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A Song for Nagasaki: 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 Japanese people 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.
"Christians and non-Christians alike were deeply moved by Nagai's faith in Christ that made him like Job of the in the midst of the nuclear wilderness he kept his heart in tranquility and peace, neither bearing resentment against any man nor cursing God."
Shusaku Endo , from the Foreword
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 Japanese people 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.
"Christians and non-Christians alike were deeply moved by Nagai's faith in Christ that made him like Job of the in the midst of the nuclear wilderness he kept his heart in tranquility and peace, neither bearing resentment against any man nor cursing God."
Shusaku Endo , from the Foreword
267 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1989
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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!
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.
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."
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.
June 21, 2016
This is the book that has influenced me most (in my adult life). I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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.
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.
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 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.
Shelved as 'abandoned'
January 22, 2022abandoned #109
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
March 5, 2019
La commovente testimonianza della conversione al cristianesimo del medico giapponese Nagai, vissuto a Nagasaki nella prima, tragica, metà del ‘900. Pur ritenendosi “servo inutile”, o in realtà proprio grazie a al suo modo cristiano di affrontare grandi prove, Nagai è poi diventato un eroe nazionale giapponese per come ha saputo vivere “l’olocausto” nucleare di Nagasaki. Scienziato appassionato, poeta sensibile e raffinato e, specialmente negli ultimi anni della sua debilitante malattia, instancabile scrittore, Nagai non si accontenta dell’ideologia “scientista”, prevalentemente atea o agnostica, che regna nel mondo accademico giapponese ai suoi tempi e che tende a trasformare la scienza da metodo di conoscenza a una specie di pseudo religione in cui riporre ogni speranza per il progresso dell’umanità. Spinto fino ad un certo punto dalla ragione, specialmente grazie alla meditazione dei Pensieri di Pascal e da lì in avanti da una fervente preghiera, Nagai incontra il cristianesimo e trova finalmente quella pace interiore che lo condurrà ad una vita immensamente feconda e piena di amore.
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。
October 26, 2023
Only took me most of this year to finish this book 🤣. Very cool dude, if he doesn't canonized imma throw some hands.
October 20, 2022
excellent book with a conclusion that is relevant for today.
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.
May 24, 2023
Amazing story but the writing was an ick for me
January 18, 2011
الحمد لله رب العالمين
كتاب اغنية من اجل نجازاكى هذا الكتاب كتبه العالم والأديب اليابانى تاكاشى نجائى ويبدو انه غير اسمه من تاكاشى الى بول بعد ان دخل فى العقيدة الكاثوليكية المهم ان الكتاب تحفة فنية انسانية بارعة رائعة , فبداية تم ترجمة هذا الكتاب من اليابانية الى الفرنسية ومن الفرنسية تم الترجمة الى اللغات الاخرى , و منها نسختنا العربية التى صدرت ضمن مشروع الألف كتاب برقم 238 بعنوان كبير أجراس ناجازاكى وتحته تعريف صغير يقول : مذكرات احد ضحايا القنبلة الذرية .مكتبة الآداب هى من قامت بالنشر لصالح مشروع الألف كتاب سعر الكتاب جنيه واحد سنة 2000 , قام الاستاذ زكى محروس بالترجمة من الفرنسية الى العربية وحسن محمود قام بالمراجعة من اجمل الفصول التى فى الكتاب فصل بعنوان : يوم فقدت نصف قلبى . يحكى فيه الكاتب عن مقتل زوجته ضمن ضحايا القنبلة الذرية الأمريكية التى عرفت فيما بعد باسم : الرجل البدين . وقد سبقتها قنبلة اخرى ذرية اسمها : الطفل الصغير القتها طائرة B29 على هيروشيما
عاش الكاتب بول نجائى 6سنوات بعد القاءالقنبلةليروى لنا خلاصة وعصارة مشارعره الإنسانية وحكمته التى اكتسبها من المحن .
الكتاب اكثر من رائع أقرؤوه.
ادم زهنى
ADAM ZOHNY
كتاب اغنية من اجل نجازاكى هذا الكتاب كتبه العالم والأديب اليابانى تاكاشى نجائى ويبدو انه غير اسمه من تاكاشى الى بول بعد ان دخل فى العقيدة الكاثوليكية المهم ان الكتاب تحفة فنية انسانية بارعة رائعة , فبداية تم ترجمة هذا الكتاب من اليابانية الى الفرنسية ومن الفرنسية تم الترجمة الى اللغات الاخرى , و منها نسختنا العربية التى صدرت ضمن مشروع الألف كتاب برقم 238 بعنوان كبير أجراس ناجازاكى وتحته تعريف صغير يقول : مذكرات احد ضحايا القنبلة الذرية .مكتبة الآداب هى من قامت بالنشر لصالح مشروع الألف كتاب سعر الكتاب جنيه واحد سنة 2000 , قام الاستاذ زكى محروس بالترجمة من الفرنسية الى العربية وحسن محمود قام بالمراجعة من اجمل الفصول التى فى الكتاب فصل بعنوان : يوم فقدت نصف قلبى . يحكى فيه الكاتب عن مقتل زوجته ضمن ضحايا القنبلة الذرية الأمريكية التى عرفت فيما بعد باسم : الرجل البدين . وقد سبقتها قنبلة اخرى ذرية اسمها : الطفل الصغير القتها طائرة B29 على هيروشيما
عاش الكاتب بول نجائى 6سنوات بعد القاءالقنبلةليروى لنا خلاصة وعصارة مشارعره الإنسانية وحكمته التى اكتسبها من المحن .
الكتاب اكثر من رائع أقرؤوه.
ادم زهنى
ADAM ZOHNY
June 3, 2023
i made the sparknotes for this book for my english class and they owe me
December 28, 2014
The story of Takashi Nagai is so powerful and Paul Glynn captures the profound spirituality and uniquely Japanese aspects of Nagai's life in this biography. It is certainly a companion to Nagai's famous "The Bells of Nagasaki" and is helpful to read concurrently as this biography shows the full story of Nagai becoming a holy man, from his days as a skeptical medical student, to the battlefields of Manchuria, to the atomic horror of Nagasaki, to his work in promoting peace and authentic religion which made him so beloved by people all over the world in the years after the war. I especially enjoyed learning about his saintly wife Midori who was his inspiration and a real channel of grace in his life. Servant of God Takashi Nagai is a true example of how modern men can still find the light of truth when they seek and open their minds and hearts to the Word of God and His Church.
December 4, 2013
I devoured this book in about two days. It is a story that will appeal to many people: those interested in Japan, WWII, the effects of the a-bomb, the development of x-rays and other medical techniques, and spirituality. The beginning of the story tells of Takashi's conversion to Christianity and his life as a scientist in Nagasaki. The description of the after-effects of the atomic bomb were a bit graphic, but the world needs to remember the power of this terrible weapon. The book says that if they had to use symbols, Hiroshima would be an upraised fist and Nagasaki hands folded in prayer. This book explains how one person's holiness can forever effect the lives of a people.
January 23, 2017
El libro narra la conversión y la vida del Dr. Nagai, radiólogo converso al cristianismo, acogido en la comunidad de Nagasaki y víctima de la bomba atómica, que perdonó y supo ver la mano de Dios en lo que acontecía a su pueblo. El autor va introduciendo al lector en la cultura y costumbres niponas, especialmente en lo referente al cristianismo japonés, introduciendo habilmente reflexiones del propio Nagai, crónica histórica, explicaciones culturales, dichos y poemas, etc. El resultado final es un libro delicioso, que se lee con mucha facilidad pero que a la vez es muy profundo, que deja con ganas de más.
December 4, 2013
This book tells the story of life in Nagasaki before, during, and after World War II. It begins with a history of Christianity in Japan, including the persecution and execution of many. There is a first person account of battles with Chinese troops in Manchuria, the development of Western medicine in Japan, and the attitudes and fears of the people about war with America.
I recommend this book for people interested in Christianity in the Far East, people interested in military history, and people interested in first person accounts of the H-bomb.
I recommend this book for people interested in Christianity in the Far East, people interested in military history, and people interested in first person accounts of the H-bomb.
December 4, 2013
If we could all be as wise and full of faith as Takashi Nagai, this would be such a better world!! This amazing man could have been hardened and embittered after an atomic bomb wiped out his home, his wife, and so much more, but instead he inspired and uplifted others in the midst of so much tragedy. This biography not only follows Nagai's early life, his conversion to Catholicism, his work with radiology, and his sufferings with radiation illness, but also enhances the story by sprinkling in the history and culture of Japan. Very uplifting!
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