Hiroshima Bugi: Atomu 57

Manidoo Envoy

49 Manidoo Envoy Ronin created these stories in Atomu 57. He established an original measure of time in the ruins, an ingenious calendar to count the years since the first simulated nuclear peace, August 6, 1945. The Atomu calendar is based on a standard solar year that starts with the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. By ‘‘simulated peace’’ he means the fake, sentimental, passive peace of museums and monuments. Japan, he declares, should build a nuclear arsenal, and he argues that nuclear weapons should be monitored by a supranational soldiery. The Flame of Peace burns perpetually at the end of the Pond of Peace. The flame is set to burn to the end of nuclear weapons in the world. The Cenotaph for victims of the atomic bomb is at the other end of the memorial, where it seems to float in the pond. Ronin set a fire that rushed between the monuments. Ronin told me he first met Kenzaburo Oe, the distinguished novelist , at the Peace Memorial Museum. He memorized sections of Hiroshima Notes in preparation for the chance encounter in the gift shop. Ronin smiled, waved his hand at the tacky tee shirts on display over the counter, and recited these actual words by the author. ‘‘In Hiroshima, I met people who refused to surrender to the worst despair or to incurable madness. I heard the story of a gentle girl, born after the war, who devoted her life to a youth caught in an irredeemably cruel destiny. And in places where no particular hope for living could be found, I heard the voices of people, sane and steady people, who moved ahead slowly but with genuine resolve.’’ Ronin praised the author, and, at the same time, derided the slogans on the tee shirts. He posed his ridicule as natural reason, the practice of native storiers. Ronin told me that he pointed out the window toward the Flame of Peace and shouted that the flame is a habit not an honor or protest. The flame is a passive promise of nuclear peace, no more than a sentimental flicker of victimry. Ronin poured gasoline in the pond at the opposite end of the Flame of Peace. Surprisingly, the perpetual flame did not ignite the gasoline . The traces of the blaze were haunting images of the atomic explosion when shadows of incinerated humans were cast on the stone 50 and concrete in Hiroshima. The police made these associations and bowed in shame to the memory of the thousands of dead at the peace memorial. The Aioi Bridge near the Atomic Bomb Dome was the actual target site. The bridge was repaired after the explosion and used until a new one was constructed in Atomu 38. Ronin celebrates the roamers as storiers. They are the actual natives of the peace park, the last ronin of a great samurai tradition . The police, who were trained to be sympathetic but not romantic about stories, recounted the roamers as street people, and more and more of them gathered every year in the peace park. The police gently rousted them by day when the peace tourists were about and then avoided them at night. Ronin and Oshima invited certain roamers to eat with them in the nuclear ruins of the Atomic Bomb Dome. After dinner they created kabuki versions of the ‘‘Rashomon’’ story by Akutagawa. Oshima was a lightning chancer, and his kabuki poses were always better in a thunderstorm . The kobans are police posts in urban areas. There are more than six thousand of them around the country. The police kobans are an active part of governance in the community. They are familiar with the commerce, crime, and situations of the residents. The police are formal, sympathetic listeners, day and night always on patrol in the community. The koban is a service center. Children even come by for candy. Osaka, a former catch woman, once solicited men for private striptease shows, but now she serves tea to the police and decorates the koban with bright flowers. Obviously, her nickname was a disguise. Ronin was truly touched by her coy smile and gestures. Osaka was always ready to tease and be teased in public. Ronin was detained for interrogation by a special police interpreter at the koban, but he was never arrested. The police have the discretion to interview and release anyone, or remove a suspect for arrest at a police station. Tonase, the police interpreter, was annoyed by his evasive responses and demanded to know his...