Wender·Vista
Hiroshima
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileJapan
on the Ota River delta in western Honshu

Hiroshima

— — a city that rebuilt itself around a single ruin.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“Hiroshima sits on the Ota River delta, six channels splitting toward the Seto Inland Sea. The Genbaku Dome still stands where it stood on the morning of August 6, 1945, the only building near the hypocentre left partly upright. Around it the city has grown back in concrete and trees and trams. The okonomiyaki here is made with noodles, layered rather than stirred. Miyajima sits across the bay with its floating torii at high tide.

from the studio
Hiroshima
— bring it home

Hiroshima, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Hiroshima

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in western Honshu, on the delta of the Ota River where it meets the Seto Inland Sea. The city holds roughly 1.2 million residents and is the largest in the Chugoku region. It was founded as a castle town by the daimyo Mori Terumoto in 1589 and served as a major regional centre through the Edo and Meiji periods. The Ota distributes through six channels, and the central wards sit between them.

— the stone

The Genbaku Dome, originally the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall completed in 1915, stood roughly 160 metres from the hypocentre of the atomic explosion on August 6, 1945. The reinforced concrete and steel frame survived because the blast came almost vertically from above. It was preserved by city decision in 1966 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996 as the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Hiroshima Castle, leveled in the same blast, was rebuilt in concrete in 1958.

— the visit

The Peace Memorial Park, on the island between the Motoyasu and Honkawa channels, is open at all hours and free to walk. The Peace Memorial Museum, redesigned and reopened in 2019, charges a 200-yen admission and runs roughly 08:30 to 18:00 with seasonal variation. The annual peace ceremony on the morning of August 6 marks the moment of the bombing at 08:15. Miyajima, reached by ferry from Miyajimaguchi in about ten minutes, holds the Itsukushima Shrine and its floating torii.

— where
Japan · Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture
— elevation
11 m · 36 ft
— position
34.3853° N · 132.4553° E
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
17 km SW
Miyajima (Itsukushima)
shrine island with floating torii
22 km SE
Kure
naval port and Yamato museum
40 km SW
Iwakuni
Kintai Bridge
80 km E
Onomichi
hillside port city
N
Hiroshima
Miyajima (Itsukushima)
Kure
Iwakuni
Onomichi
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Hiroshima — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

At 08:15 on August 6, 1945, when the United States dropped the Little Boy uranium bomb from the B-29 Enola Gay. The explosion occurred roughly 600 metres above the city centre, near the present-day Genbaku Dome.

The skeletal remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, built in 1915, the only structure left partly standing near the hypocentre. It was preserved as a memorial and added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1996.

In western Honshu, on the Ota River delta where the river meets the Seto Inland Sea. By Shinkansen the city is about four hours from Tokyo and one hour forty minutes from Shin-Osaka on the Sanyo line.

A layered savoury pancake built on a thin crepe with cabbage, pork, noodles (yakisoba or udon), and egg, stacked rather than mixed. It is the city's most distinctive food and a point of friendly rivalry with Osaka.

An island in the bay roughly seventeen kilometres southwest of central Hiroshima, reached by ferry. It holds the Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, whose vermilion torii gate stands in tidal water and appears to float at high tide.

Roughly 1.2 million in the city proper and around 2 million in the wider metropolitan area. Hiroshima is the largest city in the Chugoku region and the tenth-largest in Japan by population.

— about the piece in your home

It carries well for customers with family in the city and for those who visited the Peace Memorial. The image holds the Dome and the river without dwelling on the bombing. A Medium with a studio note travels well.

Japandi, warm-Minimalist, and modern-Japanese rooms. The greens of the river park and the muted greys of the Dome read against light oak, paper screens, and limewashed walls without competing for attention.

Yes, alongside Kyoto and Naoshima. Western interest in Hiroshima-style food and in the post-war modernism of the rebuilt city has lifted it beyond the older Kyoto-only Japanese-interior canon.

A single Large reads cleanly above a standard sofa. A 4-tile Mural opens the Dome and the river; a 9-tile Mural carries a long console or a tatami-room wall.

Yes, with the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both resist scratches and handle humidity. The colour is held in the ceramic surface, so steam and splashes will not affect it.

A microfibre cloth and water. No abrasive sponges, no ammonia cleaners. The colour is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, so it will not lift or fade.

Yes. Reid Wender chose Hiroshima for the atlas and worked the piece in the studio's stained-glass and alcohol-ink visual language. No licensing is involved and no second studio produces it.

— if this one stayed with you

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