This monograph explores the ethics and religious sensibilities of a
group of the hibakusha (survivors) of 1945's atomic bombings.
Unfortunately, their ethic of "not retaliation, but reconciliation"
has not been widely recognized, perhaps obscured by the mushroom
cloud-symbol of American weaponry, victory, and scientific
achievement. However, it is worth examining the habakushas'
philosophy, supported by their religious sensibilities, as it
offers resources to reconcile contested issues of public memories
in our contemporary world, especially in the post 9-11 era. Their
determination not to let anyone further suffer from nuclear
weaponry, coupled with critical self-reflection, does not encourage
the imputation of responsibility for dropping the bombs; rather,
hibakusha often consider themselves "sinners" (as with the
Catholics in Nagasaki; or bonbu-unenlightened persons in the
context of True Pure Land Buddhism in Hiroshima). For example,
Nagai Takashi in Nagasaki's Catholic community wrote, "How noble,
how splendid was that holocaust of August 9, when flames soared up
from the cathedral, dispelling the darkness of war and bringing the
light of peace!" He even urges that we "give thanks that Nagasaki
was chosen for the sacrifice." Meanwhile, Koji Shigenobu, a True
Pure Land priest, says that the atomic bombing was the result of
errors on the part of the Hiroshima citizens, the Japanese people,
and the whole of human kind. Based on the idea of acknowledging
one's own fault, or more broadly one's sinful nature, the
hibakusha's' ethic provides a step toward reconciliation, and
challenges the foundation of ethics by obscuring the dichotomyies
of right and the wrong, forgiver and forgiven, victim and
victimizer. To this end, the methodology Miyamoto employs is moral
hermeneutics, interpreting testimonies, public speeches, and films
as texts, with interlocutors such as Avishai Margalit
(philosopher), Sueki Fumihiko (Buddhist philosopher), Nagai Takashi
(lay Catholic thinker), and Shinran (the founder of True Pure Land
Buddhism).
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