{"id":30322,"date":"2019-09-23T19:50:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T11:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=30322"},"modified":"2026-03-14T19:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:37:31","slug":"11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-08-hiroshima-hiroshima-castle-atomic-bomb-dome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2019\/09\/23\/11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-08-hiroshima-hiroshima-castle-atomic-bomb-dome\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 08 – Hiroshima – Hiroshima Castle – Atomic Bomb Dome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike some of the other castles in Japan which are built on hills, Hiroshima Castle is built fairly close to ground level. The castle was originally constructed in the 1590s, was destroyed by the atomic bomb blast on 6 August 1945 \u2014 the castle is just one kilometer from the blast epicenter \u2014 and then rebuilt in 1958. I’d originally intended to go inside the castle, but the knees did not budge and the thought of climbing up and down more stairs was unappealing. So, I had to suffice by just exploring the outside and taking pictures.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The reconstructed main tower, or tenshu<\/i>. Unlike Okayama Castle, where the observation deck is in the interior, the observation platform in Hiroshima Castle lets you go outside, albeit fenced for obvious safety reasons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A watch tower as seen from the castle courtyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Gate leading to the courtyard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
The Ninomaru<\/span>, or second circle of defense. There’s a large moat that completely surrounds the castle. The Hirayagura Turret looks particularly imposing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Continuing on to the Atomic Bomb Dome<\/strong>, about a kilometer walk away. There was an unmistakable air of reverence among visitors here. Conversations are hushed and quiet. The bomb exploded about 600m above this building: the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, killing 140,000 people. But it also, arguably, set an end to a war that killed 70 million, a huge number of whom were in Asia. Only parts of the Hall remain here \u2014 the actual building before the blast was much larger. There’s a model replica of the Hall before and after the blast to show just how much of it was demolished. The persons inside the hall at that moment were instantly killed, possibly by the 35 tons of pressure per square meter exerted downwards by the blast.<\/p>\n

The hall also has support structures in place to keep the remaining walls from further deteriorating<\/span> and crumbling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Summary: <\/strong>Hiroshima Castle looks awesome from the outside, so even if you don’t want to go in, you can still explore the large exterior grounds. Visit also the Atomic Bomb Dome and, in a sense, be amazed that this much of the building survived while the rest of the city was leveled instantly.<\/p>\n

Next post on the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unlike some of the other castles in Japan which are built on hills, Hiroshima Castle is built fairly close to ground level. The castle was originally constructed in the 1590s, was destroyed by the atomic bomb blast on 6 August<\/p>\n

Read More 11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 08 – Hiroshima – Hiroshima Castle – Atomic Bomb Dome<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[661,608,613],"class_list":["post-30322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traveling","tag-chugoku-kyushu-japan-2019","tag-sony-a7-iii","tag-sony-fe-24-105mm-f4-0","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blog-2019-japan-chugoku-kyushu-day-08-A7_09509-hiroshima-atomic-bomb-dome.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38482,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30322\/revisions\/38482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}