Kaimuki resident Susan Miyao used a white rope Saturday to swing a wooden hammer into the Peace Bell in Chinatown in honor of those who died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima 71 years earlier.

“Hopefully, it will never happen again,” she said. “It’s a lesson for all of us that we have peace throughout the world. That initiative has been resonating, especially with the young people here today. That’s where it starts.”

Miyao, 64, said her grandmother was living in Hiroshima at the time and went into the city to help those injured by the bomb on Aug. 6, 1945.

About 100 people attended the 27th annual Hiroshima Commemoration and Peace Service outside the Izumo Taishakyo Mission on North Kukui Street on Saturday.

At the end of World War II, the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima, wiping out more than 100,000 Japanese, thousands of Koreans, and a dozen Americans being held captive. Three days later, a U.S. bomber dropped a second atomic bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, killing or wounding about 75,000.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says on its website that about 190,000 bomb survivors or “hibakusha” are still alive and suffer from increased incidence of cancer.

During Saturday’s ceremony, several religious leaders shared words of peace.

Bishop Eric Matsumoto, of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, said revenge can only be overcome by abandoning revenge, anger creates more anger, and “hatred is not overcome by hatred, it is overcome by love.”

“If you could see the miracle of a single flower, our whole life would change,” he said.

He asked those in attendance to reflect on the interconnectedness and preciousness of life when they rang the Peace Bell — whose sound, he said, is a call to awaken in Buddhism.

The Rev. Jun Miyasaka, of Hawaii Izumo Taishakyo, played a Japanese wooden flute in the light morning drizzle as Bishop Daiya Amano, in traditional orange Shinto garb, performed a purification and blessing ceremony.

Honolulu’s Peace Bell is a smaller replica of the Peace Bell that was constructed in Hiroshima in 1964. The Hiroshima government donated the replica to Honolulu in 1985, and it has stood outside the Izumo Taishakyo Mission since 1990.

Honolulu’s sister city relationship with Hiroshima began in May 19, 1959, and continues to be an active relationship, said Honolulu Managing Director Roy Amemiya.

“We gather today to remember all who had perished in a blink of an eye,” he said. “It’s also time to reflect on the very worst of human traits that led to unimaginable atrocities that still resonates in us to the very core.”

After the speeches, attendees lined up to swing the wooden hammer to ring the bell.

One attendee, Jazlyn Yamada, of Kakaako, traveled to Japan in 2014 as part of the YMCA’s Hiroshima and Honolulu peace exchange program.

She recalled seeing the bomb’s devastation at a museum in Japan and was thankful she could now be friends with other Japanese.

“It’s nice to see (the ceremony) is recognized here as well as in Japan,” she said.

Motonobu Shiiba, president of the Nagasaki prefecture club in Honolulu, said President Barack Obama’s visit to Hiroshima in May has created a sense of goodwill for the Japanese.

He said some people believe the atomic bombs were needed to end World War II, but others see it differently.

“Bomb is bomb,” he said, adding that people are still suffering or dying from the effects of radiation 70 years later.

“It’s just praying for the peace,” Shiiba said. “That’s why this ceremony is very important.”