While walking to the Hiroshima train station this morning, I noticed these old contorted and rusted objects. I thought they might have been old fire hydrants, maybe struck by vehicles. But, they were also clearly venerated objects, as evidenced by the assorted objects placed on and around them. This sort of veneration or devotional attention I would normally see at grave sites or around statues or shrines that I encounter regularly in this land.
I looked more closely at a sign. It said they were water pumps. A QR code was stamped but the link did not work.
It was very clear to me that these water pumps were victims of the atomic bomb blast. The two that I saw were both bent in the same direction, exactly away from the direction from which the blast wave would have come. These were east of the epicenter. I’d have also liked to see some on the west side. I couldn’t find anything online about them.
There are people in Hiroshima who treat these water pumps as sacred objects. They moved me as much as anything else here, if only because these pumps were probably the water source for the daily lives of the people living here.
I can imagine the stories of those who treat these old water pumps with devotion. Perhaps their parents or grandparents once lived near here and used these pumps. It is not so far-fetched to think so.
Let us honor those who went before us in the manner that is fitting to their memory and our need.
Autumn In Japan 