Every August 6, the city of Hiroshima commemorates the first atomic bombing carried out in history, where in a few minutes hundreds of thousands of souls perished under the bomb called “Fat man”.
Today, every year in Hiroshima, a grand memorial ceremony is held for this unfortunate event.
Then at nightfall a festival is held that turns the entire area into an area of peace, union, reflection and beauty.
The festival is called “Nagashi bull”, Focuses on the making of small lamps made of paper by the people who attend and place messages of peace and personal wishes. They install a candle in the center and then proceed to the river (in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome) to place in it the beautifully floating lamps.
Tōrō Nagashi, literally means stone lamp that flows, tōrō (stone lamp) and nagashi (to flow).
The origin of TORO NAGASHI
This is a wonderful event, which can be defined as a great festival of peace, where all people gather around the river to observe this light show while remembering what happened on August 6, 1945 and praying that the tragedy of the nuclear bomb will never happen again.
The Nagashi Bull has the meaning of guiding the souls that are on earth to the spiritual world. The ceremony is not exclusive to Hiroshima but is part of the festival held in August called “Obon”, where it is said that the spirits return to the earthly plane to meet their loved ones.
Local people say that shortly after the war, the families of those lost due to the atomic bombing started this tradition. They floated handmade lanterns that resemble peace downstream in Hiroshima. This tradition has been carried on to this day and now takes place in several major rivers in Hiroshima on the night of this special day.
In Hiroshima you can go to the identified awnings to make the lamp, then a sheet of paper is given to the participant to write their message and it is handed out for the volunteers to cordially make the lamp. Anyone can write messages of peace on the lanterns, which will be floated in the river, where they will pass directly in front of the Atomic Bomb Dome
The experience of seeing the warm lights of some 10,000 lanterns as they calmly float down the river in the dead of night, each wishing for peace from the assembled attendees, is a fantastic, almost otherworldly experience. Participants in this event include not only locals from Hiroshima, but also many visitors who come from all over the world.
