Seiryū says “The Ireicho event was well attended, with many persons of Japanese descent and their extended families. 100 year old Masaharu Ishii stamped his sister’s name in the Ireicho to officially kick off the national tour before I arrived. After stamping the Ireicho, a journalist, Daisuke Nakai, from the major Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun asked if he could speak with me. “Why I was present, do I have Japanese heritage & what is the meaning for me. I replied that I was stamping the names of Rev Jiko Nakade’s grandfather & 2 Daifukuji priests from Kealakekua, HI who were rounded up, taken to Sand Island off of Oahu then shipped by boat to the mainland detention camps. There were no Buddhists in robes or rakusus in the audience. Publically Rev Duncan Williams is very approachable and humble. After the event he greeted me warmly saying, “I look forward to being involved with All Beings Zen Sangha again.””
The 1942 Executive Order 9066 authorized the US military to remove people deemed a threat to national security leading to the incarceration of Japanese Americans in violation of their civil liberties. To acknowledge and remember them, the Ireicho, a book of the names of over 125,000 incarcerated persons is touring 12 of the continental internment camp sites. Ireichomeans” book consoling spirits.”
