Hibakusha Series

Hiroshi Hara calls for an end to nuclear weapons while drawing the Atomic Bomb Dome in Naka Ward, Hiroshima, on July 13. (Mainichi)

HIROSHIMA -- Atomic bomb survivor Hiroshi Hara, 79, sets a small chair in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome, scoops some water from the Motoyasu River in front of him, and mixes his watercolors. This is the 27th year in a row that he has painted the dome, and on Aug. 6, the anniversary of the atomic bomb drop over Hiroshima, he will finish his 3,000th painting of the dome.

When the bomb fell on Aug. 6, 1945, Hara was 13 years old. Out on the island of Etajima in Hiroshima Bay on school holidays, he survived, but 187 of his classmates and three teachers who were close to the center of the blast were killed. The next day, he returned to Hiroshima, the awful sight of which he has never been able to forget.

In 1954 he was employed at the Japanese National Railways, where he developed his artistic abilities in the art department. In 1984 he founded an organization to spread the stories of A-bomb victims, hoping to better relay A-bomb survivors' messages to children. From that year, he began painting what he felt was a symbol of antinuclear feeling, the Atomic Bomb Dome.

By 1996 he had painted 500 pictures of the dome. By 2000 he had painted 1,000, and by 2007 he had reached 2,000. In the four years since then, he has painted around another 1,000 to approach the 3,000 mark. In each painting he has poured his hopes for an end to nuclear weapons. He respects the late Ichiro Moritaka, professor emeritus of Hiroshima University, and keeps in his heart Moritaka's words: "Nuclear weapons and humankind cannot coexist."

In 2002 Hara was diagnosed with colon cancer, possibly the influence of his exposure to atomic bomb radiation, but he continued with his paintings. Over the years, as nuclear-related events have occurred -- the registration of the Atomic Bomb Dome as a World Heritage site in 1996, North Korea's first nuclear weapon test in 2006, the first participation of the U.S. ambassador to Japan in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in 2010 -- Hara has put his thoughts down on his paintings, making them a chronicle of recent nuclear history.

"Three thousand paintings is just a stepping stone," says Hara, whose true goal is to surpass 3,085, the number of hits recorded by baseball player Isao Harimoto, 71, whom he calls "the pride of Hiroshima Prefecture." Hara says he developed a sense of closeness to Harimoto, whose older brother was one of his junior high school classmates.

Even after surpassing 3,085 paintings, however, Hara does not intend to stop. "This is my duty as a survivor," he says. He has been spurred further by the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant.

"Nuclear reactors give birth to the materials for nuclear weapons, so calling them safe is very strange in the first place," he says.

The Atomic Bomb Dome has sat in the same place for 66 years, always sending the same message when developments surrounding nuclear weapons occur around the world: "Humankind and nuclear weapons cannot coexist." Repeating that message to himself again and again, Hara continues to paint.