Genbakuyaki

Genbakuyaki (原爆焼), which translates to 'atomic-bomb pottery', are ceramic ware made using the soil from the hypocentre of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Memorial Association was believed to have produced these pottery at around 1950 in order to preserve the memory of the devastation for future generations. It is said that the organisation aimed to distribute 960,000 pieces of pottery throughout Japan over five years, encouraging reflection on the atomic bombing and war and at the same time, using part of the proceeds to support post-war reconstruction and war orphans. However, the actual number produced might have been considerably smaller. 

These genbakuyaki tea cups bear an incised inscription on their side as follows:

廣島原爆中心地の土
原爆焼
落彈昭和廿年八月六日
午前八時十五分

Soil from the hypocentre of the Hiroshima atomic bombing
Genbakuyaki
Bomb dropped: 6 August 1945
8:15 a.m.

On the other side, the pottery bears a tanka poem by Yasuo Yamamoto, a Hiroshima-based poet who led the tanka society Shinju (真樹) and worked as head of the shorthand department at the Chugoku Shimbun. On 6 August 1945, Yamamoto experienced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and lost his eldest son. 

The poem inscribed goes as follows: 

たひらぎの
祈りのなかに
ひろしまの
かなしミの日を
またおもひいづ

Within a prayer for peace,
Once more I call to mind
Hiroshima’s day of sorrow.