Honolulu’s Bells of Peace – Peace Week
Together In Peace 2020 – Day 3
We have not 1, but 2, Peace Bells on the grounds of Honolulu Hale. Read about these gifts to our Islands that go unnoticed far too often.
The Liberty Bell of Aloha at Honolulu Hale Annex
Often overlooked in our daily hurry, The Liberty Bell of Aloha was given to Honolulu in 1985 by a Buddhist organization called Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America, now known as Soka Gakkai International.
The plaque tells us that this gift was given as “as symbol of our wish for peace … that there be no more Pearl Harbor, no more Hiroshima and no more war.”
Here is the full inscription:
Presented to the people of Honolulu with the following Declaration for Peace
We the people of aloha, the members of Nichiren Shōshū Soka Gakkai of America, assembled on the occasion of the 5th World Peace Youth Culture Festival, the 100th anniversary of the Japanese immigration to Hawaii and the United Nations International Youth Year.
Do hereby proclaim our common desire for peace and our prayer for the eternal rest of those who died here in their quest for peace.
This Liberty Bell of Aloha is presented to the people of Honolulu as a symbol of our wish for peace … that there be no more Pearl Harbor, no more Hiroshima and no more war.
We further pray that the sound of this bell will be heard throughout the land as a call for liberty, equality and respect for the dignity of human life and that, so long as this bell shall ring, Hawaii will be at peace, our nation will be at peace and the world will be at peace.
We hereby affirm on behalf of all human beings and forever, the belief of our forefathers, that these truths are self-evident, and that all people have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
George W. Williams
President and General Director
And the members of NSA
July 4, 1985
Inscription at Base of Liberty Bell of Aloha
Nagasaki Peace Bell
The Nagasaki Peace Bell is a gift to the people of the City and County of Honolulu from the survivors of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and their supporters.
Recognizing that true steps to peace must begin with acknowledgment of harmful actions in the past, the survivors in Nagasaki wished to make a gesture of reconciliation to the people of the city of Honolulu, which sustained a military attack by their country on December 7, 1941.
Inscription on the Plaque at the base of the Nagasaki Peace Bell
“Nagasaki, the city devastated by the bitter tragedy of a nuclear bomb, dedicates this Nagasaki bell as a symbol of the rebirth of Nagasaki and the desire of its citizens for peace in the future through sincere reconciliation and reflection on the folly of war.”
Honolulu Hale Eternal Flame
In addition to the 2 bells, we must also recognize the Eternal Flame, also at Honolulu Hale. The memorial was dedicated just 2 months after the 9/11 attacks to honor and remember those who died.
2 towers are etched in the memorial, but the remembrance here is dedicated to all who suffered, whether in New York City, Washington, DC or Shanksville, Pennsylvania.