August 2009
Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa Members Observe Anniversary of End of World War II
Members of Rissho Kosei-kai Dharma Centers in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Okinawa took part, on August 6, 8, and 15 respectively, in joint memorial services with other religious organizations in Japan for the victims of World War II.
On August 6, 457 members took part in a memorial service held by the Hiroshima Dharma Center for the city's atomic bomb victims. After an offering of lighted candles and flowers by 28 members, and sutra recitation in the training hall, the participants observed a moment of silence in honor of the victims at 8:15 AM, the time the atomic bomb was dropped 64 years ago.
Before the ceremony, the minister of the Hiroshima Dharma Center, Rev. Hiroshi Shiina, joined a interfaith service of prayers for peace in Hiroshima in his capacity as a member of the peace pilgrimage of the Japanese Religious Committee for World Federalist Movement. The ceremony was organized by the Society for Praying for the War Dead and held in front of the Atomic Bomb Memorial Mound in Peace Memorial Park.
On August 8, a interfaith group in Nagasaki held the 37th-anniversary memorial service for atomic bomb victims in Hypocenter Park. About a thousand people took part, including religious representatives and members of the public. Rissho Kosei-kai was represented by Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of the board of trustees, and members of Rissho Kosei-kai's western division on the island of Kyushu. After a purification rite by a Shinto priest of Suwa Shrine, four Japanese religious representatives and Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, paid tribute to Nagasaki's atomic bomb victims.
On August 15, the 19th Interfaith Prayer for Peace ceremony on Okinawa was observed in Peace Memorial Park in the city of Itoman. Some 600 people took part, including religious representatives from Okinawa Prefecture and Rissho Kosei-kai members. Rissho Kosei-kai headquarters in Tokyo was represented by Rev. Keiichi Akagawa, head of the External Affairs Group (Interfaith). After a prayer for peace led by members of Konko-kyo, two members of the Rissho Kosei-kai Okinawa Dharma Center pledged commitment on behalf of all the participants to work for world peace. After that a moment of silence was observed in honor of the victims of the fierce ground battle on Okinawa, followed by an offering of flowers at the altar by representatives of the participants. Rev. Kazunori Nagato, minister of Rissho Kosei-kai' of Okinawa, then delivered a message of peace in which he emphasized that peace will prevail when all people honor the sanctity of the life of every individual.
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