Today was a really rough day for both this reason and personal reasons. Today in Japan is the 76th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima; August 9th will be the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. When I was ten years old I remember borrowing a picture book from the library and discovering it was a very detailed and graphic story drawn in black, white, and red about the days following the bombings. I remember crying hysterically while reading that book, to this day I don’t even remember what the title was. Of course we learned about Sasaki Sadako and her cranes in school, but it wasn’t anything like this book. Like all Japanese people (including Nikkei), we do carry the pain from the bombings and the war and I was no different. Then one day Sannō-sama appeared alongside my other Kami-sama. Sannō is the name of one of the Kami-sama enshrined on Mt. Hiei and there is a shrine located in Nagasaki called Sannō Jinja. Upon looking into Sannō Jinja, I learned that this shrine was literally meters away from where the bomb landed. In the blast, half of the shrine’s torii was destroyed and two of its trees were scorched to the point of death. To this day, the torii remains in half as a reminder of what occurred but like hope the trees survived and now have regrown, a living testament to healing and survival. Kami-sama, please give us all the strength to heal and help humanity as a whole find peace. #atomicbomb #hiroshima #nagasaki #nikkei #sannōjinja #gaman #nonuclearwar #nonuclearweapons #shintoshrine #shintō #torii #healing #trauma #hibakusha (at Honolulu, Hawaii) https://www.instagram.com/p/CSOO_M1rL45/?utm_medium=tumblr
