Resurrecting Hiroshima: Things Left Behind

"Things Left Behind" is the title of an exhibition by photographer Miyako Ishiuchi and a documentary about the exhibition by Japan-born filmmaker Linda Hoaglund.  They leave one with the sense of two women wrestling with not only history and time, but also death itself, in their attempts to pierce through to the other side of 8:15 a.m., August 6, 1945.

Their search is about facing trauma; the anguish of loss, the striving to resurrect the past; the invocation of spirits — if only for a while.  These photographs and this film are an invitation for us to meet and lay to rest the dead of Hiroshima by meditating upon the things they left behind.

Things Left Behind is playing with English subtitles every day at 4:30 p.m. at Iwanami Hall in Tokyo, until August 16, the day after the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. 11:30 a.m. screening time in Japanese only.  Steven Okazaki's White Light, Black Rain is also showing at 2 p.m. and 6:50 p.m.

Nippon Myohoji: "Walk of Life" (命の行進 2012)

(空から一条の光が玄題旗に降り注ぎ、雲に、紫の帯になって、映っているようです！At the Kagoshima Prefecture Sendai nuclear power plant, before fasting, the priests engage in a prayer walk for purification from the sea. A streak of light from the sky fell on the flag from the sky, the clouds turned purple. Photo: Walk of Life on Facebook)

In early February, Nippon Myohoji Buddhist priests began a "Walk Of Life" across Japan, stopping at all the country's nuclear plants to offer prayers to the sacred grounds of each of these locations. Their final stop will be the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on August 6.

This photo was taken in Kagoshima, at the southern tip of Kyushu.

Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace for Jeju island & the Korean Peninsula earlier this year

Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace for Jeju island and the Korean Peninsula earlier this year:

 

March 1, 2011 - Benediction for the Life, Peace, and Community in Korea Interfaith 100-day Pilgrimage from Jeju Island to the DMZ—for Life, Peace, & Community in the Korean Peninsula. The benediction was made in Gangjeong.

Dobub, a Buddhist monk who was born on Jeju Island, led the pilgrimage benediction on March 1. He engaged in dialogue with Fr. Kang Woo-Il, Chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, & the bishop of the Catholic Jeju district, during the designation of Jeju as a "Peace Island" in 2007.

After the ceremony, the Life and Peace Fellowship visited Gangjeong village, to meet with the villagers and to spend the first night of the pilgrimage in the Gangjeong village.

Reverend Jeon of the Life and Peace Fellowship said, “Our organization opposes those things related to war. We oppose the naval base plan with the thought that the peace in the Korean peninsula and North East Asia will be threatened if it is built on Jeju Island." He added: “We are walking with our praying hearts.”