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A-bomb Artifacts

ID Code 3101-0209
Artifact Name School uniform
Donor SUMIMOTO Yoko
Receiving Date 2015/1/13
Size (W×H×D) (mm) 1060×440
Distance from the Hypocenter(m) 2300m
Number 1
Location Ushita, Hiroshima Station areas
Description School uniform and work pants
Donated by Yoko Sumimoto(maiden name Sawai)
These are school uniform and work pants that Yoko Sumimoto(then, 12), a first-year student at Second Hiroshima Prefectural Girls High School, was wearing on August 6.
 Yoko was exposed to the atomic bomb while weeding the Eastern Drill Ground. She lay flat between the ridges in the field, but received severe burns on her thighs and from the right side of her neck down to her arm. She had her burns treated with Mercurochrome at a relief station in the evening, and her skin was strained and painful. Then she headed to her school. Body fluid came out from the wounds on her feet, and every time she took a step, the inside of her shoes got wet as if she were walking in rain.
 The next day, her mother Haruyo and her relatives took Yoko to her home on a large hand-cart. Her father Katsuichi, who was severely injured, was also on the cart. He was exposed to the atomic bomb near the Shukkeien Garden while carrying luggage to his evacuation site on his bicycle. Both Yoko and Katsuichi were nearly naked. When the cart bounced up and down, their wounds touched and rubbed against each other, and caused further pain.
(From Yoko's account)
The atomic bombing was so horrible that my family doesn't want to listen to my story. I have rarely shared my experience of the bombing with them or anyone else.
My mother gave this school uniform and these work pants to me when I got married, saying "You should keep these.・Up until that time, I had hated even looking at them, but my feelings changed gradually over time. Whenever I encountered some difficult problems, I pulled out the uniform and work pants to remind myself that since I was able to overcome such huge difficulties in those days I would be able to deal with some small problems now.
I hope that my story and these items will help convey the horror of the atomic bomb.
After the war, I would always unconsciously hide my wounds (keloid scars) in public. Whenever I used a public bath on a trip, I would never take a bath if there was someone else there.

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