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Published: April 21st 2024
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Shukkeien Garden
Shukkeien Garden After much internal deliberation, I arrived at Hiroshima.
I knew this will be a tougher part of the journey, given what the city had been through, but I came with an attitude to see the city beyond the atomic bomb.
First day, I went and explored the Shukkeien Garden. Built in the Edo period in the 17th century, this is a beautiful garden with the backdrop of Hiroshima city, with Koi ponds, lovely nature and a small bamboo grove.
While small in size, I really enjoyed the nature here. This garden was a stone's throw away from the epicenter of the atomic bomb and had suffered extensive damage, but there are still trees here that survived the bomb and continue to grow. Nature has its ways to survive man's actions.
The next day, I went on a free walking tour of Hiroshima, as I wanted to learn about the history of Japan, the city and the atomic bomb and it's after effects.
We started from the Gokoku-Jinja temple, a Shinto Shrine of eminence and headed to the Hiroshima castle.
Hiroshima was formed in 1590s, before that this place was called Gokamura (means Five Villages). The
Shukkeien Garden
Koi Carp at Shukkeien Garden name Hiroshima was chosen as a combination of "Hiro", an ancestor of the family that was building the castle and "Shima", from Fukushima Montonaga, who helped choose the site of the Hiroshima Castle. Hiroshima went on to become a military headquarters and hence it's choice as a target for the bomb.
Another interesting story was why Japan was in isolation for nearly 250 years prior to the Americans coming in late 19th century. Basically, when trade started with Europe in the 16th century, Christianity was also being spread and the Shogun didn't want that, so they shut down the country (except for limited trade with the Dutch). This isolation built the basis of Japan to a large extent at the time, till the Americans came wanting access to Japanese ports.
It's also in this isolation period that the people in Japan mixed different colored breeds of Carp fix and created the colorful Koi pond Carp Fish we see today. These fishes are considered a sign of wealth and each can cost US$10-20K.
We saw monuments of Paper Crane at the Peace Memorial Park, which is basically origami art, but have become a symbol of peace. The origins
Shukkeien Garden
Shukkeien Garden of this can be traced to a little girl called Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to the bomb when she was 2 years old and died of Leukemia at the age of 12. When she got sick, with no apparent outward issues, she started folding paper cranes, believing they will save her life. Alas, they didn't, but the children of her school and later on across Japan and the world, started sending Paper Cranes as a sign of peace. They built a Children's Peace Monument which is decorated by Paper Cranes that are received from across the world every day.
Hope sometimes is a simple act and the simplicity can inspire many.
Having explored the Peace Memorial Park, the Atomic Bomb Dome (a building destroyed by the bomb but the structure still intact and retained to remind the world for peace) and other parts, I kept thinking how dangerous the world is today with so many nations with such powerful weapons.
In politics and in taking positions, leaders many times use the threat of nuclear weapons in passing. But if they visit Hiroshima (or Nagasaki) and see what such weapons do in an instant and for many
Shukkeien Garden
Cherry Flakes at Shukkeien Garden years later, to human life (and other life), maybe there will be consensus never to use such terrible weapons ever again.
The next day, still determined to see Hiroshima from a perspective of beyond the bomb, I headed to Miyajima Island (means Shrine Island).
This island is famous for the Itsukushima Shrine with its famous floating Tori gate. After seeing the temple, while everyone was heading to the Mount Misen ropeway, I did a small hike in the Momijidani Park and got to see deers up close in the wild.
Later, I headed to the Daisho-in temple. What I didn't know is this is where Kobu Daishi (who built Koyasan) first practiced his form of Buddhism. Adorned by over 500 Buddhas with red caps, with water sprays creating an ethereal atmosphere, this was a place of magic. When I went inside the lantern hall and just listened to the prayers, I had forgotten all about the chaos the world can be and was transfixed into a different realm, one of kindness, peace and compassion.
I left Miyajima feeling Kobu Daishi and his guidance, with the belief that the world has hope.
For me, Hiroshima, despite
Shukkeien Garden
Shukkeien Garden the overhang of the bomb, will remain more as a memory of Kobu Daishi and about the idea of compassion.
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Praveen
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👋 hi
Pijush, This is awesome. Keep walking & keep posting. Think I set some alert on your blog way back when you started. It still sends an email alert and I read every entry no matter where or what am doing :) Praveen (prowess)