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A Song for Nagasaki - Hallow Edition: The Story of Takashi Nagai a Scientist, Convert, and Survivor of the Atomic Bomb
On August 9, 1945, an American B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing tens of thousands of people in the blink of an eye, while fatally injuring and poisoning thousands more. Among the survivors was Takashi Nagai, a pioneer in radiology research and a convert to the Catholic Faith. Living in the rubble of the ruined city and suffering from leukemia caused by over-exposure to radiation, Nagai lived out the remainder of his remarkable life by bringing physical and spiritual healing to his war-weary people. A Song for Nagasaki tells the moving story of this extraordinary man, beginning with his boyhood and the heroic tales and stoic virtues of his family's Shinto religion. It reveals the inspiring story of Nagai's remarkable spiritual journey from Shintoism to atheism to Catholicism. Mixed with interesting details about Japanese history and culture, the biography traces Nagai's spiritual quest as he studied medicine at Nagasaki University, served as a medic with the Japanese army during its occupation of Manchuria, and returned to Nagasaki to dedicate himself to the science of radiology. The historic Catholic district of the city, where Nagai became a Catholic and began a family, was ground zero for the atomic bomb. After the bomb disaster that killed thousands, including Nagai's beloved wife, Nagai, then Dean of Radiology at Nagasaki University, threw himself into service to the countless victims of the bomb explosion, even though it meant deadly exposure to the radiation which eventually would cause his own death. While dying, he also wrote powerful books that became best-sellers in Japan. These included The Bells of Nagasaki, which resonated deeply with the Japanesepeople in their great suffering as it explores the Christian message of love and forgiveness. Nagai became a highly revered man and is considered a saint by many Japanese people. Illustrated
267 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1989
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3184 people want to read
About the author
Paul Glynn
9 books16 followersFr. Paul Glynn is a Marist priest who served as a missionary in Japan for twenty-five years. He has written five other books including A Song for Nagasaki and Healing Fire of Christ.
Paul Glynn is a Marist missionary priest and writer from Australia. He is the author of several books, including The Song of Nagasaki and The Smile of the Ragpicker, both best-sellers and translated into several languages.
Glynn has been a Catholic priest since 1953. He has devoted a lifetime to reconciliation and friendship between Australia and Japan, the two former wartime foes. He was inspired to follow Padre Lionel Marsden, a former prisoner-of-war of the Japanese on the Burma Railway, to work for reconciliation with the people of Japan. He subsequently helped his brother Tony, who was also a promoter of reconciliation with Japan. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) from the Australian government for reconciliation work between Japan and Australia. He initiated Australia's first Sister City relationship with a Japanese city – between Yamato Takada in Nara Prefecture and Lismore in northern New South Wales – half a century ago
Paul Glynn is a Marist missionary priest and writer from Australia. He is the author of several books, including The Song of Nagasaki and The Smile of the Ragpicker, both best-sellers and translated into several languages.
Glynn has been a Catholic priest since 1953. He has devoted a lifetime to reconciliation and friendship between Australia and Japan, the two former wartime foes. He was inspired to follow Padre Lionel Marsden, a former prisoner-of-war of the Japanese on the Burma Railway, to work for reconciliation with the people of Japan. He subsequently helped his brother Tony, who was also a promoter of reconciliation with Japan. He is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government and the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) from the Australian government for reconciliation work between Japan and Australia. He initiated Australia's first Sister City relationship with a Japanese city – between Yamato Takada in Nara Prefecture and Lismore in northern New South Wales – half a century ago
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October 1, 2023
This is a biography of Takashi Nagai (1908-1951), a Japanese physician and survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. He is well known for his efforts to help the victims of the Nagasaki atom bomb despite his own injuries and loss of his wife during the bomb blast. He was a physician specializing in radiology and used his knowledge to write descriptions of symptoms of radiation sickness. He himself suffered from leukemia brought on by exposure to radiation in his work with early x-ray equipment that provided no shielding for the operator.
He also wrote a book titled "The Bells of Nagaski" that became a best seller and made into a movie. He used his perspective as a convert to Roman Catholicism to write several books and numerous poems and articles with spiritual themes encouraging the positive acceptance of human pain and suffering.
This book is able to describe Nagai's inner thoughts and feelings in more detail than one would normally expect from a biography because the author had access to Nagai's writings and journals. These include descriptions of his reasons for converting to Christianity.
The author, Paul Glynn, is an Australian Marist missionary priest and writer who lived in Japan for over 20 years. His writing emphasizes the religious and spiritual aspects of Nagai's life. Christians of strong personal faith, Roman Catholics in particular, should find reading this story to be an emotional and moving experience.
The book says twenty thousand people attended Nagai's funeral.
The following is a link to a song written by poet Hachiro Sato for the first Nagai movie and put to music by Yuji Koseki. It has become a Japanese perennial and has been compared with Danny Boy in mood and appeal. The English translation lyrics are below also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq6P6... (soprano solo)
He also wrote a book titled "The Bells of Nagaski" that became a best seller and made into a movie. He used his perspective as a convert to Roman Catholicism to write several books and numerous poems and articles with spiritual themes encouraging the positive acceptance of human pain and suffering.
This book is able to describe Nagai's inner thoughts and feelings in more detail than one would normally expect from a biography because the author had access to Nagai's writings and journals. These include descriptions of his reasons for converting to Christianity.
The author, Paul Glynn, is an Australian Marist missionary priest and writer who lived in Japan for over 20 years. His writing emphasizes the religious and spiritual aspects of Nagai's life. Christians of strong personal faith, Roman Catholics in particular, should find reading this story to be an emotional and moving experience.
The book says twenty thousand people attended Nagai's funeral.
The following is a link to a song written by poet Hachiro Sato for the first Nagai movie and put to music by Yuji Koseki. It has become a Japanese perennial and has been compared with Danny Boy in mood and appeal. The English translation lyrics are below also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq6P6... (soprano solo)
1.
From a glorious blue sky
Sorrow came that rent my heart.
This life of ours is as unstable as the waves,
As impermanent as wild flowers in the field!
CHORUS
Ah yes, but they still ring out,
Comforting and encouraging,
The Bells of Nagasaki.
2.
She died alone, my wife,
called to heaven before me,
Leaving me as keepsake her Rosary.
Now it glistens with my tears.
CHORUS
3.
That funeral Mass! Under a sky that wept in mouring,
A moaning wind for our hymns.
I clutched the cross fashioned for her grave.
The sparkling sea was gray with grief.
CHORUS
4.
There I bared my soul in its sinfulness.
Night fell, its darkness softened by a clear moon
And the statue of the holy one, Mary,
Fixed to a wooden beam in my poor hut.
CHORUS
April 26, 2023
I reread this for A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast where Scott and I discuss it.
It wasn't planned this way but, ending as it did with Nagai's suffering and sacrifice, this was such a perfect book to read during Holy Week. It was so moving and inspirational.
My original review is below.
=========
In 1928 young Takashi Nagai was a medical student at the top of his class. An atheist, he passionately believed that science held the key to the future of the human race. He loved his country and believed the "spirit of Japan" would improve his nation's future.
Then came a telegram that sent him racing home to be with his mother as she died. And his world changed.
Nagai's biography is captivatingly told. Paul Glynn combines vivid descriptions, character insights, and just enough Japanese history so that we have context. As a result I wound up admiring the Japanese people even more than I did already. I never realized how many of the Japanese ideals combine with saintly living, especially as seen through Takashi Nagai's eventful life.
This is much more than a simple biography, needless to say. Because we're following Nagai's spiritual journey, we are invited to look deeper within ourselves and journey also. This book is fascinating and inspirational.
How fitting that this is the first book I finished in 2014. Not only is it the Solemnity of Mary, which Nagai would have very much appreciated, but it is the beginning of a New Year where I am taking Takashi Nagai as my patron for the year. So ... it seems meant to be on several levels.
Highest recommendation.
It wasn't planned this way but, ending as it did with Nagai's suffering and sacrifice, this was such a perfect book to read during Holy Week. It was so moving and inspirational.
My original review is below.
=========
In 1928 young Takashi Nagai was a medical student at the top of his class. An atheist, he passionately believed that science held the key to the future of the human race. He loved his country and believed the "spirit of Japan" would improve his nation's future.
Then came a telegram that sent him racing home to be with his mother as she died. And his world changed.
"I rushed to her bedside. She was still breathing. She looked fixedly at me, and that's how the end came. My mother in that last penetrating gaze knocked down the ideological framework I had constructed. This woman who had brought me into the world and reared me, this woman who had never once let up in her love for me ... in the very last moments of her life spoke clearly to me! Her eyes spoke to mine, and with finality, saying: 'Your mother now takes leave in death, but her living spirit will be beside her little one, Takashi.' I who was so sure that there was no such thing as a spirit was not told otherwise; and I could not but believe. My mother's eyes told me that the human spirit lives on after death. All this was by way of an intuition, an intuition carrying conviction."In an unlikely turn of events, Nagai turned to Blaise Pascal's Pensées in his grief and bewilderment, having been attracted to the Catholic poet-scientist in a high school literature class. This was the first step into a spiritual journey that ended in Nagai becoming known as the "saint of Urakami" after the atomic bomb hit Nagasaki.
Nagai's biography is captivatingly told. Paul Glynn combines vivid descriptions, character insights, and just enough Japanese history so that we have context. As a result I wound up admiring the Japanese people even more than I did already. I never realized how many of the Japanese ideals combine with saintly living, especially as seen through Takashi Nagai's eventful life.
At Mass on Sundays and feast days, the Nagais often heard Father Moriyama speak on the beauty of the simple family life at Nazareth. It showed, he said, the great worth of ordinary family life and the grace of God present in humdrum daily work. This reminded Nagai of his boyhood, when his mother taught him how to find the universe in a bowl of rice: "Look at the rice carefully, and discover behind it the countless generations of farmers who pioneered wild land and nurtured rice paddies through droughts and floods, poverty, war and pestilence. See generations of artisans too in the simple, practical beauty of the bowl and chopsticks and in all the merchants who handled Them. See your parents took, who worked hard to be able to buy and cook the rice." Nagai's mother would conclude her lesson by joining her hands and bowing in a gesture of profound gratitude, reciting a prayer that explained all this, and the universe as well: "Namu Amida Butsu. We depend on our utterly, Amida Buddha."I am really struck by how many modern issues Nagai struggled with: belief in science as ultimate good, humanism, the atom bomb, cancer, and more. His faith gave him peace and the way he lived it in unimaginable circumstances gave that peace and faith to others. I also really admired his absolute dedication to truth, so much so that when he became curious about Christianity he decided to carry out a scientific experiment by boarding with a Japanese Catholic family.
... [The Japanese character] Shigoto, "work," is made of two ideographs meaning "something that is a service." All are the beneficiaries of countless other "workers," and we owe it to the community to do our own job well, not primarily for material recompense but out of gratitude. This was the boy's introduction to Japan's famous work ethic. Nagai the Christian recalled his mother's gentle homespun spirituality with gratitude.
This is much more than a simple biography, needless to say. Because we're following Nagai's spiritual journey, we are invited to look deeper within ourselves and journey also. This book is fascinating and inspirational.
How fitting that this is the first book I finished in 2014. Not only is it the Solemnity of Mary, which Nagai would have very much appreciated, but it is the beginning of a New Year where I am taking Takashi Nagai as my patron for the year. So ... it seems meant to be on several levels.
Highest recommendation.
December 4, 2013
One of the most beautiful biographies I have read. It talks about Takashi Nagai who survived the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. In the fatal event he lost much. He should have been a man reduced to meaninglessness. He had all the reasons needed to hate mankind and God. But then he did the opposite. He complained about nothing and loved God more and gave a hope to all the other survivors. Moreover, he was like a Japanese St. Augustine. Initially he was not a believer in Catholicism. He was a seeker of truth and he believed in the absoluteness of science. He slowly came to know of Christ and converted himself to Catholicism. He lived a life worthy of a saint. In fact, Japanese (both Christians and non-Christians) admire him as a saint for he gave hope for the demoralized people after the A-bomb event.
P.S. You will find yourself crying more often as you read through the pages.
P.S. You will find yourself crying more often as you read through the pages.
April 23, 2024
Oh, my goodness, this book. As my historical biography for this term, I expected to like it, but I did not expect for it to completely rip me apart with its sadness, honesty, and beauty. The way the horrors of the Nagasaki bombing are described is so memorable, but even more memorable is the courage, selflessness, and virtue of one unassuming but magnificent man, Takashi Nagai. His journey from cynical and materialistic Atheism to peaceful and prayerful Catholicism is astounding. I especially loved the asides on Japanese culture and philosophy and the lovely, heart-rending extracts from Nagai's writing. Although A Song for Nagasaki was sometimes so bluntly tragic that I didn't know how I would finish, it is also beautiful, inspiring, and I completely adore it!
March 24, 2025
Beyond insight, this reaches into the heart of prayer and devotion using a modern survivor’s story of hope. This isn’t optimism for the sake of smiles, but God at work. It is a movement of the heart and a powerful witness.
August 17, 2025
I read this book because my roommate had a copy of it and I needed something to read on a trip (also it was featured on Hallow). And you know what, I really enjoyed it!! I read it rather quickly for me. It is written in an engaging way and the central story line keeps on at a good pace. I enjoyed it for its history and culture lessons on Japan. I enjoyed the story of a convert. I enjoyed it for the biography of a man who really knew the heart of God and lived that out of his experiences. Honestly, it tied really well into an earlier summer read, He Leadeth Me. Would recommend this book to anyone, but especially those who enjoy history or are looking for a spiritual read that is also engaging.
December 4, 2013
This book was a rare gem. It is the story of the life of Takashi Nagai, who becomes a Catholic Christian. His faith survives and maintains him through the bombing Nagasaki, which kills his wife, who dies with a rosary in her hand, and ultimately brings about Nagai's death. Aside from Nagai's personal story, we learn of the history of Christians in and around Nagasaki.
The first time I read this book, it had been loaned to me with strict admonition for its return. My father had been led to hunt it down (it was out of print) and purchase it after reading a borrowed copy. I ultimately hunted down and purchased a copy myself. I just learned that this book has been reprinted! Thank you Ignatius Press
The first time I read this book, it had been loaned to me with strict admonition for its return. My father had been led to hunt it down (it was out of print) and purchase it after reading a borrowed copy. I ultimately hunted down and purchased a copy myself. I just learned that this book has been reprinted! Thank you Ignatius Press
December 4, 2013
I don't know what to say, really, except that this was one of the most exceptional true-life stories I've ever read. Instead of burdening anyone with what I got out of it, I welcome you to read it yourself and glean what you will on your own.
Synopsis: The story of Dr. Takashi Nagai who was a pioneer for Radiology in Japan at the University of Nagasaki at the time the Atomic Bomb was dropped on the city. He also undertook a surprising religious journey that lead him to Christianity, by far a minority religion in Japan.
Synopsis: The story of Dr. Takashi Nagai who was a pioneer for Radiology in Japan at the University of Nagasaki at the time the Atomic Bomb was dropped on the city. He also undertook a surprising religious journey that lead him to Christianity, by far a minority religion in Japan.
April 23, 2025
¡Librazo! Historia de un hombre fiel, sencillo, amoroso, transparente, humano y creyente.
Cuenta con datos históricos sobre la bomba atómica, ya sea como lectura espiritual o cultural, ¡una joya para disfrutar!
Cuenta con datos históricos sobre la bomba atómica, ya sea como lectura espiritual o cultural, ¡una joya para disfrutar!
December 4, 2013
A very good read. I wish I was able to read it continuously, not in spurts spanning a few months. But anyway.. It was very good. :)
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
"The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church."
June 21, 2016
This is the book that has influenced me most (in my adult life). I cannot recommend it highly enough.
July 29, 2025
S/O to Fr. Drew for recommending this and knowing I would love it. Wow-- what a journey for the heart. Takashi Nagai was a true friend to the Lord and to fellow man. The grief and awe and curiosity of Nagai's life with just jumps out on every page. He has shown us the way! What a gift to know his life and to have such an example of how we are to live.
Definitely one of my new favorites — not just because of the way that Fr. Paul Glynn writes (a true masterpiece!) but for the depth of research into the history and culture of Japan. I love being Catholic, I love Japan and I love Takashi Nagai!
"Unless you’ve looked into the eyes of menacing death and felt its hot breath, you can’t help another rise from the dead and taste anew the joy of being alive. Suffering, gracefully accepted, refines the human heart."
Definitely one of my new favorites — not just because of the way that Fr. Paul Glynn writes (a true masterpiece!) but for the depth of research into the history and culture of Japan. I love being Catholic, I love Japan and I love Takashi Nagai!
"Unless you’ve looked into the eyes of menacing death and felt its hot breath, you can’t help another rise from the dead and taste anew the joy of being alive. Suffering, gracefully accepted, refines the human heart."
December 4, 2013
Absolutely beautiful. Easily placed on my favorites shelf. I loved how so much information on Shintoism, Confucianism, and the history of Christianity in Japan were woven seamlessly into this biography. One of the most inspiring bios, I've read -- it ranks right up there with Immaculee Ilibagiza's Left to Tell. Both lived through immense tragedies, but both maintain(ed) a strong sense of God's goodness and grace.
I think I need to read this one again, more slowly this time, to soak up the lyrical language, the poetry. I was drawn to Dr. Nagai's love of nature and art, he was a true seeker of the truth.
Looking forward to the film that's in production about his life -- it will be good for more people to learn about this amazing man and his legacy.
I think I need to read this one again, more slowly this time, to soak up the lyrical language, the poetry. I was drawn to Dr. Nagai's love of nature and art, he was a true seeker of the truth.
Looking forward to the film that's in production about his life -- it will be good for more people to learn about this amazing man and his legacy.
December 4, 2013
A marvelous book about an incredible witness of faith & trust in God's Providence, Takashi Nagai. His story will stay with me. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book.
October 24, 2020
Moving, simple, powerful.
Must read for Christians, medical professionals, for anyone who suffers.
Must read for Christians, medical professionals, for anyone who suffers.
June 14, 2025
In this book we learn the fascinating story and spirituality of Takashi Nagai, one of the first radiologists in Japan, who contracted leukemia from his long hours x-raying countless TB patients.
While he studied and worked at Nagasaki hospital, he boarded with a Catholic family descending from the original converts by St. Francis Xavier and his companions. He carefully read and meditated on the Gospel, Pascal's Pensees and talked to his host family and their priest. After the war in Manchuria, where he worked as a doctor, he came to understand the Christian answer to the problem of pain and evil, became a Catholic and married Midori, the daughter of his host family.
He was already suffering from leukemia when the atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki, killing Midori and destroying most of the Christian quarter and its Cathedral. He worked tiredlessly to help the sick, and wrote useful medical reports and articles about the effects of radiation. In his last years, while bedridden, he continued writing books and his small hut where he lived as a hermit became a pilgrimage destination for many Japanese and foreigners.
While he studied and worked at Nagasaki hospital, he boarded with a Catholic family descending from the original converts by St. Francis Xavier and his companions. He carefully read and meditated on the Gospel, Pascal's Pensees and talked to his host family and their priest. After the war in Manchuria, where he worked as a doctor, he came to understand the Christian answer to the problem of pain and evil, became a Catholic and married Midori, the daughter of his host family.
He was already suffering from leukemia when the atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki, killing Midori and destroying most of the Christian quarter and its Cathedral. He worked tiredlessly to help the sick, and wrote useful medical reports and articles about the effects of radiation. In his last years, while bedridden, he continued writing books and his small hut where he lived as a hermit became a pilgrimage destination for many Japanese and foreigners.
January 6, 2025
This brief autobiography of Takashi Nagai will bring out a range of emotions in the reader: laughter and tears; awe and sadness. Takashi's life followed two simple maxims: live lovingly towards others and glorify God in all situations. Imagine living that way through wartime service in China, through leukemia, and through the loss of your wife and city in the bombing of Nagasaki. He was a remarkable man, and his life challenges me. I hope to read some of Takashi's own writings in the future.
July 12, 2025
"A Song for Nagasaki" remains one of the most inspiring biographies ever written. Great men and women are forged through bitter adversity; what event in human history could compare in darkness with the unleasing of the Atom bomb on the populous city of Nagasaki? Yet, one man forged meaning from the ashes and found light from above to become a joyfilled inspirational saint rather than a bitter survivor. And his choice along with God's grace helped transform the minds and hearts of many others.
July 7, 2021
A great story of a great man with so many points to challenge and inspire.
January 26, 2022
This book engaged me from start to finish. Beautifully written and spiritually refreshing. There is much to reflect upon and learn from this incredible man who let his soul respond to the truth he saw and was converted from atheism. He allowed God to work on his heart and became a beacon of peace in his devastated community of Nagasaki. I learnt so much about the effects of the atom bomb and the experience of the people on the ground. A call to pray for peace.
September 25, 2024
Wow! How did I not know about Takashi Nagai? Beautifully written book about a beautiful life.
March 21, 2025
Made me fall in love with Japan. Great silent retreat reading. Thanks Fr. Ryan :)
September 2, 2025
“For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.”
The most touching story of discipleship I have read in a long, long time. Servant of God Takashi Nagai, pray for us!!
The most touching story of discipleship I have read in a long, long time. Servant of God Takashi Nagai, pray for us!!
July 10, 2025
A song for Nagasaki: The Story of Takashi Nagai
by Paul Glynn
Wow! What a story! I first heard about Takashi Nagai while listening to a podcast earlier this year. When my book club announced we would be reading this book, I was excited to learn more about this remarkable man. Takashi was a Japanese Scientist who was born and raised in the Shinto religion. As he studied science he became an atheist, but in his search for truth he converted to the Roman Catholic faith. This was initially prompted by some deep feelings he experienced while holding his mother’s hand as she died and his love for poetry, music, and reading the works of a French philosopher named Blaise Pascal (who also invented the barometer!)
In the early 1930’s Takashi was finishing medical school, walking in the footsteps of his father. He was incredibly smart and did very well in his studies. (I was fascinated to learn that medical students in Japan in the 1930’s had to pass exams in 9 different areas to become a doctor – internal medicine, surgery, ENT, psychiatry, ophthalmology, gynecology, dermatology, urology, and pediatrics!) Not only was Takashi passing, but he was the valedictorian of his class, and he had a prestigious offer awaiting him after graduation – to work at the University hospital in Nagasaki. {[Throughout this period Takashi was observing the family he boarded with – the Moriyama family- and finding joy and comfort in their Catholic identity – praying the Angelus at 6,12, and 6, resting on Sundays, attending masses with beautiful music, etc. The seed of faith that had been planted within him during his mother’s death was sprouting and taking root.]} Just days before the ceremony, Takashi had prepared his graduation speech and was on top of the world! Unfortunately, he became very sick with meningitis, missed the graduation, and ultimately ended up being deaf in one ear – which resulted in severing his dreams of being a university doctor since he could not properly use a stethoscope. Almost as an act of pity, the University instead offered him a job working in the new radiology division. The X-ray department was like the red-headed-stepchild of the University, but Takashi knew if he didn’t accept that offer there would be nothing else left for him. The head of the X-ray department told Takashi that it was the wave of the future. He was skeptical but made the conscious decision to jump into the role with enthusiasm.
{[Continuing to explore the idea of having faith in a Christian God, Takashi followed the advice of his favorite author, Pascal, and decided to “fake it til you make it.” He went to mass for the first time on Christmas Eve of 1932 with the Moriyamas. He was deeply moved, but not yet wholly convinced.]} In January of 1933, Takashi was called to serve as a medic helping wounded soldiers in the Chinese-Japanese war. He went off to serve and experienced all the atrocities of war. Back in Nagasaki, unknown to him, Midori Moriyama (the daughter of the family who boarded him) was praying that Takashi remain protected until he came to know and accept Jesus. Since Takashi did not have a mother to write him letters, Midori decided she would write to him with encouragement and continue to pray for him until he returned. [{ While he was away, she sent him a copy of the Catechism to read. As he read about the Ten Commandments, he felt embarrassed and dirty, realizing he had spent much of his life observing the wrong things – pride, lust, covetousness, gluttony, and anger. He sat in Manchuria realizing he wanted to change his life. Upon returning to Nagasaki from Manchuria, Takashi visited the priest at the Urakami Cathedral and had a very long talk with him – asking questions, looking for guidance, wanting to make sense of things. That day was the first time Takashi prayed.]}
Now that he was back in Nagasaki, he went back to his job in radiology at the university. Shortly after that he was baptized into the Catholic faith, without the blessing of his Shinto father. He felt truly happy, and this led to a deeper relationship with Midori. The two of them married and by the time they had their first child, a boy, in 1935, they were at peace with Takashi’s father. Takashi continued his work in radiology and published research on kidney stones in medical journals. He also joined the society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and he encouraged other doctors to join him in providing medical care for the poor when they had time off from work. He wrote that “Assistance is authentic when it helps restore a person’s dignity.” Around this time, political tensions were rising, and Japan became a military dictatorship with the media coming under total censorship. Christianity was considered an alien ideology that bred spies. In July of 1937, Midori gave birth to their second child – this time, a girl. Only 1 month later, the military sent Takashi back to China for a long 30 months. He again experienced the intense tragedies of war, and he felt the same compassion for the wounded Chinese as he did for the wounded Japanese. He prayed the rosary for all of them, and called upon his Saint Vincent de Paul friends to do the same.
While away, both Takashi’s father and Takashi’s baby daughter passed away. By the time Takashi returned to Nagasaki his son did not recognize him. Takashi wept about what war does to families. Still, he felt grateful to be alive. Referring to Pascal once again, he read “Only in Christ can the paradox of man’s wretchedness and his greatness be solved. The resolution of the paradox is living for the glory of God.” He resumed his work in radiology and became a professor. In 1941, they had another daughter. Because Japan had the highest rate of tuberculosis, Takashi was spending much of his time x-raying patients. It was around this time that the inevitable happened – he was diagnosed with incurable leukemia due to radiation exposure.
By the middle of July 1945, the Americans had dropped many leaflets over Japan warning them of their plan to bomb the area. The Japanese police forbid the people to read the leaflets, but many of them did. Takashi and Midori sent their children, now 3 and 10 years old, to stay with their grandmother about 5 miles away to keep them safe. Meanwhile they continued with their day-to-day lives. On August 8, an air raid siren sounded, and they hunkered down in a shelter until the all-clear siren went off. The same thing happened on August 9, but this time there were catastrophic results. The Americans were headed to Kokura with the a-bomb, but a combination of weather difficulties and airplane issues led the pilot to release the bomb over Nagasaki just above the Urakami Cathedral. The hit was beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined. The intense heat was several million degrees centigrade at the explosion point. Exposed human skin was scorched up to 2 ½ miles away. The velocity from the wind was one mile per second. The book gives extreme detail as to what happened to individual people. Most died, but some survived shortly with unbelievable injuries before dying. Few survived, but Takashi was one of them. He had been in the X-ray department of the university which was the most heavily protected area. He was badly injured, but alive.
The few people who were able to rallied together to try and help those who were suffering. Everything around them was burned, destroyed, and grotesque. After a couple days Takashi made his way back to the location where his home was, and there he found the skeletal remains of Midori. As he gathered her bones in a bucket, he thanked God for letting her die in the kitchen she loved while holding the rosary that comforted her. He eventually made his way to his children and mother-in-law who were shocked to see him alive.
Little by little, Takashi and his remaining family tried to rebuild their lives. They moved back to Nagasaki just outside where the Urakami Cathedral once stood and Takashi taught his children how to survive with primitive shelter and limited resources. Knowing that leukemia would eventually take his life and leave his children orphans, he wanted to make sure they were prepared physically, spiritually, and mentally. He started writing books – some were specifically for his children and others were scientific. He wrote about atomic energy, authentic religion, and local history. The major advice he instilled in his children was to love everyone, trust in his Providence, and you will find peace. His most famous book, The Bells of Nagasaki was titled on Christmas Eve of 1945 after Takashi and some others had successfully unearthed the cathedral bells that were buried under piles of rubble. The theme of that book was that not even the a-bomb can stop the bells of God from ringing. From 1945-1951, he wrote 20 books! His positive attitude and trust in the Lord brought many others out of deep depression. He earned substantial money for his works and donated most of it to rebuild the church, school, and hospital. He somehow did all of this while battling leukemia. A nurse read one of his books to a group of lepers who found much needed hope. They decided to write to him to thank him for his message. He wrote back and they had a beautiful friendship through sending letters back and forth. He wrote to them “Though our bodies are done for, how much better off are we than if it were our hearts that were corrupting!” In 1948, on a visit to Japan, Helen Keller met him too and thanked him for being an inspiration. Takashi realized that you do not have to perform great deeds to live well. Usefulness is not the point. Our lives are of great worth if we accept with good grace the situation God places us in and go on living lovingly.
by Paul Glynn
Wow! What a story! I first heard about Takashi Nagai while listening to a podcast earlier this year. When my book club announced we would be reading this book, I was excited to learn more about this remarkable man. Takashi was a Japanese Scientist who was born and raised in the Shinto religion. As he studied science he became an atheist, but in his search for truth he converted to the Roman Catholic faith. This was initially prompted by some deep feelings he experienced while holding his mother’s hand as she died and his love for poetry, music, and reading the works of a French philosopher named Blaise Pascal (who also invented the barometer!)
In the early 1930’s Takashi was finishing medical school, walking in the footsteps of his father. He was incredibly smart and did very well in his studies. (I was fascinated to learn that medical students in Japan in the 1930’s had to pass exams in 9 different areas to become a doctor – internal medicine, surgery, ENT, psychiatry, ophthalmology, gynecology, dermatology, urology, and pediatrics!) Not only was Takashi passing, but he was the valedictorian of his class, and he had a prestigious offer awaiting him after graduation – to work at the University hospital in Nagasaki. {[Throughout this period Takashi was observing the family he boarded with – the Moriyama family- and finding joy and comfort in their Catholic identity – praying the Angelus at 6,12, and 6, resting on Sundays, attending masses with beautiful music, etc. The seed of faith that had been planted within him during his mother’s death was sprouting and taking root.]} Just days before the ceremony, Takashi had prepared his graduation speech and was on top of the world! Unfortunately, he became very sick with meningitis, missed the graduation, and ultimately ended up being deaf in one ear – which resulted in severing his dreams of being a university doctor since he could not properly use a stethoscope. Almost as an act of pity, the University instead offered him a job working in the new radiology division. The X-ray department was like the red-headed-stepchild of the University, but Takashi knew if he didn’t accept that offer there would be nothing else left for him. The head of the X-ray department told Takashi that it was the wave of the future. He was skeptical but made the conscious decision to jump into the role with enthusiasm.
{[Continuing to explore the idea of having faith in a Christian God, Takashi followed the advice of his favorite author, Pascal, and decided to “fake it til you make it.” He went to mass for the first time on Christmas Eve of 1932 with the Moriyamas. He was deeply moved, but not yet wholly convinced.]} In January of 1933, Takashi was called to serve as a medic helping wounded soldiers in the Chinese-Japanese war. He went off to serve and experienced all the atrocities of war. Back in Nagasaki, unknown to him, Midori Moriyama (the daughter of the family who boarded him) was praying that Takashi remain protected until he came to know and accept Jesus. Since Takashi did not have a mother to write him letters, Midori decided she would write to him with encouragement and continue to pray for him until he returned. [{ While he was away, she sent him a copy of the Catechism to read. As he read about the Ten Commandments, he felt embarrassed and dirty, realizing he had spent much of his life observing the wrong things – pride, lust, covetousness, gluttony, and anger. He sat in Manchuria realizing he wanted to change his life. Upon returning to Nagasaki from Manchuria, Takashi visited the priest at the Urakami Cathedral and had a very long talk with him – asking questions, looking for guidance, wanting to make sense of things. That day was the first time Takashi prayed.]}
Now that he was back in Nagasaki, he went back to his job in radiology at the university. Shortly after that he was baptized into the Catholic faith, without the blessing of his Shinto father. He felt truly happy, and this led to a deeper relationship with Midori. The two of them married and by the time they had their first child, a boy, in 1935, they were at peace with Takashi’s father. Takashi continued his work in radiology and published research on kidney stones in medical journals. He also joined the society of Saint Vincent de Paul, and he encouraged other doctors to join him in providing medical care for the poor when they had time off from work. He wrote that “Assistance is authentic when it helps restore a person’s dignity.” Around this time, political tensions were rising, and Japan became a military dictatorship with the media coming under total censorship. Christianity was considered an alien ideology that bred spies. In July of 1937, Midori gave birth to their second child – this time, a girl. Only 1 month later, the military sent Takashi back to China for a long 30 months. He again experienced the intense tragedies of war, and he felt the same compassion for the wounded Chinese as he did for the wounded Japanese. He prayed the rosary for all of them, and called upon his Saint Vincent de Paul friends to do the same.
While away, both Takashi’s father and Takashi’s baby daughter passed away. By the time Takashi returned to Nagasaki his son did not recognize him. Takashi wept about what war does to families. Still, he felt grateful to be alive. Referring to Pascal once again, he read “Only in Christ can the paradox of man’s wretchedness and his greatness be solved. The resolution of the paradox is living for the glory of God.” He resumed his work in radiology and became a professor. In 1941, they had another daughter. Because Japan had the highest rate of tuberculosis, Takashi was spending much of his time x-raying patients. It was around this time that the inevitable happened – he was diagnosed with incurable leukemia due to radiation exposure.
By the middle of July 1945, the Americans had dropped many leaflets over Japan warning them of their plan to bomb the area. The Japanese police forbid the people to read the leaflets, but many of them did. Takashi and Midori sent their children, now 3 and 10 years old, to stay with their grandmother about 5 miles away to keep them safe. Meanwhile they continued with their day-to-day lives. On August 8, an air raid siren sounded, and they hunkered down in a shelter until the all-clear siren went off. The same thing happened on August 9, but this time there were catastrophic results. The Americans were headed to Kokura with the a-bomb, but a combination of weather difficulties and airplane issues led the pilot to release the bomb over Nagasaki just above the Urakami Cathedral. The hit was beyond anything anyone could have ever imagined. The intense heat was several million degrees centigrade at the explosion point. Exposed human skin was scorched up to 2 ½ miles away. The velocity from the wind was one mile per second. The book gives extreme detail as to what happened to individual people. Most died, but some survived shortly with unbelievable injuries before dying. Few survived, but Takashi was one of them. He had been in the X-ray department of the university which was the most heavily protected area. He was badly injured, but alive.
The few people who were able to rallied together to try and help those who were suffering. Everything around them was burned, destroyed, and grotesque. After a couple days Takashi made his way back to the location where his home was, and there he found the skeletal remains of Midori. As he gathered her bones in a bucket, he thanked God for letting her die in the kitchen she loved while holding the rosary that comforted her. He eventually made his way to his children and mother-in-law who were shocked to see him alive.
Little by little, Takashi and his remaining family tried to rebuild their lives. They moved back to Nagasaki just outside where the Urakami Cathedral once stood and Takashi taught his children how to survive with primitive shelter and limited resources. Knowing that leukemia would eventually take his life and leave his children orphans, he wanted to make sure they were prepared physically, spiritually, and mentally. He started writing books – some were specifically for his children and others were scientific. He wrote about atomic energy, authentic religion, and local history. The major advice he instilled in his children was to love everyone, trust in his Providence, and you will find peace. His most famous book, The Bells of Nagasaki was titled on Christmas Eve of 1945 after Takashi and some others had successfully unearthed the cathedral bells that were buried under piles of rubble. The theme of that book was that not even the a-bomb can stop the bells of God from ringing. From 1945-1951, he wrote 20 books! His positive attitude and trust in the Lord brought many others out of deep depression. He earned substantial money for his works and donated most of it to rebuild the church, school, and hospital. He somehow did all of this while battling leukemia. A nurse read one of his books to a group of lepers who found much needed hope. They decided to write to him to thank him for his message. He wrote back and they had a beautiful friendship through sending letters back and forth. He wrote to them “Though our bodies are done for, how much better off are we than if it were our hearts that were corrupting!” In 1948, on a visit to Japan, Helen Keller met him too and thanked him for being an inspiration. Takashi realized that you do not have to perform great deeds to live well. Usefulness is not the point. Our lives are of great worth if we accept with good grace the situation God places us in and go on living lovingly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2023
A beautiful testimony of trust in God. Both Takashi Nagai and his wife Midori were an example of Christian virtue and their lives were a song of praise to the Lord. An amazing story that everyone should know.
The book gives very good historical context (which is needed to understand what it meant to be a Christian in Japan) and it’s well written.
Even though they are not canonised (yet) I believe they are saints.
The book gives very good historical context (which is needed to understand what it meant to be a Christian in Japan) and it’s well written.
Even though they are not canonised (yet) I believe they are saints.
Read
December 4, 2013I great admire Takashi Nagai, the holy man of Japan, who is the subject of this biography. A doctor and professor of radiology at the university in Nagasaki, he was also a Catholic, having married into one of the old Catholic families of Nagasaki, old as in, having somehow kept the faith over generations and generations without priests, sacraments or churches, and suffering additional dreadful persecutions. His beloved wife was incinerated in the atomic blast; his children were visiting relatives in the country and survived. Like everyone else who helped, he suffered additional radiation giving aid to the wounded. Bedridden for many years, he wrote books with a pencil (translated into English: The Bells of Nagasaki; We of Nagasaki), while the world came to his tiny house to hear and see him. Nagai died of radiation poisoning seven years later. The citizens of Nagasaki venerate him to this day.
December 25, 2023
Listened to this book through FORMED.
A beautiful testimony of Japanese Christianity through the life of Takashi Nagai. If you aren't already convinced of the immorality of indiscriminate bombing, you should certainly read this book. Santo subito.
A beautiful testimony of Japanese Christianity through the life of Takashi Nagai. If you aren't already convinced of the immorality of indiscriminate bombing, you should certainly read this book. Santo subito.
Read
January 22, 2022abandoned #109
February 8, 2022
読み終わって、言葉がありません。傑作です。日本語で永井先生の本を読みたいです。
December 26, 2018
I love getting book recommendations, so when an email from Santiago arrived recommending a couple of books – A Song for Nagasaki among them – I knew that I had to check them out. The library had A Song for Nagasaki so I borrowed it as one of my year-end reads.
A Song for Nagasaki is about the life of Nagai Takashi, a Catholic Physician who was living and working in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped and who’s actions after the bombing earned him the title of the ‘Saint of Urakami’. I’ve been to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum a few times (and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the city) and thought that I more or less heard the story, but I was wrong. Somehow, I managed to miss the story of Nagai Takashi and all the work that he did.
Come to think of it, I think he was in the museum. I just didn’t realise how important he was.
Nagai Takashi was born in Shimane. His father was a doctor and when he grew up, he moved to Nagasaki to begin his studies in medicine. Although he was raised with Buddhist and Shinto teachings, he grew curious about Christianity, especially after reading Pascal’s Pensées. Since Urakami is one of the areas where the kakure kirishitans – the Japanese who hid their faith through the long years of persecution – he chose to board with one of their families. He eventually came to faith and married, all the while working in the relatively new field of radiology.
His conversion testimony alone would have been incredible, but Nagai’s response to the bombing of Nagasaki is what makes him extraordinary. Although he lost his wife, and love of his life, Midori in the bombings, he didn’t sink into despondency. Rather, he started treating the injured – all the while suffering a major injury of his own. After his recovery, he dedicated his days to contemplation and writing. His philosophy can be summed up from something he said at the open-air mass held after the bombing:
By connecting the bombings to the persecution endured by the Christians in Nagasaki, and the idea of sacrifice, Nagai set the tone for Nagasaki’s reaction to the war. As a passage in the epilogue puts it, memorials of the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are very different: “Hiroshima is bitter, noisy, highly political, leftist and anti-American. Its symbol would be a fist clenched in anger. Nagasaki is sad, quiet, reflective, nonpolitical and prayerful. It does not blame the United States, but rather laments the sinfulness of war, especially of nuclear war. Its symbol: hands joined in prayer.”
This is not a view that everyone agrees with, but I find that there is much truth in it. Nagai “warned of any peace movement that was “merely political” or ideological and not dedicated to justice, love and patient hard work. Angry shouting in the streets about peace often cloaked very unpeaceful hearts.” Looking at the increasingly divisive world we live in, where calls for peace and words of anger and intolerance can be expressed in the same sentence, I wish that more people heard and followed Nagai’s method of peacemaking.
This was an incredible book. If there was one part I wasn’t too enthused about, it was the way Japanese romaji often preceded the English translation. But that’s a personal thing because I can read Japanese so I felt it was repetitive. I think that if you’re not familiar with the language, having the translation in the text would be a big help.
I’d encourage everyone to read this book. There was a very huge cost to the atomic bombings that I don’t think gets talked enough – at least in Singapore, we learnt that the bombings happened and that people suffered, but I never knew about how terrible the aftermath was until after I visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It really made me think about whether this was necessary, and if this is a price we can afford to pay again. While it might be a bit hard to go all the way to the museum, I think this book is a great way to learn about the horrors of the atomic bomb without overly politicising or becoming bitter. It made me tear up, very much the same way a visit to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum does.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
A Song for Nagasaki is about the life of Nagai Takashi, a Catholic Physician who was living and working in Nagasaki when the atomic bomb was dropped and who’s actions after the bombing earned him the title of the ‘Saint of Urakami’. I’ve been to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum a few times (and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the city) and thought that I more or less heard the story, but I was wrong. Somehow, I managed to miss the story of Nagai Takashi and all the work that he did.
Come to think of it, I think he was in the museum. I just didn’t realise how important he was.
Nagai Takashi was born in Shimane. His father was a doctor and when he grew up, he moved to Nagasaki to begin his studies in medicine. Although he was raised with Buddhist and Shinto teachings, he grew curious about Christianity, especially after reading Pascal’s Pensées. Since Urakami is one of the areas where the kakure kirishitans – the Japanese who hid their faith through the long years of persecution – he chose to board with one of their families. He eventually came to faith and married, all the while working in the relatively new field of radiology.
His conversion testimony alone would have been incredible, but Nagai’s response to the bombing of Nagasaki is what makes him extraordinary. Although he lost his wife, and love of his life, Midori in the bombings, he didn’t sink into despondency. Rather, he started treating the injured – all the while suffering a major injury of his own. After his recovery, he dedicated his days to contemplation and writing. His philosophy can be summed up from something he said at the open-air mass held after the bombing:
“It was not the American crew, I believe, who chose our suburb. God’s Providence chose Urakami and carried the bomb right above our homes. Is there not a profound relationship between the annihilation of Nagasaki and the end of the war? Was not Nagasaki the chosen victim, the lamb without blemish, slain as a whole burnt offering on the altar of sacrifice, atoning for the sins of all nations during the World War II?”
By connecting the bombings to the persecution endured by the Christians in Nagasaki, and the idea of sacrifice, Nagai set the tone for Nagasaki’s reaction to the war. As a passage in the epilogue puts it, memorials of the bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are very different: “Hiroshima is bitter, noisy, highly political, leftist and anti-American. Its symbol would be a fist clenched in anger. Nagasaki is sad, quiet, reflective, nonpolitical and prayerful. It does not blame the United States, but rather laments the sinfulness of war, especially of nuclear war. Its symbol: hands joined in prayer.”
This is not a view that everyone agrees with, but I find that there is much truth in it. Nagai “warned of any peace movement that was “merely political” or ideological and not dedicated to justice, love and patient hard work. Angry shouting in the streets about peace often cloaked very unpeaceful hearts.” Looking at the increasingly divisive world we live in, where calls for peace and words of anger and intolerance can be expressed in the same sentence, I wish that more people heard and followed Nagai’s method of peacemaking.
This was an incredible book. If there was one part I wasn’t too enthused about, it was the way Japanese romaji often preceded the English translation. But that’s a personal thing because I can read Japanese so I felt it was repetitive. I think that if you’re not familiar with the language, having the translation in the text would be a big help.
I’d encourage everyone to read this book. There was a very huge cost to the atomic bombings that I don’t think gets talked enough – at least in Singapore, we learnt that the bombings happened and that people suffered, but I never knew about how terrible the aftermath was until after I visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum. It really made me think about whether this was necessary, and if this is a price we can afford to pay again. While it might be a bit hard to go all the way to the museum, I think this book is a great way to learn about the horrors of the atomic bomb without overly politicising or becoming bitter. It made me tear up, very much the same way a visit to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum does.
This review was first posted at Eustea Reads
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