Masami Oki
Photos of the destruction of Hiroshima by Masami Oki 尾木正 (1914-2007) taken on August 20, 1945. Masami Okii, who was 31 years old worked for the Kure Naval District Kure Naval Arsenal Pyrotechnic Department from Kaita Town, Hiroshima Prefecture, where he still lives.While I was working indoors, I heard a roaring sound that lifted my hand holding a pencil. He saw a huge cloud rising about 20 kilometers west and took out a German-made Leica at work.
“I was urged to lift my hand with a pencil. Judging from the situation, most people thought that it was not a normal bomb but a gunpowder detonation near Hiroshima city. I released a few shutters on the glittering mushroom cloud that rose in a few minutes. “
Another point of view (lower right) comes from Kure Naval Arsenal, now the Japan Coast Guard Academy, just outside the city, where Oki Masami took this photo. Records made by the Japanese military indicate that it looked as if something was burning within the atomic cloud, with strong sparks and flashes that gave a view of a grand fire within the smoke cloud.
