Atomic Bomb Injuries

Atomic Bomb Injuries

Nobuo Kusano

Hiroshima Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Warner Wells

Hiroshima Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Warner Wells

Tokyo : The Tsukiji Shokan Company

1953

Nobuo Kusano, Atomic Bomb Injuries (Tokyo : The Tsukiji Shokan Company, 1953), Hiroshima Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Warner Wells.

Two page spread. On the left page are three photos in black and white. The top, rectangular photo is accompanied by text that reads, "A corpse with a number of subcutaneous bleeding flecks of different sizes all over the body." Under that is text in Japanese. The body is wearing a white cloth over and under their hip area. The hands are together over the stomach area. A hand from a person off camera is reaching and holding one of the hands. We see a side and part of the top of the person, from their head to about mid-thigh. There are dark, round circles on the person's arm, neck, face, chest, stomach, and leg that are in view. The largest circle is about the size of an American dime but most of the wounds are smaller than that. Beneath that is a picture of a person with the accompanying text reading, "Hiroshima. 1 km from the hypocenter. Died 28 days after. Bleeding specks on forehead and upper extremities. Epilation and gingivitis. White blood cell; 1,900. Platelet: 10,400. A photograph of a soldier just before his death. 21 years old. (Property of the former Military Medial College). The same text in Japanese is beneath that. The square photo shows a person from the chest up with the focus on the person's face. Their eyes are open and looking off camera to the right. They are bald and small, round wounds on their face, neck, arm, and chest. Their head is resting on a clean, white pillow. The photo at the bottom right of the page has accompanying text reading, "Hiroshima. 800 m from the hypocenter. Died 25 days after. Epilation and bleeding specks. 22 year old soldier. (Property of the former Military Medical College)" with the same text in Japanese under that. The square photo is from above a person's head. They are bald and small wounds are on their head. A hand is holding the left side of the head. Their eyes are open and they are looking straight forward, off camera. The second left page has four black and white photos. The picture on the left has the most text with it, reading, "Hiroshima (Funairi-machi). 1 km from the hypocenter. Received explosion inside the house, upstairs, with glass windows closed. Atomic bomb radiation sickness and folliclitis. A week after: epilation, anorexia, bleeding of gingiva and fever. 2 weeks after: white cell; 3,600, and red cell ; 3,800,000. 45 days after ; spores of the skin were fused into an abscess. Complained of pains. Photographed 49 days after the explosion. (Photo. by S. Kikuchi)" with the same text in Japanese underneath. The photo shows a person from the chest up. They are wearing a gray top with white intersecting lines, with sleeves gathered slightly at the shoulders, and a rounded neckline. Their hair is slight, thin and wispy. They are looking to the side so we see their side profile. Along the right side of the page are three smaller photos focusing on people's faces. We see a person whose eyes are closed but mouth is open and their tongue is sticking out to the right. The text says "Ulcers of tongue". The middle picture has a person who is looking at the camera. Their mouth is open and teeth and gums on display. The text reads, "Gingivitis". The bottom picture shows a person whose eyes are closed but mouth is open. A hand on their chin is pulling at the skin to show the inside of the bottom lip. The text reads, "Ulcers of lips. (These three photographs were kept in the former Military Medical College)"