Hibakujumoku

<i>Hibakujumoku</i>

Hibakujumoku

Tree that survived the 1945 atomic bombings of Japan


Hibakujumoku (Japanese: 被爆樹木; also called survivor tree or A-bombed tree in English) is a Japanese term for a tree that survived the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The term is from Japanese: 被爆, romanized: hibaku, lit.'bombed, A-bombed, nuked'[1] and Japanese: 樹木, romanized: jumoku, lit.'trees and shrubs'.[2]

Eucalypt at the site of Hiroshima Castle, 740 m from hypocenter. The tree survived the atomic bombing, while the castle was destroyed.

Damage

The heat emitted by the explosion in Hiroshima within the first three seconds at a distance of three kilometres from the hypocenter was about 40 times greater than that from the Sun.[3] The initial radiation level at the hypocenter was approximately 240 Gy.[3] According to Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings, plants suffered damage only in the portions exposed above ground, while portions underground were not directly damaged.[4]

Regeneration

The rate of regeneration differed by species. Active regeneration was shown by broad-leaved trees.[4] Approximately 170 trees that grew in Hiroshima in 2011 had actually been there prior to the bombing.[5] The oleander was designated the official flower of Hiroshima for its remarkable vitality.[4]

Types of hibakujumoku

Hibakujumoku species are listed in the UNITAR database,[6] shown below, combined with data from Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings. A more extensive list, including distance from the hypocenter for each tree, is available in Survivors: The A-bombed Trees of Hiroshima.[7]

List

More information Common name, Binomial name ...

Surviving trees in Nagasaki

Although not as well known as the hibakujumoku in Hiroshima, there are a number of similar survivors in the vicinity of the hypocenter in Nagasaki. Approximately 50 of these trees have been documented in English.[8]

See also


References

  1. "被爆 - Wiktionary". en.wiktionary.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  2. "樹木 - Wiktionary". en.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  3. Frank Barnaby; Douglas Holdstock, eds. (2014). Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Restrospect and Prospect. Routledge. ISBN 978-1135209933.
  4. Peter Del Tredici. "Hibaku Trees of Hiroshima" (PDF). Arnold Arboretum. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  5. "Database of Hibaku Jumoku ? Atomic-Bombed Trees of Hiroshima" (PDF). UNITAR. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. Petersen, David & Conti, Mandy. (2008). Survivors: The A-bombed Trees of Hiroshima. Lulu Press, Morrisville, NC, USA. ISBN 978-1-4092-0501-2
  7. Petersen, David. (2012). Prayers in Stone: Nagasaki's A-bomb Heritage Sites. Lulu Press, Morrisville, NC, USA. ISBN 978-0-359-47868-2

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Hibakujumoku, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.