Hiroshima A-Bomb Relief Returns Home after Alumni Restoration

Hiroshima, Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)--A wooden relief depicting the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima, long displayed at an art gallery, has returned to the junior high school where it was created about 50 years ago, after being restored by alumni.

The relief, titled "Inochi no Sakebi," which means scream of life, had adorned the main entrance of the Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, for decades.

With the museum beginning major renovation work, the outdoor piece--badly weathered after years of exposure to the elements--was slated for removal and possible disposal.

Instead, the artwork was carefully detached and taken back to its birthplace, Hatsukaichi Junior High School in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing.

Created in 1972, the large-scale wooden relief is 2.3 meters high and 5.5 meters wide. All 344 students at the school at the time carved individual wooden panels, which were later assembled into a single work. The relief depicts the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima at its center, with victims suffering severe burns on the left, and symbols of peace, including flowers and doves, on the right.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]