Kiyoshi Tanimoto

Kiyoshi Tanimoto (谷本 清, Tanimoto Kiyoshi, June 27, 1909 – September 28, 1986) was a Methodist minister famous for his work for the Hiroshima Maidens. He was one of the six Hiroshima survivors whose experiences of the bomb and later life are portrayed in John Hersey's book Hiroshima.[1]

Kiyoshi Tanimoto
Kiyoshi Tanimoto, c. 1950
Born(1909-06-27)June 27, 1909
Kagawa prefecture, Japan
DiedSeptember 28, 1986(1986-09-28) (aged 77)
Other names谷本 清
OccupationMethodist minister

Biography

Tanimoto converted to Christianity in his youth, opposed by his Buddhist father. He studied at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, on an international Methodist scholarship. Ordained a minister at Emory University in 1940, he served in churches in California, Okinawa and then Hiroshima.[2]

After the war he went on extensive speaking tours of the US, raising funds for his project of a Hiroshima peace center, and for the Hiroshima Maidens.[1] On May 11, 1955[3] he unwittingly appeared on a television program popular in the United States at that time, This Is Your Life, where he, his wife, and his four children, including his daughter and eventual peace activist, Koko Kondo,[4][5] were placed in the uncomfortable position of meeting with Captain Robert A. Lewis, copilot of the Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.[4][6] Due to these public activities he developed an unwanted reputation as a publicity seeker and attracted the attention of the US and Japanese authorities as a potential "anti-nuke trouble-maker".[1] In 1972, he was interviewed by Thames Television,[7] for the 24th episode of the acclaimed British documentary television series, The World at War.

The annual Kiyoshi Tanimoto Peace Prize is named after him.

See also

References
  1. John Hersey (1946). Hiroshima. The 1985 edition contains an updated chapter.
  2. Barker, Rodney The Hiroshima Maidens 1986 pp. 7–8 ISBN 0140083529
  3. "This Is Your Life (1950–1987) – Episode List". IMDB. IMDB. Retrieved 2022-08-06. S3, Ep32... Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto... 11 May 1955
  4. Edwards, Ralph; Gruenberg, Axel (May 11, 1955). "Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto" (MP4). This Is Your Life. Season 3. Episode 32 (YLN141). NBC-TV. Archived from the original on April 7, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2022.{{cite episode}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. Unger, Mike (2015-11-01). "After the Flash: The painful past and peaceful rebirth of Hiroshima". American University Magazine. American University Magazine. Retrieved 2022-08-07. At the age of 10, she had her shot. On a moment's notice Kondo's mother took her and her siblings to Los Angeles, where they were whisked to a television studio. Tanimoto, a Methodist minister who had gained a bit of notoriety from his role in the book, was to be featured on the television show, This Is Your Life. Standing in a corner next to the stage was a man young Koko had never seen before, yet one who had impacted her life profoundly. "I asked my mother, 'Who is that guy?'" she recalls. "She said, 'He's Captain Robert Lewis.'"
  6. Davies, Dave (August 19, 2020). "'Fallout' Tells The Story Of The Journalist Who Exposed The 'Hiroshima Cover-Up' (an interview of historian Lesley M.M. Blume)". NPR. Fresh Air. NPR. 30:56. Retrieved August 7, 2022. Reverend Tanimoto turns up at the [NBC] station [in Los Angeles], and it turns out he's not doing a news interview; he has been booked unwittingly on an episode of This Is Your Life.... In this case, they were bringing out people from reverend Tanimoto's life... including one of the bombers from the Enola Gay. And so poor reverend Tanimoto, he's sitting there on the set and trying to maintain his composure, and the set is full of bells and whistles. They have the sound of the bomb whirring. They have the sound of the clock ticking. It's just this highly produced dramatic production, and this poor reverend is sitting there totally bewildered but trying so hard to stay composed. And the moment where they bring out the bomber to shake hands, I mean, you can't even imagine what's going through Tanimoto's mind. And Hersey would report on this later on, and he said that the bomber (Captain Robert A. Lewis) appeared to be crying, to many millions of viewers who were watching this, but in reality Hersey reported it turned out that he had been out bar-hopping beforehand.
  7. "Tanimoto, Kiyoshi (Oral history)".
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