During World War II, 1,127 civilians in Kofu, Japan were killed in a midnight air raid on the eve of Tanabata by the American military. Seventy-eight percent of the city was destroyed. I marvel at the welcome I feel in Japan and I am grateful that our two cultures can now be at peace. I was inspired to make this project memorializing the civilian victims as an act of atonement by an American living in Kofu and to express my hope for peace among all peoples.

1,127 strips of transparent paper or tanzaku represent the people killed during the bombing of Kofu. The length of paper corresponds to a person’s age. The four shortest pieces of paper honor the infants and the longest signifies the 93 year old woman. I have punched by hand the outline of peach pits onto the top of each strip. Kofu is located in the Yamanashi Prefecture, an area known for its peach orchards. I chose to use the peach pit instead of a ripe peach or blossom to indicate my hope for growth and renewal and continued life for the people of this area. The top and bottom of the tanzaku are jagged to represent life cut short and suggest a similarity between the beginning and ending of life.

I wrote a poem using symmetrical kanji that describes the bombing and my hope for peace. The poem can be read from either side of the paper and appear on the tanzaku representing the 37 year old victims.

The final poem in the book Tasmen Donner: A Woman’s Journey by American poet Ruth Whitman entitled Where is the West is also part of the installation. This article provides background about Donner’s life and Whitman’s writing process. Special thanks to 中村 京子 Miyako Nakamura for her thoughtful translation of this poem into Japanese.

Where Is the West
by Ruth Whitman
If my boundary stops here
I have daughters to draw new maps on the world
they will draw the lines of my face
they will draw with my gestures my voice
they will speak my words thinking they have invented them
they will invent them
they will invent me
I will be planted again and again
I will wake in the eyes of their children’s children
they will speak my words

西はどこですか
ルース・ウィットマン、アメリカの詩人
私の境界がここで終わっても
私には世界に新しい地図を描く娘たちがいる
このこたちは私の顔の線を描きます
このこたちは私の身振りで私の声で表現します。
このこたちはあなたに私の言葉で話し、自分たちがその言葉を生み出したと信じます
娘たちは自分自身を作り出し、
娘たちは私を作り出し、
私は種となりなんどもなんども地面に蒔かれる
私は彼らの子どものさらに子どもたちの瞳に輝き、
その子たちは、私の言葉で、話します

I obtained information about the air raid from the Yamanashi Peace Museum in Kofu. The museum displays the names and ages (when known) of the civilians killed in the air raid. I want to express my gratitude to the director of the museum, the people of Kofu who gathered these materials, and 坂本 泉 Izumi Sakamoto and 三森 なぎさ Nagisa Mitsumori at AIR-Y for their assistance with this project.