Posts Tagged ‘Urakami Cathedral’

Urakami Cathedral, Nagasaki, Japan

Sunday, August 7th, 2016

..September 2008 Nagasaki..
7AM walk before 2nd day of portraits

….500 feet above my head the 2nd atomic bomb detonated on August 9th, 1945. Blood, fire, black rain, and heat engulfed everywhere around me. For a split second the temperature at the epicenter reached 1 million degrees. 100 feet to my right corpses piled on the river creating a dam of death that stopped the flow of water. The Urakami Cathedral a 1/2 mile down the street collapsed and fell down a hillside. Part of the tower still sits at the bottom.

..2nd day in Nagasaki at the epicenter of the atomic bomb, I don’t think the entire story has ever been told or ever will be comprehended.

The reality hit me seeing the bell tower of the Urakami Cathedral at the bottom of the hill. It once towered on the top of the hill overlooking canal. Toppled like a home made of wooden blocks thrown across a room.

I took some rocks from the grounds of Urakami Church and wrote Love, Peace, Compassion. Took a bunch of rocks home with Japanese writing. An unlikely souvenir that I will always keep.

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Nagasaki…500 feet above my head….

Wednesday, August 8th, 2012

..September 2008 Nagasaki, Japan..

….500 feet above my head the 2nd atomic bomb detonated on August 9th, 1945. Blood, fire, black rain, and heat engulfed everywhere around me. For a split second the temperature at the epicenter reached 1 million degrees.

….100 feet to my right corpses piled on the river creating a dam of death that stopped the flow of water. The Urakami Cathedral a 1/2 mile down the street collapsed and fell down a hillside. Part of the tower still sits at the bottom.

The world had gone MAD. Never have we witnessed the level of insanity experienced in 1945. What did we do here? Nothing can justify this atrocity. To think this could happen again terrifies me.

..2nd day in Nagasaki at the epicenter of the atomic bomb, I don’t think the entire story has ever been told or ever will be comprehended.

1aaa

Documents 040


Mr. Takahara Itaru

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

..July 2010.. ..Nagasaki..

Mr. Takahara Itaru is a Nagasaki Hibakusha. He survived the fire bombing of Tokyo on March 10th, 1945. He returned home to Nagasaki and witnessed the atomic bomb being dropped on August 9th, 1945.

Takahara-san is a very well know photojournalist in Japan. During the years after the atomic bomb, he documented what was lost in the city. He just published a book Nagasaki Urakami Cathedral, 1945-1958: An Atomic Bomb Relic Lost. His photos document the remains of the Urakami Cathedral after the atomic bomb destroyed the largest church in East Asia.

His photos span the 13 years after the atomic bomb, showing how the Christians continued to worship and tried to maintain some of the damaged relics. The closing photos show members of the parish clearing away the strong stoic remains of the heavily destroyed cathedral. To make way for the new cathedral.

I was very lucky to photograph Takahara-san at my exhibition in the Nagasaki Peace Museum.

Portrait of Takahara Itaru from paul saviano on Vimeo.

Looking at the bus stop in Nagasaki….

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

..October 2009 New York..

I wonder what it is like to grow up in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Do the children realize what happened here to their families 65 years ago?

Jet lagged, every morning at 7AM, 2 hours before my first interview with an atomic bomb Survivor I took short walks around the epicenter in Nagasaki. I wandered past the Urakami Cathedral walking up the stumpy rolling hills with school kids catching the public buses. I caught the laughter of 10 year old kids and the louder bantering of teenagers teasing each other. Occasionally saw a kid texting on their cell phone while waiting for a street signal to change.

Every manhole cover on the street in Nagasaki has a star imprinted in the metal. Frequently passed signs and stickers saying…”Nagasaki, the City of Peace.”

I couldn’t help think about the people who were vaporized by the atomic bomb. I was walking on cement that lay on top of ashes and unidentified bones. I was walking on sacred ground.

A city now covers what could be a cemetery. Every atomic bomb Survivor I met had someone in their family who was never found in the carnage of August 9th, 1945. Some vaporized, others burnt to charcoal and ash mixed in with the soil or washed away in the river.

Matsuo-san told me she thinks about saying good-bye to her 11 year old brother on August 9th, 1945. An hour before 11:02AM, when the atomic bomb was dropped. He was walking to work, less than a mile from the epicenter. Never found. Most likely vaporized or turned to ash.

I wonder what it’s like to grow up in these cities. Do they think about what’s beneath their feet when they walk to school?

The entire place had an affect on me. The people, landscape, history, stories, the few remaining heavily damaged fragments of life that barely Survived….

I grew up in a special place. New York is considered one of the capitols of the world. A cross roads of culture and excitement. Growing up in Hiroshima and Nagasaki has to have an affect on people. Whether it’s being aware of the tragedy, the cruelty of life, or the desire to live in a peaceful world.

I don’t know what it’s like growing up in either city. But if I did it would have had a profound affect on me. It did when I was 34 years old.

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Nagasaki, 500 feet above my head…

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

..September 2008 Nagasaki, Japan..

….500 feet above my head the 2nd atomic bomb detonated on August 9th, 1945. Blood, fire, black rain, and heat engulfed everywhere around me. For a split second the temperature at the epicenter reached 1 million degrees.

….100 feet to my right corpses piled on the river creating a dam of death that stopped the flow of water. The Urakami Cathedral a 1/2 mile down the street collapsed and fell down a hillside. Part of the tower still sits at the bottom.

The world had gone MAD. Never have we witnessed the level of insanity experienced in 1945. What did we do here? Nothing can justify this atrocity. To think this could happen again terrifies me.

..2nd day in Nagasaki at the epicenter of the atomic bomb, I don’t think the entire story has ever been told or ever will be comprehended.

1aaa

Documents 040