Memorial Cenotaph
The construction of the Memorial Cenotaph began in 1951 and on August 6 of the next year, 1952, the unveiling ceremony took place. Under the Cenotaph, in the shape of a clay representation of an ancient thatched roof, there is a granite chest which contains a register of those killed in the bombing.
Every year the names of those who have died of A-bomb diseases, are reported by their families or friends, and added to the register.
To date, over 100,000 names have been reported. It was also designed to shelter from the rain the souls of those who perished in the atomic bombing.
On the front side of the stone-coffin, the following inscription, based on the calligraphy of Tadayoshi Saika of Hiroshima University, was engraved:
"Let all the souls here rest in peace; For we shall not repeat the evil."
The "we" here refers to all those who kneel before the Cenotaph. This prayer hopes to transform our emotional response to the A-bomb disaster into the framework of a religious experience.
The epitaph refers to peace for the over 200,000 victims not as representatives of one nation or one race, but of all human being, suggesting that people throughout the world should make this pledge for a peace without nuclear weapons.