Nagasaki Peace Park and the Hypocentre

At 11:02 am on 9 August 1945 the atomic bomb exploded about 500 metres above Matsuyama-machi. A black granite column now marks the point below the blast, and beside it a cut in the ground shows the layer of earth from that day, packed with roof tiles, brick and glass that melted in the heat. Part of the south wall of the old Urakami Cathedral was moved here, and you can still see where the blast shifted its stone pillars.

Across the road and up the steps from the tram stop, the Peace Statue sits at the top of the park. The Nagasaki-born sculptor Seibo Kitamura made it in bronze, 9.7 metres tall, with the right hand raised toward the threat of the bomb and the left hand stretched out for peace. The city holds its Peace Memorial Ceremony in front of it every 9 August.

On the way up you pass the Fountain of Peace, built in 1969 for the survivors who died calling for water. The stone in front of it carries the words of Sachiko Yamaguchi, who was nine in 1945 and drank water covered in an oily film because she was so thirsty. The park itself stands on the site of the Urakami branch of Nagasaki Prison, and a line of its old wall still shows in the ground.