Peace Declaration (1947)

Today, on this second anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we, Hiroshima's citizens, renew our commitment to the establishment of peace by celebrating a Peace Festival at this site, and expressing our burning desire for peace.

The citizens of Hiroshima will never be able to forget August 6, 1945. On that morning, exactly two years ago today, the first atomic bomb to be unleashed on a city in the history of mankind fell on Hiroshima; it instantly reduced the city to ashes and claimed the precious lives of more than 100,000 of our fellow citizens. Hiroshima turned into a city of death and darkness. Yet as some slight consolation for this horror, the dropping of the atomic bomb became a factor in ending the war and calling a halt to the fighting. In this sense, mankind must remember that August 6 was a day that brought a chance for world peace. This is the reason why we are now commemorating that day by solemnly inaugurating a festival of peace, despite the limitless sorrow in our minds. For only those who most bitterly experienced and came to know most completely the misery and the guilt of war can utterly reject war as the most terrible kind of human suffering, and ardently pursue peace.

This horrible weapon brought about a "Revolution of Thought," which has convinced us of the necessity and the value of eternal peace. That is to say, because of this atomic bomb, the people of the world have become aware that a global war in which atomic energy would be used would lead to the end of our civilization and extinction of mankind.

This revolution in thinking ought to be the basis for an absolute peace, and imply the birth of new life and a new world. We know that, when in a crisis discover a new truth and a new path from the crisis itself, by reflecting deeply and beginning afresh. If this is true, what we have to do at this moment is to strive with all our might towards peace, becoming forerunners of a new civilization.
Let us join to sweep away from this earth the horror of war, and to build a true peace.
Let us join in renouncing war eternally, and building a plan for world peace on this earth.

Here, under this peace tower, we thus make a declaration of peace.

August 6, 1947

Shinzo Hamai
President of Hiroshima Peace Festival Association
Mayor of Hiroshima City