A shameful chapter of U.S. history is being memorialized, and its survivors and descendants honored.
The Ireichō: Book of Names is a 1,000-page volume, compiled by Duncan Ryuken Williams, which contains the names of 125,284 Japanese-Americans forcibly removed to concentration camps by the U.S. government during World War II. The use of “internment” is no longer used, as it refers to the detention of enemy aliens during wartime, which those incarcerated were not.
According to the website dedicated to The Ireichō: “The idea of a book as a monument is inspired by the Japanese tradition of Kakochō (literally, ‘The Book of the Past’), a book of names typically placed on a Buddhist temple altar and brought out for memorial services when the names of those to be remembered are chanted.”
The Ireichō is now traveling throughout the United States, making pilgrimages to all 10 War Relocation Authority Camps, with additional stops in other camp sites and selected cities. At these sites, including the Berkeley Historical Society Museum (BHSM), camp survivors and their descendants can make appointments to stamp the book where their name or family name is inscribed. The process is not open to the public, out of respect for the gravity of what occurred.
Nancy Ukai is one of four Japanese-American BHSM curators. “One of our members suggested we apply to bring it here,” she said. All available appointments for its visit, June 5-7, have been filled. The first Berkeley mayor of Japanese ancestry, Adena Ishii, will stamp her ancestors, Ukai said.
Creating The Ireichō was a challenging labor of love, she said. “There is no master government list [of who was removed]. Duncan and his team had to reconcile lists from the various camps and correct misspellings.” The decision was made to list individuals by the oldest person first. There are no page numbers. The result is not only a moving monument to those incarcerated, but also a “work of art.”
The volume weighs 25 pounds, partly because the plates which open the book are ceramic, containing soil not just from the 10 largest camps, but all 75 locations where people were incarcerated, including the DOJ and Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) incarceration sites.
California alone has 24 of these sites. Five-year-old George Takei—Star Trek’s Sulu—and his family, for example, were forcibly removed from their Los Angeles home to a stable in Santa Anita, called the Santa Anita Detention Center. They were then moved to Camp Rohwer in Arkansas, which at its peak housed 8,500 Japanese Americans, Takei writes in his memoir, They Called Us Enemy.
Ukai, whose grandfather was on an FBI list to be apprehended, went to Sharp Park in Pacifica to collect soil for the plates. According to a KQED article, “Residents the government considered ‘highly dangerous’ were often assembled at Sharp Park…these Japanese Americans were community leaders, and therefore deemed highly influential by the government…Buddhist priests… Japanese language school teachers…newspaper editors.”
Although the public is not allowed during the viewing of The Ireichō, the ongoing BHSM exhibit, “Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley,” is on view through Aug. 30.
The exhibit includes a newly developed database of more than 1,100 names and 260 addresses “documenting all the Berkeley residents of Japanese descent who were forcibly removed from their homes during World War II,” according to BHSM materials.
This database was compiled by volunteer Michael Several, according to Ukai, and inspired by the Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”) memorial project in Europe.
Also featured are historic artifacts, contemporary artworks, and illustrated panels about housing and redlining, Japanese American business, religious, education, and sports communities and activism. “Personal memories of growing up in Berkeley and family photos are included. Research for the project included multiple oral history interviews,” BHSM materials state.
Ukai noted the painful relevance of both the journey of The Ireichō and the exhibit at this moment, when millions of immigrants are threatened with deportation and the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, the same legislation that provided the basis for Japanese American incarceration during World War II, is being cited by the Trump administration.
The ‘Roots, Removal and Resistance: Japanese Americans in Berkeley’ exhibit is on display through Aug. 30 at Berkeley Historical Society and Museum, 1931 Center St., Berkeley. Open Thu-Sat, 1-4pm. Free, but donations are welcome. 510.848.0181. berkhistory.org
