efforts to reach safety and find his family amid the widespread destruction.
At the time of the bombing, Tanimoto was near the Hakushima district, which was engulfed in flames. He attempted to cross the Ota River, aiming to reach his neighborhood of Noboricho, despite exhaustion and the swift current. Struggling in the water and nearly drowning, he removed his heavy clothing to become lighter and managed to reach the opposite bank, where he rested briefly before continuing on foot.
Tanimoto’s path through the Ushita district revealed a ghost town; most residents had already evacuated. He stopped by the home of the church treasurer but found it destroyed and deserted. Approaching nearer to his own home, he unexpectedly encountered his wife carrying their child amid a line of refugees. His wife, dressed in a blood-stained chemise and appearing exhausted, recounted that they had been trapped under their house during the explosion when a visitor to the parsonage, Mrs. Takaki, was killed. Despite the trauma, she managed to shield their baby, Koko, and escape through a small hole she widened in the attic debris, even as neighboring houses burned and smoke thickened the air.
Tanimoto expressed complex emotions upon seeing his family alive, feeling both relief and a profound sense of indignation that while a visitor had perished, his wife and child had survived. He later learned more about the harrowing experience of his wife, who was pinned by fallen timbers, nearly suffocating before rescuing her child and freeing herself to flee the spreading fire.
The devastation extended beyond his immediate community. Many residents did not even hear or see a plane before the bomb detonated. A church member’s parents, waiting at Yokogawa station roughly two kilometers from ground zero, witnessed a B-29 bomber and the descending parachute before losing consciousness. Upon awakening, they found themselves burned and disoriented amid crushed and flattened structures. Streets closer to the blast center were littered with injured and trapped survivors calling for help, many buried beneath collapsed homes and debris. Relief and rescue efforts were hampered by the scale of destruction.
Tanimoto, serving as defense coordinator for his neighborhood with responsibility for approximately 120 people, described a desperate urgency to return to his post despite the devastation he witnessed. Passing through Nakahiromachi, he encountered numerous suffering individuals, many unable to move, and was overcome by guilt for his own survival while others, including potentially his family, were in peril.
His account underscores the immediate human cost and chaos following the atomic bombing, providing a personal perspective on the tragedy that befell Hiroshima. This testimony is excerpted from Tanimoto’s memoir, *Hiroshima, 8:15: The Lost Memoir*, which offers a detailed chronicle of the bombing’s impact on one community and family.