On Sept. 24 at the Japanese American National Museum, an installation ceremony was held for the Ireichō, a national names monument honoring persons of Japanese ancestry incarcerated in the U.S. during World War II.
Participants in the ceremony included representatives of 75 wartime confinement sites located across the country.
Although the most frequently mentioned camps are the 10 “war relocation centers” operated by the War Relocation Authority, there were many others, including the assembly centers where Japanese Americans were held before the WRA camps were opened. Department of Justice internment camps included one in Crystal City, Texas, where the government held Nikkei who were forcibly brought to the U.S. from Latin America. Incarcerees labeled as “troublemakers” were sent to “citizen isolation centers.”
The Ireichō includes over 125,000 names compiled by a team of researchers led by project director Rev. Duncan Ryūken Williams. It was produced under the guidance of the project’s creative director, Sunyoung Lee (publisher, Kaya Press), working with a team of artists and designers. Williams was also the officiant for the installation ceremony
Book designers: Jon Sueda (professor and dean of design, California College of the Arts) and Chris Hamamoto (professor, Seoul National University). Type designer: Berton Hasebe. Data designers: Chez Bryan Ong and Eric Ong. Calligrapher: Shumyo Kojima. Book binder: John Demerritt. Ceramicist: John Hasegawa.
The Ireichō compilation of the names involved the assistance of nearly a hundred individuals. They cannot all be listed here, but the key personnel who spent thousands of hours transcribing, researching, and editing the names include: Frederick D. Kakinami Cloyd, Jesse Hendler, Karen Kano, Skye Oyama, Shoichi Shingu, Yukari Swanson, and Mikoto Yoshida.
Major institutional collaborators included Densho (especially Geoff Froh and Dana Hoshide), Japanese American National Museum, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, Manzanar National Historic Site (especially Patricia Biggs), and New Mexico JACL (especially Shelley Takeuchi).
Individuals from whom the project adapted previously produced camp rosters include Grant Din (Angel Island), Russell Endo (Tuna Canyon), Saara Kekki (Heart Mountain), Dennis Neumann (Fort Lincoln), Hayley Johnson/Sarah Simms (Camp Livingston), and Patricia Wegars (Kooskia).
Funding to support the creation of the Ireichō and Ireizō has come primarily from the Mellon Foundation and the USC Ito Center. A future initiative to enhance the Ireizō through a collaboration with Densho is funded by the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.
Other participants in the installation ceremony were Rev. Shumyo Kojima (abbot, Zenshuji Soto Mission); Rev. Grant Hagiya (Gila River descendant; bishop, United Methodist Church, California Pacific Conference); Rev. Mark Nakagawa (Poston descendant; United Methodist Church); Rev. Marvin Harada (Minidoka-Tule Lake descendant; bishop, Buddhist Churches of America); and Rev. Noriaki Ito (bishop, Higashi Honganji, North America District). Post-ceremony remarks were given by William T Fujioka, chair, JANM Board of Trustees.
Following is a complete list of camps represented at the ceremony, in alphabetical order. Former incarcerees and their survivors are invited to view the Ireichō and confirm their names or the names of family members.
JANM is located at Central Avenue and First Street in Little Tokyo. Viewing and stamping of the Ireichō will begin on Oct. 11 and will require a reservation. For more information, call (213) 625-0414 or email [email protected]. Visit the museum’s website at www.janm.org.
Amache (Granada) Concentration Camp, Colorado
Angel Island Immigration Station/Fort Mcdowell Internment Camp, California
Bedford Springs Hotel, Pennsylvania
Camp Algiers Internment Camp, Louisiana
Camp Forrest Internment Camp, Tennessee
Camp Livingston Internment Camp, Louisiana
Camp McCoy Internment Camp, Wisconsin
Camp Upton, New York
Chicago INS Detention Station, Illinois
Cow Creek Camp, California
Crystal City Internment Camp, Texas
East Boston INS Detention Station, Massachusetts
Ellis Island Immigration Building, New York
Fort Bliss Internment Camp, Texas
Fort Howard Internment Camp, Maryland
Fort Lewis Internment Camp, Washington
Fort Lincoln Internment Camp, North Dakota
Fort Meade Internment Camp, Maryland
Fort Missoula Internment Camp, Montana
Fort Richardson Internment Camp, Alaska
Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Texas
Fort Sill Internment Camp, Oklahoma
Fort Stanton Internment Camp, New Mexico
Fresno Assembly Center, California
Gila River Concentration Camp, Arizona
Greenbrier Hotel (White Sulphur Springs), West Virginia
Griffith Park Detention Camp, California
Grove Park Inn, North Carolina
Haiku Camp Detention Station (Maui), Hawaii
Heart Mountain Concentration Camp, Wyoming
Hillcrest Sanitarium, California
The Homestead (Hot Springs), Virginia
Honolulu INS Administration Building, (Oahu) Hawaii
Honouliuli Internment Camp (Oahu), Hawaii
Jerome Concentration Camp, Arkansas
Kalaheo Stockade (Kauai), Hawaii
Kenedy Internment Camp, Texas
Kilauea Military Camp (Big Island), Hawaii
Kooskia Internment Camp, Idaho
Leupp Isolation Center, Arizona
Lordsburg Internment Camp, New Mexico
Manzanar Concentration Camp, California
Marysville (Arboga) Assembly Center, California
Mayer Assembly Center, Arizona
Merced Assembly Center, California
Minidoka Concentration Camp, Idaho
Moab Isolation Center, Utah
Montreat Assembly Inn, Nebraska
Nyssa Tent Camp, Oregon
Old Raton Ranch Internment Camp/Baca Camp, New Mexico
Owens Valley Reception Center, California
Parker Dam Reception Center, California
Pinedale Assembly Center, California
Pomona Assembly Center, California
Portland Assembly Center, Oregon
Poston Concentration Camp, Arizona
Puyallup Assembly Center, Washington
Rohwer Concentration Camp, Arkansas
Sacramento (Walerga) Assembly Center, California
Salinas Assembly Center, California
San Francisco Ins Detention Station, California
San Pedro INS Detention Station, California
Sand Island Internment Camp (Oahu), Hawaii
Santa Anita Assembly Center, California
Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico
Seagoville Internment Camp, Texas
Seattle U.S. Immigrant Station and Assay Office, Washington
Sharp Park Detention Station, California
Stockton Assembly Center, California
Tanforan Assembly Center, California
Topaz Concentration Camp, Utah
Tulare Assembly Center, California
Tule Lake Concentration Camp, California
Tuna Canyon Detention Station, California
Turlock Assembly Center, California