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I Irusu(I Irusu) 
Gender Female  Age at time of bombing 15 
Recorded on 2014.11.25  Age at time of recording 84 
Location at time of bombing Hiroshima(Direct exposure Distance from the bombing hypocenter:2.5km) 
Location when exposed to the bombing Nishi Kaniya-cho,Hiroshima City [Current:Minami-ku, Hiroshima City] 
Status at time of bombing Employed worker 
Occupational status at time of bombing Belonged Toyo Industries Co. 
Hall site Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims 
Dubbed in English/
With English subtitles
With English subtitles 

I Irusu was 15 and in Nishi Kaniya-cho, 2.5 kilometers from the hypocenter. Provided care to the injured at Aosaki Elementary School. But without doctors or medicine, she was unable to do anything for all the people who came in begging for help. People died by the dozens every day. They were cremated in the schoolyard, but no one knew their names, and no one came to get them. She says atomic bombs must never be used and insists that we cannot continue to tolerate the existence of nuclear weapons.
 
【Life before the Bomb】
My name is I Irusu, but at the time of the bombing, I was ITO Hanako. As a sixth grader in National Elementary School, I was I Irusu, but my name changed to ITO Hanako in my first year of post-elementary school. After that, I never used my Korean name. I was living with my father, my mother, my five siblings and the wives of my two oldest brothers.
 
The Pacific War started on December 8, 1941. After that, life became a difficult struggle. I was in my second year of National post-elementary school, but I never got to study. I was out working from my first year. I made uniforms for soldiers in Manchuria. I worked for three months at a place that I believe was an army clothing depot. I was transferred here and there, but I was always working. Later, I went to work at a Toyo Industries factory making rock drills. I worked there until graduation.
 
At the time, my factory had plenty of jobs within Toyo Industries, so there were a lots of us Koreans. Young people were brought in from Korea. The company set up a boarding house and had a lot of them working there. The men came in wearing Korean trousers but switched to Western clothing in a month or so. That was when I saw traditional Korean clothing for males for the first time. "Aha, so that's Korean clothing," I thought. My mother wore female clothing so I knew what that looked like, but I had never seen male clothing.When I was a mobilized student, I worked at Toyo Industries Factory Number Two, but when I graduated I started working at Factory 9 or 10.
 
In the spring of 1945, our food was mostly soybean meal after the oil had been pressed out. I would put those beans under my rice to cook, then mix them together to eat. Bean sprouts and other vegetables were provided by the neighborhood association. Sugar and almost everything else was rationed. The toughest part was having something to put into my lunch when I went to school. My family made Korean lunches, so I couldn't take that. In the morning, I would buy boiled beans and put them in. I couldn't take anything with hot pepper or garlic.
 
Whenever Koreans did Korean things, the Japanese would give us dirty looks. I hated that. After all, I was a Japanese. I changed my name, so after that I thought of myself as Japanese.
 
【Right after the Bombing】
When the bomb exploded, I looked toward Hiroshima and saw a bright red cloud in the sky above it. In that instant, I saw a flash, then heard a roar, sort of like lightning and thunder. After that, I don't really know what happened. It turned pitch black, and I couldn't see a thing. I was on my way to building demolition work in Hiroshima. The people around me were saying, "What? What's going on?" This was in response to the lightning, then the total darkness. I heard a booming sound. A huge sound. I couldn't see anything. It wasn't the sort of situation where you could look around. I was thrown through the air.
 
I had been walking on the road. When the big sound came, I was hurled backward by the blast. Soon, I heard voices crying, "Help! Help me!" "Help. Mother, help me. Sister, help me." These were the only voices I heard. All these people were stuck under houses or had been injured by things that came flying through the air.
 
People were saying, "Help, help." "I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding." I wasn't able to help those people. I was in pain. I had fallen and had cuts all over this part here. I was dripping blood. When it got a little lighter, I could see I was bleeding. I hadn't really known when it was dark. After a while, I carefully opened my eyes, and my surroundings gradually got lighter. "Ow, ow, help, help," people stuck under buildings were begging for help.
 
After about 30 minutes, burned people from in the city arrived saying, "Help. Mother, help, help." I'm sure it was no good to be in the city. People were coming from Ozu and heading further out, away from the city.
 
Their hair was standing on end because of the heat and blast. I was like that, too, but I had no idea what was going on. Most were wearing short sleeves, right? So from that part, all the way down, their skin was peeling, just sliding off. The skin on their faces was burned, too, in this area, it was burned black. The skin on their bodies as well. 
 
【Treatment and Cremation at a Relief Station】
People couldn't stay in the city so they came fleeing toward us. The Aosaki Elementary School was turned into a temporary relief station, and they were brought in by the truckload,  offloaded in the playground. Some were already dead when they were offloaded. Some were alive. Those who were breathing were laid out in the gymnasium or in classrooms. That's where we took care of them.
 
We had no doctors, no medicine, all we had was mercurochrome. I was moblized to the school, so I went there to take care of the injured. "Sister, help," they would say, but I couldn't do anything. All I could do was feel sorry for them. There was no way I could help them. I had no medicine, nothing to give.
 
When I went there the next day, nearly all were dead and lyingin the schoolyard. Day after day we cremated them in the playground. This is how you burn a piece of wood. Human beings as well. Wood was placed below them. Oil was poured on them and they were set on fire with a big roar. They were burned, but no one knew whose bones they were so we couldn't give them to anyone. No one came looking for them. The remains just remained.
 
After two or three days, when I went to school, some people had things moving around under their skin. The doctor would use tweezers to pull back the skin. Maggots would come out, and we could see the bone. And yet, they were still alive.
 
There were young girls, adults, men and women. At first, I was unable to eat. There was such a terrible stench. After about ten days, my nose was just paralyzed or overwhelmed. I couldn't smell anything. When people died, they were cremated right there. I don't know that anyone came to take their remains home. The situation was that terrible.
 
【The Voice of a Spirit】
I saw a streetcar that was blown off its rails. With a friend, I looked inside. They were in the shape of human beings, but they were burned black. No way of telling who was who.The rivers were full of bodies. Wanting to drink or escape the heat, they went into the river, toppled over and drowned. "Water, please," they would say. They were walking along, but then they would drink some water, and fall over dead.
 
When I went to Hiroshima Station, I heard stories about people who heard voices from the river saying, "Air raid warning, air raid alert." I don't know if they came from the dead, but there were definitely voices. "Air raid warning. Air raid alert. Help me…."  Seemed to me like it could have been ghosts. Voices saying, "Air raid warning, air raid alert, help me," were heard by people who went near the river even several days later.
 
【War Ends, Return to Korea】
We had a radio in our house. We heard the broadcast directly from the Emperor telling us the war was over. Japan had lost, so I was sad. Why had we lost? At that time, I completely felt like a Japanese. It never occurred to me that I would go back to Korea after the war. Aaahh, we lost. How could we lose? If only we had won -- this is how I was feeling.
 
Lots of Japanese living in Korea were treated badly by Koreans when the war ended, so they came back to Japan. Meanwhile in Japan, rumor had it that all Koreans would be killed. We didn't want to stay in Japan if it meant being killed, so we started preparing to go back to Korea. We'd rather go home than be killed by the Japanese.
 
We started preparing right after the war, and we went back to Korea in November. We took a boat from Ujina Port. My relatives got together and bought a boat, and we returned on that. On the way home, the waves got so big we had to stop for a week at Tsushima Island, then went home.
 
We heard stories about boats sinking. We also heard about people being killed for their money. All sorts of things were happening. It was a terribly frightening time. We spent night after night there praying for the weather to improve so we could go home.
 
When we got to Pusan, we went straight from there to Taegu, then on to Hapcheon. I was happy thinking I was going to a good place. I had expectations for our hometown, but the Korean countryside was completely deserted .
 
After our return, life was terrible. I couldn't speak the language. I would say one word, and everyone would laugh out loud.Returning to Korea and finding that I couldn't speak the language was the worst. I was unable to speak or understand. I learned to speak in two or three months, but it was really difficult at first.
 
People said, "What's the use of a girl from Japan? "I didn't know the language, and my culture was different. I returned right after the war, I can't describe how the life was hard in my hometown.
 
And before long, the Korean War started. Then, things got really bad. It was terrible.
 
【Helping Hibakusha in Korea】
We have to live in a peaceful world without nuclear weapons. I worked for that and the hibakusha movement. I wanted the same allowance as was given to the Japanese hibakusha. But the officials said, "Koreans left our country so they can't get it." "But I was a Japanese. Please treat me like a Japanese." I begged them.
 
I went to the Ministry of Health and spoke to the Minister. "Koreans in Japan at that time were Japanese. Why are you discriminating against us?" I said, "I am a Japanese. I changed my name. Please give me the allowance." I was speaking nothing but the truth.
 
Eventually, we went to court. We won and got the allowance, but to get the allowance, we had to go to Japan, and we could only get it while in Japan. I got a certificate saying I could receive the allowance for three years to five years. But if I returned to Korea, I would lose it. So we took that to court. We won again, and now we get the allowance in Korea.
 
【Nuclear Weapons Are Not Tolerable.】
I absolutely never want to see another atomic bomb used. We have to prohibit the use of these bombs. We have to return to an age without nuclear weapons. A war fought with nuclear weapons is unthinkable. That would be the end of all of us. We would be plunged into misery. Those who die immediately would be the lucky ones. Most will be burned, injured, and will die after terrible suffering. Those of you who have not experienced it cannot possibly understand, but I have seen that bomb. I know what I'm talking about. It absolutely cannot be used.
 
There used to be lots of us who had experienced the bomb, but we are dying away. Those who were only two or three don't really know. Once those of us who know the bomb are all dead, no one will truly understand. Those who experienced the bomb really will someday all be gone. We absolutely must not tolerate the existence of nuclear weapons. We must not allow another bombing like Hiroshima.
 
Translation by: Steve Leeper
Supervised by: Miwako Sawada
Cordinated by: NET-GTAS (Network of Translators for the Globalization of the Testimonies of Atomic Bomb Survivors)

*Many more memoirs can be viewed at both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Memorial Halls.
*These contents are updated periodically.
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