ABSTRACT
A ‘cry for water’ rang out again and again in the ‘atomic field’ after the bombing. The haunting cries for water haunt not only the atomic narrative, but also the public history about persecutions, namely in the experiences of the great-grandmother of interviewee Kataoka Chizuko, Sada. People cried out and died in the Urakami River after the bombing but water is simultaneously a symbol of life, replenishment and spiritual well-being. The abruptly silenced cry of the people for water in the atomic narrative is specific ‘dangerous’ memory, witnessed by Miyake and shared for those who will listen. After a lifetime of hearing of communal ancestral narratives, an Urakami Catholic listening to Nakamura’s or Miyake’s memory of the ‘cry for water’ might well be drawn to a comparable story found in the public history of the persecutions. The water, physically ‘dangerous’ for those victimised at the time, in death enabled purification and restoration.
