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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons has donated a sculpture of a little boy’s tricycle that was found the day Hiroshima was attacked with an atomic bomb to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and the City of Geneva. The sculpture Future Memory- Tricycle, was inaugurated at the Museum on 19 September 2024 and will now remain on permanent display stands as a tribute to the victims of the atomic bombings of 1945, and the work of civil society and the other members of the international community, particularly states that have joined the TPNW, towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Three-year-old Shinichi Tetsutani was riding his tricycle when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Shinichi was found by his mother near his beloved tricycle suffering from severe burns and other injuries. He died that night.
Shinichi’s two sisters had been trapped under their house and burned to death, so his parents could not face cremating him and decided to bury him with his tricycle in their garden. 40 years later, in 1985, they decided to move their son’s remains to the family gravesite and donated the tricycle to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
When donating the tricycle to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Shinichi’s father, Nobuo Tetsunani, said, “This should never happen to children. Please work to create a peaceful world where children can play to their heart’s content.”
“Future Memory - Tricycle” was made possible by the Tetsutani family’s support. They wish for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons together with all Hibakusha, as the survivors of the atomic bombings are known. Shinichi’s actual tricycle has been on display at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum since 1991, cherished by the citizens of Hiroshima, leaving a lasting impression on visitors from around the world and symbolising hope and resilience.
From Hiroshima to Geneva
The sculpture was donated to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum and the City of Geneva by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) in partnership with the artists from 1Future / Future Memory Project.
ICAN’s Executive Director, Melissa Parke, said, “It is a great honour to be able to donate this sculpture to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum. The Red Cross was one of the first international organisations to reach Hiroshima after the atomic bombing and the ICRC has always been clear that the inhumane impact of nuclear weapons means they should never be used again and, along with ICAN, supports their total elimination. Shinichi’s tricycle is a reminder of those terrible events and serves to motivate us to make sure we never let such a thing happen again.”
Pascal Hufschmid, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum’s Director welcomed the sculpture and highlighted its significance: “Behind every conflict, past or present, there are always personal and unique stories that remind us of our shared humanity. The Hiroshima Tricycle is above all the story of a little boy, Shinichi, and his family. We are deeply grateful and honoured to be able to perpetuate his memory, with care and respect, through this exceptional sculpture, now permanently installed in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum at the heart of Geneva, the world centre of humanitarian action and multilateral diplomacy.”
About the sculpture
The sculpture, titled "Future Memory - Tricycle", is a bronze artwork by Akira Fujimoto and Cannon Hersey, created with digitally scanned data of Shinichi's tricycle and made into an actual-sized sculpture. Cannon Hersey is the grandson of John Hersey, the first foreign journalist to report from Hiroshima in the wake of the atomic bombing of the city and author of Hiroshima which brought the truth of what had happened there to the outside world.
Commissioned by ICAN, it was donated in honour of the efforts by governments and civil society leading to the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which entered into force in 2021.
Learn more about the sculpture’s creation and the Future Memory project at tricycle-geneva.ch and futurememory.jp