Raku-Raku Park"75 Years Hiroshima" Dr.Soko DAY25/50

(Nobuko, who was exposed the atomic bomb on the train at Hiroshima Station on August 6, got on the last train to go. However, in order to find the grandmother who lived with her in Hiroshima, she walked alone in the city of Hiroshima in the morning of August 7. She reached around the house in Dobashi, but she couldn't find her grandma. Nobuko, who stayed a night on the grass, headed to Raku-raku Park, a designated evacuation site for neighbor residents of her grandma's house.)

Raku-Raku Park

Raku-raku Park was a popular amusement park.
Before the war began, Nobuko's family once tried to go. When they had a family vacation, Nobuko, her parents,  her two sisters and two brothers were supposed to enjoy a car ride, and a Ferris wheel. But when they arrived at the entrance, it was very crowded and there was a long line to enter. 

At that time, Nobuko's youngest brother was still a baby, he did't stop crying in a hot day. So they all had to give up to enter Raku-raku Park. "Let's come back again a next time!" Nobuko's father said so, but it didn't come true yet.

Nobuko remembered what grandma said about Raku-raku Park. 

Grandma mentioned that Hiroshima has almost no shelters for air-raid, so residents in the city are allotted a evacuation place by district. Since the emergency shelter in the area of Dohashi was allotted Raku-raku Park 10.5km away, all the neighbors who survived were supposed to gather in Raku-raku Park when Hiroshima was burned.

Nobuko finally reached Raku-raku Park.

"Maybe a lot of neighbors I know are gathering together."
Nobuko walked around, but there were no people in Raku-raku Park.

"No, why is nobody here..?"

Nobuko expected, "Even if there were not many people... but there must be some people here..".

But there was nobody here. 

Nobuko, who dropped her shoulders, sat at the gate of the park. She could not think of anything. She just kept gazing at the inside of the park for a long time.

 Then, she saw an old man walking far way. 

Feeling like clutching even at straws,
"Excuse me! Are there any residents who have evacuated from the Dobashi area?"
Said Nobuko in a loud voice.

"Excuse me! Are there any residents who have evacuated from the Dobashi area?"
The man approached to the gate.

"Did you come from Dohashi? Yeah, it would have been so hard to come here. Maybe you would find some staffs of a tram company here . But I don't know people who evacuated from Dohashi. Hiroshima is annihilated, right? Nobody can come here from there. You should go home."

It was getting dark after the sun set.

A Kind Woman

Nobuko was at a loss, she did not know what she should do next.  she just had no choice but to leave Raku-raku Park. 

When I looked up, a big black sky spread out. Counting one or two stars, countless stars were getting visible in the sky. However, Nobuko didn't think it was beautiful, she felt that's noisy. She felt a kind of pressure. Nobuko turned away her sights from the sky.

　Her legs were heavy, but going forward aimlessly.  

 In the meantime, she saw a house leaking a light . Nobuko finally lay down on the hill where the light could be seen.

She was too hungry to sleep. Nobuko rolled around to the right and to the left, but she cannot sleep. So, she occasionally looked up at the starry sky, got up, and sighed alone.

"Hey, this is my field. Are you alone? The wind blows here, and if I sleep overnight, I'll catch a cold tomorrow."

Nobuko was surprised, and tried to run.

"No, no! My house is soon there. Come on! Come on!"                           Nobuko followed the old woman, without saying anything.

Opening a wooden door, a bright light came out and closed Nobuko's eyes. The old lady gave a pail with well water to Nobuko. She washed her face first, and wiped her body with a piece of cotton cloth. The water was cool and pleasant. Finally, she unveiled the laces around her shoes and washed her bloody feet carefully.
Her feet were swollen and painful. But she was relieved because she got refreshed.

The old lady kindly served pickled cucumbers and miso soup.

"Go ahead. You must be tired. After eating, you can sleep here until morning."

"Thank you, thank you so much."

"I live with my husband here. He cannot walk well, so we would stay here even if the bomb dropped here. Where did you come from?"「

Nobuko talked her stories, that she lived in Hiroshima with her grandmother together, although she originally lived in Kure with her family.But since the war began, she started to live in Hiroshima for her blind grandmother. Also Kure where she had lived, was a city of Navy, so she moved to Hiroshima preventing from air-raid. But she had the new type bomb in a train on Aug 6th,she did not know where her grandmother went to. Nobuko said that she would go back to Dohashi again tomorrow, to look for her grand mother.

The old woman said,

"There were burned people around here as well. There were soldiers who barely walked, and burned parents and children. Those who were bombed in Hiroshima went through my field. They took my tomatoes and cucumbers and ate them. They looked so devastated. Everyone looked terrible. So I couldn't speak to anyone.  I saw that baby.I couldn't do anything."

Nobuko slept.  She put her hands on her chest. She felt her heart beating, and slept.

The next morning, the old lady served Nobuko a cup of soup. 

And, she handed Nobuko two cucumbers.
"Be careful. Go home safely, okay?"
Nobuko left after being sent off by the kind old woman.

On the morning of August 9, Nobuko started to walk to her grandmother's house in Dohashi again.