Tokushima Air Raid Site & Peace Memorial Pagoda

The Tokushima Great Air Raid (徳島大空襲) was one of the most devastating firebombing attacks on a Japanese city during the final months of World War II. On the night of July 3-4, 1945, 129 B-29 Superfortress bombers of the 314th Bombardment Wing, XXI Bomber Command, departed from North Field on Guam in the Mariana Islands as part of a massive four-city operation involving 501 B-29s targeting Tokushima, Takamatsu, Kochi, and Himeji simultaneously.

The bombers arrived over Tokushima in the early morning hours of July 4, 1945, commencing their attack at approximately 1:24 AM and continuing until 3:19 AM. During this roughly two-hour assault, the aircraft dropped 1,050.8 US tons of incendiary munitions — comprising 403.8 tons of oil-based incendiaries and 647.0 tons of thermite-magnesium incendiaries. The combination of these munitions created uncontrollable firestorms that swept through the densely built wooden urban area.

The results were catastrophic. Approximately 62% of Tokushima City was incinerated (American bomb damage assessments recorded 74% destruction across 1.7 square miles / 4.4 km²). An estimated 1,000 people were killed, approximately 2,000 were injured, 17,183 households were destroyed, and 70,295 residents were displaced. Numerous historically significant structures were lost, including parts of Tokushima Castle (the Eagle Gate/鷲の門), Tokushima Station, major textile factories (Shikishima Spinning, Kawasaki Aircraft facilities), and many temples and shrines.

Today, the victims are commemorated at multiple memorial sites. The Peace Memorial Pagoda (パゴダ平和記念塔), a Burmese-style pagoda in Bizan Park at the summit of Bizan (眉山), commemorates the war dead of the Pacific War in general and is a prominent landmark above the reconstructed city. A war casualties cenotaph (徳島戦災犠牲者慰霊塔) was also erected on July 4, 1955 — the 10th anniversary — at the eastern second bailey (東二の丸) of Tokushima Castle ruins, where annual memorial ceremonies are held every July 4.

The scars of the bombing can still be found throughout the city: cracked windows in the Takahara Building, damaged tombstones and stone lanterns in the temple district, and war-damage artifacts (melted glass, charred roof tiles, fused ceramics) that continue to be excavated from construction sites. The Tokushima Prefectural Museum and the Tokushima Great Air Raid Digital Archive preserve photographs, testimonies, and artifacts from the bombing.