Watashi ga Chiisakatta Toki ni (When I Was a Child)

Edited by Arata Osada, from Genbaku no Ko (Children of Hiroshima), Doshinsha Publishing, 1967
This picture book is composed of Chihiro’s illustrations for poems and essays written by children who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Chihiro visited Hiroshima to gather material for the book and discovered the terrible reality of the bombed area. Her thoughts were with the children who died there, and she spent a sleepless night at an inn near the site of the center of the explosion. At first, Chihiro felt unsure whether she would be able to draw injured children. However, she became convinced that her role was to show that adorable children were left there, and immersed herself into the serious theme of atomic bombs.