Hiroshima Adventure Tours
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan’s islands. It is most known throughout the world
Hiroshima Adventure Tours
Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest of Japan’s islands. It is most known throughout the world as the first city in history subjected to nuclear warfare with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II by the USA. Hiroshima was founded in 1589 on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea and became a major urban center during the Meiji period. The city is located on the broad, flat delta of the Ota River, which has 7 channel outlets dividing the city into six islands which project into Hiroshima Bay. The city is almost entirely flat and barely above sea level. Hiroshima was founded by Mori Motonari as his capital. About a half century later, after the Battle of Sekigahara, his grandson and the leader of the West Army Mori Terumoto was on the losing side. The winner Tokugawa Ieyasu deprived Mori Terumoto of most of his fiefs including Hiroshima and gave Aki province to another daimyo who had supported him.
Finally Asano was appointed the daimyo of this area and Hiroshima served as the capital of Hiroshima han during the Edo period. After the han was abolished, the city became the capital of Hiroshima prefecture.
On August 6, 1945 the nuclear weapon Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima by the crew of the American Enola Gay, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people and completely destroying approximately 69% of the city’s buildings. In the following months, an estimated 60,000 more people died from injuries or radiation poisoning. Since 1945, several thousand more hibakusha have died of illnesses caused by the bomb. After the nuclear attack, Hiroshima was rebuilt and the closest surviving building to the location of the bomb’s detonation was designated the Genbaku Dome or “Atomic Dome,” a part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. The city government continues to advocate the abolition of all nuclear weapons.
Hiroshima was rebuilt after the war. Today, new and modern buildings rise all over the city. Several US civic leaders and scholars were consulted about the rebuilding plan. In 1949, Hiroshima was proclaimed a City of Peace by the