Ireicho room book and sotobas

Special Display

Ireichō

Event

On September 24, 2022, the Japanese American National Museum hosted a private event to consecrate and install the Ireichō, a sacred book that records the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned in US Army, Department of Justice, and War Relocation Authority camps during World War II.

A procession of interfaith clergy, survivors, and descendants from seventy-five World War II incarceration sites carried the Ireichō and sotoba (wooden markers) with the names and soil from each site on them from JANM’s Historic Building to the Aratani Central Hall inside the Museum, where it was ceremonially consecrated and installed in JANM.

JANM’s Historic Building, is the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Built in 1925, the temple was a social hub, a site of forced removal during World War II, a storage center for Japanese Americans’ belongings during World War II, and a hostel for Japanese Americans returning to the Los Angeles area after the war.

Watch the video and view the photographs below that documented the ceremony.

Event

Reservations are required at the RSVP link above.

Event

On September 24, 2022, the Japanese American National Museum hosted a private event to consecrate and install the Ireichō, a sacred book that records the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned in US Army, Department of Justice, and War Relocation Authority camps during World War II.

A procession of interfaith clergy, survivors, and descendants from seventy-five World War II incarceration sites carried the Ireichō and sotoba (wooden markers) with the names and soil from each site on them from JANM’s Historic Building to the Aratani Central Hall inside the Museum, where it was ceremonially consecrated and installed in JANM.

JANM’s Historic Building, is the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Built in 1925, the temple was a social hub, a site of forced removal during World War II, a storage center for Japanese Americans’ belongings during World War II, and a hostel for Japanese Americans returning to the Los Angeles area after the war.

Watch the video and view the photographs below that documented the ceremony.

Reservations are required at the RSVP link above.

#Ireicho

Past Events

ireicho and sotoba homepage feature

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September 22 - September 24, 2023

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Reservations are required at the RSVP link above.

Event

On September 24, 2022, the Japanese American National Museum hosted a private event to consecrate and install the Ireichō, a sacred book that records the names of over 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were unjustly imprisoned in US Army, Department of Justice, and War Relocation Authority camps during World War II.

A procession of interfaith clergy, survivors, and descendants from seventy-five World War II incarceration sites carried the Ireichō and sotoba (wooden markers) with the names and soil from each site on them from JANM’s Historic Building to the Aratani Central Hall inside the Museum, where it was ceremonially consecrated and installed in JANM.

JANM’s Historic Building, is the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. Built in 1925, the temple was a social hub, a site of forced removal during World War II, a storage center for Japanese Americans’ belongings during World War II, and a hostel for Japanese Americans returning to the Los Angeles area after the war.

Watch the video and view the photographs below that documented the ceremony.

Reservations are required at the RSVP link above.

#Ireicho

Ireichō Procession and Ceremony highlights

Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration Launch (9/24/22)

Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration Launch (9/24/22)

Slideshow of Procession & Ceremony

Ireicho procession

Ireichō procession

Photo by Grant Gulesserian

Ireicho Amache camp survivor leads procession

Amache camp survivor leads the Ireichō procession

Photo by Nobuyuki Okada

Ireicho procession participants holding Griffith Park sotoba

Ireichō procession participants holding Griffith Park sotoba

Photo by Doug Mukai

Ireicho procession line with participants holding sotoba

Ireichō procession with participants holding sotoba

Photo by Nobuyuki Okada

Procession clergy carrying the Ireicho book

Procession of clergy carrying the Ireichō

Photo by Nobuyuki Okada

Ireicho ceremony seated participants

Participants in the Ireichō procession during the ceremony

Photo by Tracy Kumono

Clergy carry book into ceremony

Clergy carry the Ireichō into the ceremony

Photo by Tracy Kumono

Ireichō open to the incarcerees’ names

Ireichō open to the incarcerees’ names

Photo by

Duncan Williams speaks during the Ireichō ceremony

Duncan Williams speaks during the Ireichō ceremony

Photo by Nobuyuki Okada

Woman touches ceramic piece made of soil from all of the camps in the Ireichō

Woman touches ceramic piece made of soil from all of the camps in the Ireichō

Photo by Tracy Kumono

Participant touches the ceramic piece made of soil from all the camps

Participant touches the ceramic piece made of soil from all the camps

Photo by Tracy Kumono

A visitor stamps the Ireichō

A visitor stamps the Ireichō

Photo by Mike Palma

Visitors hold a photograph of a family member in front of the sotoba

Visitors hold a photograph of a family member in front of the sotoba

Photo by Mike Palma

William T Fujioka, chairman of JANM Board of Trustees, speaking at the ceremony

William T Fujioka, chairman of JANM’s Board of Trustees, speaking at the ceremony

Photo by Tracy Kumono

Clergy opening the Ireichō on the table

Clergy opening the Ireichō on the table

Photo by Tracy Kimono

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