{"id":218195,"date":"2022-08-22T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T11:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=218195"},"modified":"2022-08-18T12:23:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T11:23:08","slug":"homage-to-hiroshima-homage-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/08\/homage-to-hiroshima-homage-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Homage to Hiroshima, Homage to Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/em><\/span>\u00a0This address was delivered at the 33rd Annual Hiroshima Peace Service Ceremony commemorating the 77th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6, 2022, at the Izumo Taishakyo Mission, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the pause in the last two Annual Hiroshima Peace Services Ceremonies, I am truly glad to be here and to see you all here. Aloha to the honored guests, speakers, musicians, and colleagues from peace organizations. It is wonderful to see so many turn out, especially the young.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>As I reflect on the meaning of today\u2019s ceremony and the past two and a half years of great uncertainty, I realize that it was also two years after the bombing in Hiroshima in 1945, on this date, August 6, 1947, when Shinzo Hamai, the then Mayor of Hiroshima issued the first Hiroshima Peace Declaration at the site of the bombing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cToday,\u201d he announced, \u201con this second anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we, Hiroshima’s citizens, renew our commitment to the establishment of peace by celebrating a peace festival at this site.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In <\/span>our<\/span>\u00a0Homage to Hiroshima today, we embrace and live those words, \u201ccelebrating a peace festival at this site,\u201d even though we live amidst multiple global crises:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Not just the pandemic, but also, the armed conflicts and bloody wars going on now; the environmental degradation and global warming; the gun violence; the racial terror including against Asians; the extreme poverty; the bitter politics and power-struggles that dishonor human rights, set back civil rights, squash reproductive and health care rights, and violate personal liberties and privacy. The list is endless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In 1947, Mayor Hamai went on to say, \u201cMankind must remember that August 6 was a day that brought a chance for world peace. This is the reason why we are now commemorating that day by solemnly inaugurating a festival of peace, despite the limitless sorrow in our minds.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In our Homage to Hiroshima today, we too commemorate this day, August 6, 2022, with a solemn festival of peace, despite living amidst global crises, despite the limitless sorrow in our hearts. In this way, our Homage to Hiroshima today <\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0an Homage to Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The first Hiroshima Declaration went on to say, \u201cWhen we are in a crisis, [we] discover new truths and new paths from the crisis itself, by reflecting deeply and beginning afresh.\u201d The past two and a half years has given <\/span>us <\/span>the opportunity to reflect deeply and now we begin afresh.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The new truth and new path following the crisis of devastation in Hiroshima, were, \u201cto strive with all our might towards peace, becoming forerunners of a new civilization.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Now in 2022, seven-and-a-half decades and four generations later, we are called to step up \u2013 not as <\/span>forerunners<\/span>\u00a0anymore — but as pioneers, architects, and builders of that new civilization.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This Hiroshima Peace Service is our annual ceremony, in which we affirm Hiroshima\u2019s first Peace Declaration that calls citizens of the world:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cJoin together to sweep away the horror of war, to renounce war eternally, and to build a True peace.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We now join together in ringing the Hiroshima Peace Bell in this ceremony, in this Festival of Peace. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is our Homage to Hiroshima, Homage to Life.<\/span><\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/p>\n

Dr. Roy Tamashiro is Professor Emeritus at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri (USA). Many of his professional presentations and publications describe a global peace pilgrimage inspired by the Hiroshima a-bomb legacy survivors (<\/span><\/em>hibakusha<\/span>) and their successors (<\/span><\/em>densh<\/span>\u014d<\/span>sha<\/span>).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This address was delivered at the 33rd Annual Hiroshima Peace Service Ceremony commemorating the 77th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6, 2022, at the Izumo Taishakyo Mission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":218196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1347,2912],"class_list":["post-218195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus","tag-hiroshima-and-nagasaki","tag-ipra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}