Sadako's father, Shigeo, was born in the town of　Daiku in the mountains outside of　Hiroshima on　November 11, 1915. His father's name was Daisaku and his mother was　Matsu.
Matsu had a Tofu shop in the town of　Daiku when Shigeo was born.Matsu was raising her son by herself and running the Tofu shop. She was working hard each and everyday trying to make money by selling tofu walking around the town after she made them in her shop.She wanted to give Shigeo enough food and clothes, so she worked another job whenever she had extra time. In the winter time, they had 6 feet of snow, but the summer there was beautiful.GounoKawaRiver ran through the city where there were plenty of fish to catch. The town had beautiful Cherry blossoms in the spring and bright colored autumn foliage in the fall. In the early morning, Shigeo's chore was to sweep the front of his mother's shop. He didn't stop there though, he kept going to the neighbors next door where an older ladyhad a candy shop and then he continued onto the Inari Jinja Shrine that was just past the candy shop. Shigeo was 4 years old when he cleaned the neighbors front door without been asked.He was a truly special child because of his willingness to help others. His neighbors started to call him Taikou-san, who was named after Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the Shogun who ruled the Momoyama period. The shogun Hideyoshi Toyotomi was a hard working, industrious child, with strong determination that made him the great ruler ofJapan 400 years ago. His nick name was Taikou and that lead people to give Shigeo the same nickname.

Shigeo was a charming boy to his neighbor, the candy shop owner,Mrs. Hatanaka-san. She gave him 2-yen, the equivalent to 2-cents inUS currency and a pair of Geta( wooden shoes)two times per year on special occasions.
After high school, Shigeo started to work as an apprentice in a barber shop to become a barber.He thought that having a good skill in something was very important for him.
Being an apprentice was hard work, and at times he wanted to go home, but his mother kept sending him back to the barber shop with a big caring heart to help him go through a hardship.Now days, there are not many mothers who carry a lion's heart like Shigeo's mother.

That determination to become a barber led Shigeo to meet his future wife Fujiko.

Our Mother, Fujiko, was born in 1918 in the town of Kamikawatachi located near our father, Shigeo's, birth place in Hiroshima. Fujiko was the fifth child of seven born to her parents, Hisatarou and Ichiyo Yamamoto. Fujiko's mother, Ichiyo, died at the young age of 42 as a result of an illness that followed the birth of her seventh child. Fujiko had a difficult childhood due to losing her mother at such a young age. Learning from her own experience and hardship from growing up without having a mother, Fujiko became a very patient and quiet being. Everyday, Fujiko's chores began with getting a bucketful of water from a nearby well for drinking water for her family. After she finished her chores, she then went to school carrying her young sister on her back. She was at her desk with her little sister on her back and studied at the same time all day at school. Even though this was during a different era when they lived, not many people could do what she had to do to help her family survive.

People who lived then had to help their parents, not fight with their siblings, complaint about food, or complain for wanting more than what they had.

Fujiko's fate started to change when she met Shigeo at the Military barber shop. Shigeo felt in love with her at first site. Probably, when he saw Fujiko's wonderful manners, how quiet and hard working she was, and her calm demeanor, he fell for her.

The special moment at the ceremony of their wedding was when Fujiko used her own long hair to make a Bunkin Takashimada (A special hair style for the wedding). When Shigeo saw her beautiful silk Kimono, he was moved deeply by her beauty.

My mother Fujiko was like the Goddess of Mercy Kwanon, She had a beautiful god-like heart and compassion for others. I don't remember that she even once yelled at Sadako or me. I would wish to be born as her child again for my next life if I may.

Sadako's fate began when an air raid alarm started at12:25am, right aftermidnight onAugust 6th, 1945 and ended 2 hours later at2:10am. We were finally relaxing from a warning alarm that had scared us all earlier that day. On that same day of August 6th, we had heard another alarm at7:09 am. This second time, it was a warning alarm that told us more danger was coming soon. Shortly after the alarm ended, a plane passed over us at a high altitude. The warning alarm ended at7:31am. Sadako took her brother Masahiro's hand and crept out from the air-raid shelter back to our house nearby. A clock was ticking and the time was8:15am. The nuclear bomb now known as "little boy" was dropped onHiroshimaCity at8:15am and at that moment, the fate of Sadako had begun. At that time, four of us; my mother "Fujiko", my grand mother "Matsu", Sadako, and myself, Masahiro were having breakfast around the Chabudai, or the Japanese traditional table. All of a sudden, we heard the neighbors loud, screaming voices, so we ran out of the house. Then we looked up at the skies in the direction of the east and we saw a glaring object in the midst of the sky. That was what is now known as the "Enola-Gay" B29 bomber plane which was carrying the atomic bomb. That image stayed so strong and clear because of what happened to us next. The bomber plane had traveled for six and a half hours to reach the sky overHiroshima. They were aboveHiroshima, 2,740km away fromTitianIsland. TheUnited States targetedHiroshima,Nagasaki, and Ogura for dropping the bomb. A weather plane had sent a message about bad weather in Ogura to the bomber planes. The devil selectedHiroshima at that moment. What bad fortune it was. The devil, the atomic bomb, killed Thousands of precious lives at that instant. The nuclear bomb exploded 580m aboveHiroshimaCity. The core temperature of the bomb at the 580m level above the ground was over a million degrees centigrade. The temperature at ground level was 3,000 to 4,000 degrees centigrade. At that time,Hiroshima had a population of 350,000 people which included Korean, Taiwanese, Southeast Asian, and yes, Americans who were prisoners of the war also.

According to current records, it has been estimated that 40 percent ofHiroshima's population, about 140,000 people, died as a result of the bomb within 10 days after the bomb was dropped, though many died instantly. Approximately 8,400 people, mostly children 12 or 13 years old were ordered to come and help in the city on the same day. Out of those 8,400 people, 6,300 were to become victims of the nuclear reaction and died. At that time, people inJapan had no idea about nuclear disaster and the physical damage that they had been exposed to by the nuclear explosion. Many of our relatives were victims of the bomb. We were 1.6km from ground zero at the time of the blast. The strong winds with heat that blew through the city from the explosion destroyed everything instantly. All of the buildings within 2 km of ground zero were completely burned and destroyed. Our house which was located 1.6 km from ground zero was also destroyed. My old bicycle at the foyer to our home was blown through the wall and thrown into our yard. The Tatami floor mats were bent in half. In these chaotic surroundings, I could hear Sadako's voice looking for her mother. Sadako was standing on a chest which had fallen down to the first floor from the second floor. Our grand mother and I were trapped under Tatami mats on the ground. My head was bleeding. Even until now, it is still a big mystery as to how Sadako was on top of the chest that had fallen down from the second floor and yet she was without any cuts or bruises on her body.

My mother regained her consciousness and pulled herself together. But already, we saw a raging fire coming towards us and spreading everywhere. I couldn't even see the streets because of the smoke and fire. I could not find our neighbors who were just there on the street. Everybody became a black colored, thick liquid. Dogs and cats were melted too. I could not recognize anyone or anything. Every living thing seemed melted away in the fire. But my mother had no time to think about others but her children and her mother. She thought that the only way to save our lives was to get away from this raging fire, so she decided to escape towards the river nearby. My mother took our hands and led us toHonkawaRiver, the only river that might give us a chance to survive. We ran with all of the strength that we had. When we finally reached the river, I thought we had come to hell, the hell that filled with people both dead and living. Some were screaming for help while tearing at their throat, some were jumping into the water with their burning skin that was swelling as they ran.

I saw a dead mother still holding her blackened baby in the water. Some people looked as though they were wearing kimonos, but that was their skin hanging from own bodies. I couldn't believe that it was real. I saw countless dead bodies floating on theHonkawaRiver. We couldn't help ourselves just standing at the water gazing in the air with no motion. Then we heard someone calling our name; as the sound got closer we recognized the person was our neighbor.

He screamed loud and said "Were you all okay"? He was so surprised to see us unhurt. He said, "Hey Miss Sasaki, get on this boat quickly!" But then my grandmotherMatsu suddenly said to all of us, "I forgot to bring something for the kids from the house." She insisted to go back home even though everyone tried to stop her. She turned her back and quickly disappeared towards the house where the raging fire was waiting. That was the last time that I saw my grandmother. She never came back.
The man helped us get on the boat right away. I think he was an angel that had come from heaven. I believe without him, we never would have made it through. Truly, it was a miracle.

When we got on the boat, we found a great deal of water in the bottom of the boat and also found a hole in the bottom. Sadako and I were taking the water out from the boat as fast we could to keep it from sinking. About two hours later on the boat, it started raining heavily. Then I noticed Sadako's face was soon covered by black streaks. I looked at the man, my mother, and myself. We were all also covered by the black rain. No one knew what the black rain was then, but we found out long afterwards that it was filled with high levels of radiation.

While we were in the boat, we heard a voice in the water yelling in desperation for help to get on our boat. Our mother was about to help and started to look for the person in the water when the man who was on the boat said to my mother, "Do not help anyone if you want to live, just look the other way". My mother silently nodded her head and acknowledged what he said. Isn't this a feeling of total helplessness? The fire seemed to be dying down by early afternoon on that day. We decided to get outof the boat and started to walk towardsOshibaPark which was being used as a public gathering place for emergency use. As we walked towards the park, we looked back to our town ofKusunoki-cho and we saw that the fire had mostly dissipated. My mother, Sadako, and I finally arrived at the park.