The Postcard
An Artist Series postcard that was published by J. W. Ruddock of Lincoln. The card was posted in Bath using a ½d. stamp on Monday the 3rd. February 1908. It was sent to:
Mrs. Harding,
Lansdown Crescent,
Cheltenham.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Monday Feb. 3rd. 1908.
I wonder Sarah you have
not acknowledged a parcel
I sent you - a dress length
from Evans & Evans."
Takashi Nagai
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 3rd. February 1908 marked the birth in Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture of Takashi Nagai.
Takashi Nagai (永井 隆) was a Japanese Catholic physician specializing in radiology, an author, and a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
His subsequent life of prayer and service earned him the affectionate title "Saint of Urakami".
Takashi Nagai - The Early Years
Takashi (meaning "nobility") Nagai had a difficult birth that endangered his and his mother's life. His family was highly educated.
His father, Noboru Nagai, was trained in Western medicine; his paternal grandfather, Fumitaka Nagai, was a practitioner of traditional herbal medicine; and his mother, Tsune, was the descendant of an old family of samurai.
Nagai grew up in the rural area of Mitoya, and was raised in accordance with the teachings of Confucius and the Shinto religion.
In 1920, he commenced his secondary studies at Matsue High School while boarding at his cousins' home close by. He became increasingly interested in atheism, but was curious about Christianity.
Life in Nagasaki
In April 1928, Takashi Nagai attended Nagasaki Medical College where he joined the Araragi, a poetry group founded by Mokichi Saito and the university basketball team (he measured 1.71 m and weighed 70 kg).
In 1930 his mother died from a brain haemorrhage, which lead him to ponder the works of philosopher and scientist Blaise Pascal. He began to read the Pensées which influenced his later conversion to Christianity and boarded with the Moriyama family, who for seven generations had been the hereditary leaders of a group of Kakure Kirishitans in Urakami.
Takashi learned that the construction of the nearby cathedral was financed by poor Christian farmers and fishermen.
He graduated in 1932, and was scheduled to deliver an address at the ceremony. However, five days before, he became intoxicated at a farewell party, and returned home in the rain completely soaked with water. He slept without drying himself, and found the next morning that he had contracted a disease of the right ear (signs of meningitis), which made him depressed and partially deaf.
He could no longer practice medicine, and agreed to turn to radiology research.
On the 24th. December, Sadakichi Moriyama invited Nagai to participate in a midnight Mass. In the cathedral, Takashi was impressed by the people in prayer, their singing, their faith and the sermon. He would later say:
"I felt somebody close to me
whom I did not still know."
The next night, Sadakichi's daughter Midori was struck down by acute appendicitis. Nagai made a quick diagnosis, telephoned the surgeon at the hospital and carried Midori there on his back through the snow. The operation was successful; Midori survived.
Upon his return from Manchuria, Takashi continued his reading of the Catholic catechism, the Bible, and the Pensées of Blaise Pascal. He met with a priest, Father Matsusaburo Moriyama, whose father had been deported to Tsuwano (Shimane Prefecture) for his faith, along with many other Christian villagers in Urakami by the Meiji Government from the 1860's to the 1870's.
Eventually, Nagai's spiritual progress took a decisive turn when he thought about Pascal's words:
"There is enough light for those who
only desire to see, and enough
obscurity for those who have a contrary
disposition."
Takashi Nagai's Conversion to Catholicism
On the 9th. June 1934, Nagai received baptism in the Catholic faith. He chose the Christian first name Paul, and proposed to Midori. They married in August 1934 and had four children: a boy and three daughters.
Takashi became a member of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul and visited his patients and the poor, to whom he brought assistance, comfort and food.
Takashi Nagai's Military Service
In January 1933, Takashi began his military service with the Eleventh Hiroshima Regiment. In Manchuria, Nagai cared for the wounded, and served in the sanitary service as a medic.
He was strongly shaken in his faith in Japanese culture when saw for himself the behaviour of the Japanese soldiers and their brutality towards the Chinese civilian population.
While serving in Manchuria, Nagai received a Catholic Catechism as a gift from his to-be wife Midori. The book immediately raised concerns with his commanding sergeant, who had it examined for “subversive ideas.”
Though his sergeant found the Catechism to make no sense to him, he determined that it was not “particularly socialist”, returning the book to Nagai.
On the 7th. July 1937, the same day as the birth of his first daughter Ikuko, the war between Japan and China broke out, and he was mobilized as a surgeon in the service of the Fifth division Medical Corps.
Takashi was affected by the harsh winter in China, and the distress of the civilians and soldiers, both Chinese and Japanese. On the 4th. February 1939, he received news of the death of his father and that of his daughter Ikuko.
He remained in China until 1940. Upon his return, he continued his studies at the college.
Takashi Nagai in World War II
After Japan declared war on the United States on the 8th. December 1941, Nagai had a somber presentiment: His city could be destroyed during this war.
He obtained his doctorate in 1944. On the 26th. April 1945, an air raid on Nagasaki left numerous victims. The hospital was overwhelmed. Takashi spent his days and nights serving the wounded in his radiology department.
In June 1945, Takashi was diagnosed with leukaemia, and given a life expectancy of three years. This disease was probably due to his exposure to X-rays during radiological examinations which he performed by direct observation, since photographic film was not available during the war period.
He spoke to Midori about his disease, and she said to Nagai:
"Whether you live or die,
it is for God's glory."
On the evening of the 6th. August 1945, Nagai learned that an atomic bomb had been dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima. With Midori, he decided to take their children away to Matsuyama, 6 km away in the countryside, accompanied by Midori's mother.
Takashi Nagai's Relief Activities
On the 9th. August 1945, at 11:02 am, the second atomic bomb struck Nagasaki. At the time of the atomic bombing, Dr. Nagai was working in the radiology department of Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. He received a serious injury that severed his right temporal artery, but nevertheless joined the rest of the surviving medical staff in dedicating themselves to treating the atomic bomb victims.
He wrote a 100-page medical report about his observations detailing the "concentric circles of death" around the epicentre of the blast.
On the 11th. August 1945, he found his house destroyed and his wife dead. Months later, Nagai was found to be seriously affected by his head wound. He was confined to bed for a month, with death for a time seeming close as he began suffering from Cheyne-Stokes respiration.
According to Nagai, when he drank water taken from Lourdes in Honkawachi, where Fr. Kolbe had founded a monastery, he heard a voice urging him to ask for an intercession from the priest.
Takashi Nagai During the Postwar Years
Takashi returned to the district of Urakami (the epicentre of the bomb) on the 15th. October 1945, and built a small hut from pieces of his old house. He remained there with his two surviving children (Makoto and Kayano), his mother-in-law, and two other relatives.
In 1947, the local Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SSVDP) built a simple small teahouse-like structure for him. Nagai named it "Nyokodo" (如己堂}, literally "As-Yourself Hall", after Jesus' words, "Love your neighbour as yourself."
He styled it as a hermitage, and spent his remaining years in prayer and contemplation.
For six months, he observed mourning for Midori and let his beard and hair grow. On the 23rd. November 1945, a mass was celebrated, in front of the ruins of the cathedral, for the victims of the bomb. Takashi gave a speech filled with faith, comparing the victims to a sacred offering to obtain peace.
In the following years, Nagai resumed teaching and began to write books. The first of these, The Bells of Nagasaki, was completed by the first anniversary of the bombing. Although he failed to find a publisher at first, eventually it became a best seller and the basis for a top box-office movie in Japan.
In July 1946, he collapsed on a station platform. He was henceforth confined to bed, and remained disabled.
In 1948, he used 50,000 yen paid by the Kyushu Times to plant 1,000 three-year-old sakura (cherry) trees in the district of Urakami in order to transform this devastated land into a "Hill of Flowers".
Although some have been replaced, these cherry trees are still called "Nagai Senbonzakura" ("1,000 cherry trees of Nagai"). Their flowers decorate the houses of Urakami in spring. By 2010, the numbers of these cherry trees were reduced to only about 20 due to aging and other causes.
On the 3rd. December 1949, he was made freeman of the city of Nagasaki. He received a visit from Helen Keller in October 1948. He was visited, in 1949, by Emperor Hirohito and by Cardinal Gilroy of Australia, a papal emissary.
The Death of Takashi Nagai
On the 1st. May 1951, Takashi asked to be transported to the college hospital in Nagasaki so that the medical students could observe the last moments of a man preparing to die from leukaemia. He had postponed the day of hospitalization to wait for the statue of Our Lady, a gift from the Italian Catholic Medical Association.
Until the evening, his condition seemed stable. However, around 9:40pm, Nagai complained of dizziness and became unconscious. After two injections of cardiotonics, he regained his consciousness and prayed:
"Jesus, Mary, Joseph, into
your hands, I entrust my soul."
Then he took the cross from the hand of his son Makoto, who rushed into the room, and shortly after he shouted the words "Please pray!" Nagai breathed his last at 9:50 pm.
He died at the young age of 43. On the following day, his body underwent an autopsy at the hospital according to his will. His spleen had swelled to 3,410g (normal weight: 94g), and his liver weighed 5,035g (normal weight: 1,400g).
On the 3rd. May, his funeral Mass was celebrated by Bishop Paul Aijirō Yamaguchi in front of the cathedral. On the 14th. May, an official ceremony took place in memory of Nagai. An estimated 20,000 individuals attended. The city of Nagasaki observed one minute of silence while the bells of all the religious buildings rang. His remains were interred in the Sakamoto international cemetery.
Takashi Nagai's Legacy
Takashi Nagai's "Nyokodo", with the addition of a library, became a museum in 1952: the Nagasaki City Nagai Takashi Memorial Museum. The museum is in Unnan City, Shimane Prefecture, where he spent his childhood.
After undergoing restoration in 2000, the museum is managed today by Tokusaburo Nagai, the grandson of Takashi Nagai, and son of Makoto Nagai.
Dr. Takashi Nagai's name was added to the Monument to the X-ray and Radium Martyrs of All Nations erected in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1991, the Takashi Nagai Peace Award was founded in Nagasaki, with the purpose of annually awarding individuals and/or organizations, both domestic and overseas, for their contributions to world peace through improvements and developments of medicare for hibakusha and related social welfare.
On the 1st. April 2003, a center to offer medical care for domestic and overseas hibakusha, the Nagai Takashi Memorial International Hibakusha Medical Center was founded at Nagasaki University Hospital.
In Korea in 2004, the Most Rev. Paul Moon-hee Rhee, then Archbishop of Daegu, founded the Korean Association of "Love Your Neighbour as Yourself".
Nagai has been designated a Servant of God by the Catholic Church.
Nuclear Power
Although Nagai opposed the use of nuclear weapons, he hoped that atomic energy might be used for peaceful purposes. At the end of the Atomic Bomb Rescue and Relief Report, he writes:
"We should utilize the principle of the atomic
bomb. Go forward in the research of atomic
energy contributing to the progress of
civilization.
A misfortune will then be transformed to
good fortune. The world civilization will
change with the utilization of atomic energy.
If a new and fortunate world can be made,
the souls of so many victims will rest in peace."
Works of Takashi Nagai
Nagai left behind a voluminous output of essays, memoirs, drawings, and calligraphy on themes including God, war, death, medicine, and orphanhood.
These enjoyed a large readership during the American occupation of Japan (1945–52) as spiritual chronicles of the atomic bomb experience.
His books have been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Korean, French, and German. Four of his literary works are currently available in English:
-- We of Nagasaki, a compilation of atomic-bomb victim testimonies edited by Nagai
-- The Bells of Nagasaki
-- Leaving My Beloved Children Behind
-- Thoughts from Nykodo
Takashi Nagai's works were recently republished in new Japanese editions by Paulist Press.
Much of Nagai's writing is spiritual, consisting of Christian reflections on the experience (or, just as often, imagined future experience) of himself and the people around him, especially his children, in the aftermath of the war.
His intensely personal meditations are often addressed to his children or to God, and he works out his own spiritual issues on the page as he writes in visceral and uncensored prose.
Nagai's more technical writings, in Atomic Bomb Rescue and Relief Report, were discovered in 1970.
