Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum 本川小学校平和資料館
Established	June 1, 1873, built in July 1928, opened as a museum in April 1988
Location	5-39, Honkawacho 1-chome, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
Website	honkawa-e.edu.city.hiroshima.jp plala.or.jp/honkawa-pta

The Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum (本川小学校平和資料館 Honkawa Shogakkou Heiwa Shiryokan) is a museum of the Peace in Honkawacho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, Japan.

The school was the closest school to ground zero.

They lost about 400 students and more than 10 teachers, and the building took great amounts of damage from the atomic bomb dropped on August 6, 1945.

The Peace Museum is the part of the school building with the basement of the former Hiroshima City Honkawa Elementary School; it is kept as a place to learn about the importance of peace.

The museum is operated by the PTA, as well as former members of the PTA, and is cleaned and maintained by the students.

The memorial service for the students and teachers killed in the blast is held every August 5 at the school. The school has also appeared in the manga Barefoot Gen, written by Keiji Nakazawa.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Museum 2.1 Exhibitions 2.2 Education programs 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

• Opened as a school in the Myochoji, a temple of the Nichiren sect, on January 10, 1873.
• Built a schoolhouse at the current place in 1884.
• Constructed as the first reinforced concrete school building in Hiroshima, in July, 1928.
• Students in third grade or older were evacuated to another school in the suburbs in April, 1945.
• About 400 students and more than 10 teachers were killed by the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.
• Reopened the school for 45 students with 4 teachers in February, 1946.
• Renamed as Hiroshima City Honkawa Elementary School, current name, in June, 1947.
• Designated as the School of the Peace Memorial City by the Ministry of Education in 1950.
• Started the relations with a sister school Peter-Petersen-Schule in Hanover in 1984.
• Built the new school building and the part of the old building was opened as the Peace Museum in April, 1988.
• Built the memorial for the atomic bomb victims in November, 1998.
• The total number of visitors for the museum reached 100,000 in September, 1998.
• The collection of the stories about the atomic bomb, Negai was made in March, 2005.
• Memorial Lecture was given by the one of the survivors, Ms. Imori Kiyoko, in August, 2005.
• A student was participated in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony and performed the Commitment to Peace as the Children's repress*entatives on August 6, 2005.
• The Peace musical by all students was held on their parents visiting Sunday in November, 2005.
• Plant the a-bombed cherry trees in March, 2006.

[edit] Museum

[edit] Exhibitions

• Photographs
• Pictures and calligraphies by students of the school
• Damaged objects
• Thousand Paper Cranes from schools and people

[edit] Education programs

• Volunteer Guide Services - appointment is required in advance
  • by the atomic bomb survivors for the visitors
  • by the students of the school for the students visiting from other schools

[edit] See also

• Hiroshima City Honkawa Elementary School
• Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Barefoot Gen - a school in the story
• Fukuromachi Elementary School Peace Museum - the school has same history and the peace museum

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum (the school web site)
• Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum (by the school Alumni association)
• Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum (by NHK Hiroshima)
• Honkawa Elementary School Peace Museum (by the "architecture in Hiroshima")

Coordinates: 34°23′45″N 132°27′02″E / 34.395885°N 132.450606°E / 34.395885; 132.450606