Senkichi Awaya | |
|---|---|
粟屋 仙吉 | |
 | |
| 17th Mayor of Hiroshima | |
| In office 10 July 1943 – 6 August 1945 | |
| Monarch | Hirohito |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Wakami Fujita |
| Succeeded by | Shigetada Morishita |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1893-11-07)7 November 1893 Sendai, Japan |
| Died | 6 August 1945(1945-08-06) (aged 51) Hiroshima, Japan |
| Resting place | Tama Cemetery |
| Spouse | Sachiyo Andō |
| Alma mater | Imperial University of Tokyo |
Senkichi Awaya (粟屋 仙吉,Awaya Senkichi; 7 November 1893 – 6 August 1945) was a Japanesepublic official who was killed by theatomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima while he was itsmayor.[1] He was one of the key figures in the historic clash between theJapanese police and theImperial Japanese Army in 1933.[2] He is also known for hisChristian activity in theNonchurch movement and his close relationship with its early leaders.[3]
Senkichi Awaya was born the second son of Eisuke Awaya (粟屋 頴祐,Awaya Eisuke), a railway bureaucrat and nephew ofViscountInoue Masaru, in the city ofSendai, after which he was named. He spent hishigh school years inYonago, Tottori and then entered the First Higher School, the preparatory division of theImperial University of Tokyo, where he studiedGerman law.[4][5]
Eisuke had adrinking problem, over which his wife often went to seek help at a localChristian church with her children.Christianity, therefore, was the most familiarreligion for Senkichi since his childhood. One day, when he was a high school student, Senkichi was advised by hisminister to readKanzō Uchimura'sThe Biblical Studies, which impressed him and made him a devout Christian.[6] Unlike his father, he grew up to be ateetotaler.[5][7]
Awaya startedjudo in his early teens, and later obtained a fifth-degreeblack belt and became a higher-ranking winner in the national police judo championships.[5]
In March 1922, Awaya married Sachiyo Andō, who gave birth to four sons and three daughters, five of whomsurvived beyond infancy.
After graduating from the university, Awaya joined theHome Ministry, assigned to the Hiroshima Prefectural Police in 1919. He was installed as district executive ofMitsugi District in March 1923.[4]
In July 1924, Awaya was assigned to the prefectural government ofHokkaidō, where he was appointed chief of thecity planning division the following year. Living inSapporo, he was a regular churchgoer at the Independent Church of Sapporo. Awaya had a chance to talk personally with Kanzō Uchimura, for whom he had a lifelong respect when Uchimura visited Sapporo in the summer of 1928.[8] Since then, Awaya and his family have socialized with Uchimura and his son, who later becameCommissioner of the Nippon Professional Baseball.[5]
Awaya was appointedSuperintendent of theKōchi Prefectural Police in July 1929. He succeeded in settling a long-unsolved dispute between a fishery company and local fishermen. Shinobu Agata, who wasgovernor ofOsaka Prefecture then, appreciated Awaya's negotiating ability and asked him to be the head of the Osaka Prefectural Police. He accepted the governor's offer in 1932.[4][5]
On 17 June 1933 occurred what is later called theGo-Stop Incident, in which the verbal altercation between two young men—an off-dutysoldier in uniform who had ignored atraffic light and apoliceman who warned the soldier— developed into fistfights, and finally into a ministerial-level conflict between the Home Ministry and the Army.[9][10]
Hisaichi Terauchi, Commander of the4th Division of the Army, demanded an official apology from the Osaka police, insisting that the policeman had unfairly injured the Army's prestige. Awaya, however, refused to apologize because he believed thatmilitary personnel, as well ascivilians, should also observe the traffic regulations.[9] Although their freedom of speech was limited under thePeace Preservation Law, the public was critical of the Army's high-handedness.[11] Five months later, Awaya and Terauchi resolved their conflict through the mediation of thegovernor ofHyogo, with both apologizing to each other. A year later, when Awaya left the police, however, the Home Ministry and the Army made an agreement that would preclude the civilian police from handling crimes committed by military personnel and bolsterJapanese militarism.[9]
Awaya was transferred to the prefectural government ofAichi in January 1935. After serving asOita's governor for 20 months, he was farmed out to theMinistry of Agriculture and Forestry. In March 1942, he resigned his office at age 48. He sequestered himself at his house inSetagaya,Tokyo, devoted to faith at the Marunouchi Bible study group led by Toraji Tsukamoto, the leader of the Nonchurch movement after Kanzō Uchimura's death.[12]
In 1943, Awaya was offered the mayoralty ofHiroshima by hissenpaiOkinori Kaya. He was not willing to accept it until he decided to try himself, and one of his friends told him that mayors should never be angry.[12]
On the Sunday before he left Tokyo for Hiroshima, Awaya attended the Bible study group as usual. There, he talked about how he had stood by his beliefs and practiced teetotalism throughout his life in bureaucracy. Reverend Toraji Tsukamoto wrote in his diary, "Mr. Awaya's words are proceleusmatic and impressive to the audience. Blessed is Hiroshima to have such a great mayor!"[12]
Awaya took the mayoralty in July 1943. Militarists held bad feelings toward him, but among citizens, his popularity was high due to his righteousness.[13] The hardest job that he had to do in Hiroshima was to order to demolish buildings to createfirebreaks according to the military's directions.[14]
Awaya lived at the official mayoral residence in the Kakomachi district of Hiroshima, apart from his family at first. Still he decided to invite his family after theGreat Tokyo Air Raid, believing that Hiroshima was much safer than Tokyo.[15] His wife Sachiyo and third son Shinobu came to live in Hiroshima in April and in June 1945, respectively.[12] On 3 August, three days before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Senkichi and Sachiyo Awaya invited their 2-year-old granddaughter Ayako Sakama.[1]
When theUnited States Army Air Forces dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Senkichi Awaya was eating breakfast with Shinobu and Ayako.[1] All of them are believed to have died instantly after the bombing.[12]
The city officials who had survived the bomb began to gather at the city office that afternoon, but the mayor was still missing. The city'streasurer went to look for Awaya and foundcorpses at the ruin of the mayoral residence. On 9 August, Awaya's chief secretary, Kazumasa Maruyama and his coworkers went there to confirm that the half-burnt corpses were those of the mayor and his son. After finding askeleton which appeared to be Ayako's, they carried out the unburnt parts of the bodies to cremate them at the park near the city hall.[1][16][17]
Sachiyo was the only person who had escaped instant death in the mayoral residence.[18] Seriously injured, she was carried into theHiroshima Red Cross Hospital (Nisseki Hospital) and taken care of by her daughters but died on 7 September that year.[1][12]
The officials choseShigetada Morishita, who had been one of the twodeputy mayors, asacting mayor upon confirming Awaya's death.[19] He was succeeded byShichirō Kihara, whom the city council appointed mayor on 22 October 1945.
Toraji Tsukamoto delivered aeulogy for Awaya and his family at their officialfuneral service held in December 1945. They were buried atTama Cemetery inwestern Tokyo.[20]
In August 1995, a half-century after the bombing, the government of Hiroshima created amonument in commemoration of Awaya's death where the mayoral residence used to stand. Tsuneo Kanazawa, the minister of the Independent Church of Sapporo, wrote an epitaph to commemorate his 51-year-long life.[21]
Awaya's private house in Setagaya, Tokyo, was inherited by his eldest daughter, Motoko Sakama.[22] It was designated a cultural asset by the government of Tokyo in 2003.[23]
Awaya's third daughter, Chikako, graduated from theInternational Christian University, receiving ascholarship from an anonymous donor who turned out to be an American woman.[22] His fourth son, Tadashi, became a public official like his father.[1]
The diary of Yasuko, Awaya's second daughter, was featured in a documentary by Ryūshō Kadota in 2009.[24] While a student at today'sOchanomizu University, she was conscripted to work at an armaments factory in northern Tokyo during the closing months of the war. Two weeks afterJapan's surrender, she went to Hiroshima to take care of her heavily injured mother until her death on 7 September 1945. Yasuko also died fromradiation exposure at age 19 on 24 November of that year.[1]
| Preceded by | Mayor of Hiroshima July 1943 – August 1945 | Succeeded byas acting mayor |
| International | |
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| National | |
