Hiroshima will forever
bear the legacy of being one of the two
Japanese cities decimated by atomic bombs in
1945. How does Hiroshima today remember its
past while looking with hope toward the
future? One way is through the performances
of the widely-traveled and award-winning
children's chorus, the Hiroshima Boys'
Choir.
The Hiroshima Boys' Choir, formed in 1960
and directed for more than 22 years by Hisao
Hayashi, has a mission which goes beyond the
sharing of beautiful music.
"The choir conveys the spirit of the City
of Peace, Hiroshima; they are conveying the
tragedy of the atomic bombing and are
appealing for world peace," reads a section
of their press release.
The Hiroshima Boys' Choir visited
Tennessee in 2000 and participated in the
week-long "Peace Symposium: World Peace
through Reverence for Life," sponsored by
Vanderbilt University and held in Nashville.
Through contacts made at that time, the
choir has returned to America this month and
will perform in Philadelphia, as well as
Washington, D.C., as part of the Cherry
Blossom Festival there. Then, because of a
relationship forged at the Peace Symposium
between Oak Ridger Shigeko Uppuluri, an
active member of the Oak Ridge Sister City
Support Organization, and Hisao Hayashi, the
Hiroshima Boys Choir is coming to Oak Ridge.
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Submitted
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The
Hiroshima Boys' Choir, coming to
Oak Ridge on March 29, is
pictured in an earlier concert
performance.
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Twenty-nine boys, ages 9 to
18, and seven adults will arrive in Oak
Ridge on March 29. They will join their host
families at a dinner at First United
Methodist Church. Oak Ridger Jerry Luckmann,
like Uppuluri a member of the Oak Ridge
Sister City Support organization, has been
the primary organizer for the choir's visit.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for the
people of East Tennessee to learn what we
have in common with the Japanese view of
these historical events. Through the voices
of children too young to remember the
bombings, we are reminded of the possibility
of worldwide peace and the peace dreams
shared by all children around the world,"
Luckmann said.
On March 30, the choir and the adults
traveling with them will go to Oak Ridge
High School, where they will give two
concerts for the student body. There is also
a special ceremony planned for that morning.
The mayor of Hiroshima is sending a gift to
the city of Oak Ridge: a replica of the
Children's Peace Monument which stands in
Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, located at
"ground zero" of the atomic bomb detonation
which demolished the city in 1945.
This monument, a bronze statue of a girl
holding over her head a huge origami crane,
was inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki,
a Japanese girl who, like many children in
Hiroshima, developed leukemia - "atom bomb
disease" - about 10 years after the bomb
fell. In the hospital, she folded over 1,000
paper cranes in the hope that doing so
would, according to Japanese legend, cure
her. She and her classmates continued
folding the cranes until the day she died in
1955. Funds were raised for a monument in
her honor, which was built and unveiled in
1958; it symbolizes the hope of all children
for a peaceful future.
After the presentation of the Children's
Peace Monument replica, a replica of the
Friendship Bell will be presented by
Uppuluri as a gift to the choir and the city
of Hiroshima. The Oak Ridge Friendship Bell
is a symbol of amity between Japan and
America, and was commissioned after the
war's end and made by Japanese artists.
Following the gift exchange, the younger
choir members will spend the rest of the
school day at Jefferson Middle School; the
older boys will remain at the high school
and visit classes there. Later that
afternoon, the group will visit the American
Museum of Science and Energy, the Friendship
Bell, and take a driving tour of Oak Ridge.
On Thursday evening, the choir will
present a concert at 7:30 p.m. at First
United Methodist Church. The public is
invited and the concert is free, although
donations will be accepted by the Sister
City Support Organization to defray the
costs of hosting the group. Donations may be
sent to Clark Huffman, 107 Mohawk Lane, Oak
Ridge, TN 37830.
On March 31, the choir will travel to
Knoxville, where they will perform at Rocky
Hill Elementary School and the Tennessee
Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
Proceeds from that concert will go to the
Children's International Villages
organization, which promotes international
peace and understanding, who are also
helping to sponsor their visit. The group
will return to Japan on April 1.
"I think the fresh faces of these
children singing of peace forces us to turn
from the old wounds to the hopes of the
future," Luckmann said. "We may never forget
but we must all forgive. The children who
sing and the ones who come to hear them have
literally risen from the ashes of war. The
poignancy of this meeting of the Japanese
and the American youth reminds us that there
is hope for a peaceful world."