A Newly Released Book—The girls in the furisode: The two Tales
This multilingual (Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean) booklet contains a story of to A-bombed girls, who were cremated in their long-sleeved kimonos (called “furisode” in Japanese) put on after their death in Nagasaki.
The story was originally published in a picture book, “The Girls in Furisode”, written and illustrated by Hiroshi Matsuzoe, an A-bomb survivor.
The newly released booklet also contains a citizens’ campaign to build a statue of the dead girls. This plan originated with junior high school students in Kyoto who heard about one of the girls from her mother. A citizens’ group started a fundraising activity to support students.
The finished statue was set up on the roof garden of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum in 1996. This booklet was published by the Peace Study Club of Kwassei High School and students participated in the translation of Japanese passages into English. The booklet has a circulation of 5,000, available at Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum.
