| People coming and going in Kamiya-cho Ward 3 days after the atomic attack on Hiroshima. Looking south from near the Kamiya-cho intersection. Many people who entered Hiroshima to help with the relief efforts can be seen. The utility pole in the center is tilted away from the hypocenter due to the bomb’s blast. Behind it, from left, are the wreckage of the Daido Life Insurance Company Hiroshima branch, Geibi Bank Hiroshima branch, Sumitomo Bank Hiroshima branch, Yasuda Life Insurance Company Hiroshima branch, Meiji Life Insurance Company Hiroshima branch, and the Hiroshima Fukokukan building. The building at the center of the photo is the Geibi Bank Central Branch. The old 5-story head office building was built in 1927. A Monday morning work meeting was scheduled to begin at 0830 Hours on August 6, 1945. However, at 0815 Hours, the atomic bomb exploded above in the sky about 275 yards (260 meters) to the west of the building. The building was engulfed in flames, with the dead and wounded piled on top of each other inside. A total of 144 employees were killed in the bombing, including those on the way to work or serving as volunteers on a squad that engaged in the work of dismantling buildings to create fire lanes. On August 8, under the leadership of Yutaka Ito (1885 – 1972), then deputy president, the bank resumed operations by using an office in the Bank of Japan’s Hiroshima branch. Ito had traveled through fierce fires and rushed to the head office from his home in the suburbs of Hiroshima. He said, “As a banker, we have to restore our banking operations as soon as possible to stabilize people’s lives so we can get the economy moving.” For customers who survived the disaster and flocked to the office, the bank paid out savings or fire insurance compensation based on their word, even if they did not happen to have a bankbook or a personal seal. Many of the employees were wounded and had lost family members. Some of them subsequently died of acute radiation disorders. 1 acting deposit section manager at the branch office experienced hair loss and diarrhea and was aware he was dying, but he came to the head office to report the bank’s financial balances and other information, following which he succumbed. Behind and to the left in this view, the Sumitomo Bank Hiroshima Branch was built in 1928. Since the building was constructed on a steel frame with concrete, the structure survived. The interior was destroyed, but coins, cash, and passbooks remained. Papers from Sumitomo blew far away, to Numata-Cho Ward. Someone seated on the bank steps waiting for it to open was killed in the atomic attack; their body was turned to “shadow etched in stone” when the flash phase of the blast burned the Sumitomo branch. The person was killed instantly, their bones and carbonized organs behind. Photographs from the United Kingdom mission to Hiroshima show that a 2nd person was standing next to the person on the steps and that person was also turned into “shadow etched in stone” but only the seated person has been memorialized. The steps were block off until the Sumitomo Bank was torn down in 1971. The steps were given to the Hiroshima Peace Museum, where they are preserved under glass today. Taken by Mitsugi Kishida (1916 – 1988). Kishida opened a photo studio on the Hondori shopping street in downtown Hiroshima before becoming a member of the news team of the Chugoku Military District Headquarters, which was located in Hiroshima Castle. He witnessed the mushroom cloud while on an official trip to the town of Yoshida (present-day Akitakata City) in northern Hiroshima Prefecture and returned to Hiroshima the same day. The next day, he took photographs from the ruins of his photo studio, around 450 meters from the hypocenter. He was 1 of the 1st to photograph the devastated city center. After the war, he reopened his photo studio after rebuilding it on the Hondori shopping street. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1718.jpg |
| Image Size | 421.20 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 1972 |
| Photographer | Mitsugi Kishida |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 9, 1945 |
| Location | Kamiya-cho |
| City | Hiroshima |
| State or Province | Hiroshima |
| Country | Japan |
| Archive | Chugoku Shimbun |
| Record Number | MKISHIDA0013 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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