Beyond the mushroom cloud : commemoration, religion, and responsibility after Hiroshima / Yuki Miyamoto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miyamoto, Yuki.

Series:

Bordering religions : concepts, conflicts, and conversations.

Bordering religions : concepts, conflicts, and conversations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Collective memory.

Peace movements.

Memorials.

Atomic bomb victims.

Religious life.

Hiroshima-shi (Japan)--History--Bombardment, 1945--Moral and ethical aspects.

Hiroshima-shi (Japan).

Atomic bomb victims--Religious life--Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Collective memory--Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Memorials--Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Responsibility--Social aspects--Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Responsibility.

Responsibility--Social aspects.

Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Peace movements--Japan--Hiroshima-shi.

Hiroshima-shi (Japan)--Religious life and customs.

Collective memory--Case studies.

Responsibility--Social aspects--Case studies.

Nuclear warfare--Moral and ethical aspects.

Nuclear warfare.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 233 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2012.

Summary:

How should the horror of the atom bomb be remembered? In what ways might we remember so that the terrible experience of its use might be transformed into hope for a universal community of peace? In a fascinating case study in comparative religion, this book traces the struggle of the hibakusha, the survivors of the 1945 bombings, to make sense of their experiences through an ethic of "not retaliation, but reconciliation."

The predominant religious group in Hiroshima was True Pure Land Buddhism. From this sect emerged an account of the bombings in terms of karma, the misdeeds of humans-in the city, the nation, and the world-bound up in a wheel of suffering to which they themselves contribute. For its part, the Roman Catholic population of Nagasaki sought to view the tragedy through a lens of sin and sacrifice. The secular commemoration by die city of Hiroshima has drawn on both interpretations in public memorials that seek to establish a responsibility we all share in forming a universal community of memory.

This inspiring account should be of interest to all who reflect seriously on the experience and the threat of nuclear catastrophe. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: The Ethics of Commemoration

pt. 1. Commemoration

Toward a Community of Memory

Dialogue with the Dead : The Yasukuni Shinto Shrine and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

pt. 2. Religious Interpretations

Beyond Good and Evil : Koji Shigenobu and the True Pure Land Understanding of the Atomic Bombing

Sacrificial Lambs : Nagai Takashi and the Roman Catholic Interpretation of the Bombing

pt. 3. Responsibility

Women in Atomic Bomb Narratives : Hagiography, Alterity, and Non-Nomological Ethics

Postscript: After Too Many Mushroom Clouds

Afterword.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-225) and index.

ISBN:

9780823240500

0823240509

9780823240517

0823240517

OCLC:

755213424