The Nagasaki Peace Park is located in Matsuyama-machi, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki Prefecture, on a hill to the north of the hypocenter of the atomic bombing of August 9, 1945. Covering about 18.6 hectares, the park was completed in 1952 with the aim of mourning the victims of the atomic bomb while conveying humanity’s desire for peace and opposition to war.
The park’s features include the Peace Statue, the Tower of a Thousand Cranes, the Bell of Nagasaki, the Fountain of Peace, and the Zone of Symbols of World Peace. The most iconic among them is the Peace Statue, created by Kitamura Seibō, a sculptor from Nagasaki. Standing at the northern end of the park, the statue raises its right hand to symbolize the threat of the atomic bomb, extends its left arm horizontally to express the arrival of peace, and closes its eyes gently in prayer for the souls of the victims. This statue has become the enduring symbol of Nagasaki’s spirit of peace.
The Bell of Nagasaki was installed in 1977 on the 33rd anniversary of the bombing. It commemorates the mobilized students, the women’s volunteer corps, and the many innocent people who perished while working in military factories near the hypocenter. The Fountain of Peace was proposed by the Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in 1969 and completed in 1970 as a donation to Nagasaki City. The stone monument beside the fountain bears a moving poem depicting a young girl’s desperate thirst for water amidst the flames, symbolizing the purest yearning for life and the call for peace.
In addition, the Zone of Symbols of World Peace contains monuments donated by 15 countries, expressing the international community’s shared commitment to peace. Every year on August 9, the Nagasaki City Government holds the “Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Victims Memorial Peace Ceremony” in front of the Peace Statue, where citizens and visitors from around the world gather to mourn the dead and renew the pledge for a world without nuclear weapons.
