London: Nagasaki Day Commemoration Ceremony

Rev Nagase with speakers and participants by the Peace Pagoda

The 79th anniversary of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki was commemorated in London yesterday, with a procession from Holy Apostles, Pimlico - following the memorial service for Blessed Franz Jagerstatter - to the Peace Pagoda in Battersea Park, led by Buddhist monk the Rev Gyoro Nagase with several monks and a nun from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order.

They were accompanied by representatives from several London churches, Pax Christi, Westminster Justice and Peace, CND and other peace campaigners.

Arriving at the Peace Pagoda they were welcomed by Mr Shigeo Kobayashi from Japan Against Nuclear UK (JAN). After a water sprinkling and blessing by Rev Nagase Shonin, participants chanted chapter 16 from the Lotus Sutra. This was followed by Christian prayers for peace by Catholic Deacon Rev Jon Dal Din, from Southwark Diocese, Unitarian Pastor Rev Fergus O'Connor and Quaker David Stephenson.

All participants then were invited to come forward to offer incense and flowers.

Mr Shigeo Kobayashi then gave a brief address, reflecting on the horrors of war in an atomic age, and calling for prayers for peace and harmony between all peoples and nations. He said that more than 74,000 people had died in Nagasaki, in 1945 but people there now still suffer the consequences of the bombing. He noted that for the first time the ambassadors of the UK and other countries had declined to attend the memorial service in Nagasaki, because the ambassador of Israel had not been invited. ( The Mayor of Nagasaki Shiro Suzuki, said that the reason for not inviting Israel was not political. Commentators suggested it was rather for security reasons.)

The last speaker was Ms Carol Turner, chair of London CND. In her address she warned that we are living in a very dangerous time, particularly with events in the Middle East, bringing us closer to nuclear war than we have ever been since 1945.

As an orange sunset began filled the London sky, the colourful lanterns on the steps of the pagoda, represented souls of the 74,000 people who perished in the bombing in 1945, started to glow.

Singer Brigette Bennett gave a beautiful acapella performance of 'Song for Peace' as the crowd slowly dispersed into the night.