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The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia is a recipient of an Inspiration award for the organization’s work to create face masks in partnership with Modernize Tailors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The award is bestowed upon individuals and organizations who have provided hope and optimism to the sector in British Columbia during the ongoing pandemic.
Early in the pandemic, members of the society did not hesitate to rally to support the local community. Working with local Chinatown business Modernize Tailors, the Society innovatively helped fill a need during the PPE shortage, selling hand-made cloth face masks.
Continuing to champion the community throughout the initiative, a portion of the proceeds raised from the sale of the masks were donated to two of their community partners: the Mowachaht/Muchalaht and Lytton First Nations.
The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala online on June 5.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) announces that Christine Meutzner of Nanaimo is a recipient of an Award of Recognition. The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala online on June 5.
The longstanding archivist and manager of the Nanaimo Community Archives, Christine has been advocating for Nanaimo heritage and history for almost 25 years. Christine’s career has been marked by professionalism and exceptional community service, allowing countless researchers and community members to gain increased perspective and appreciation for Nanaimo’s historic roots.
A promoter of heritage and history, Christine has played an active role in the broader Nanaimo heritage scene, serving on the civic heritage advisory committee and a director of the Nanaimo Historical Society.
T.W. Paterson photographs the wreckage of a plane on Mount Benson.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) announces that T.W. Paterson of Cowichan Valley is a recipient of an Award of Recognition. The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala online on June 5.
T.W.’s efforts in promoting an understanding of history are exemplified through his publications. Tireless in his pursuit of the past, T.W. has authored more than 30 books and countless articles on the history of British Columbia since his teenage years. His longstanding column, Cowichan Chronicles, ran in the Cowichan Valley Citizen for 23 years, serving as a notable avenue for the public to learn about the colourful and multifaceted history of the province.
His nominator for the award comments: “Truth is, T.W. is exactly where he belongs, fulfilling an important role by explaining why history is so important and showing us how fascinating it also can be.”
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Tami Quiring of Alder Grove Heritage Society is a recipient of an Inspiration award for her efforts successfully hosting the Society’s Community Heritage Day during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Designing an in-person event to be in keeping with COVID protocols, the Alder Grove Heritage Society, under Tami’s leadership, hosted a ‘heritage walk-thru’ event in September 2020. The event featured displays mounted on a socially-distanced one way course set up within Royal Canadian Legion Branch #265 Aldergrove.
Safely mobilizing volunteers and members of the Heritage Society, the Community Heritage Day promoted safe in-person engagement and an increased sense of community during the pandemic while allowing visitors to learn about the history of Aldergrove.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Aman Johal of Surrey is a recipient of an Inspiration award for his work spurring camaraderie and shared collective learning for staff at Fort Langley National Historic Site. The award is bestowed upon individuals and organizations who have provided hope and optimism to the sector in British Columbia during the ongoing pandemic.
A long-time site interpretation supervisor at Fort Langley, Aman developed and ran regular history and trivia quizzes virtually for colleagues as staff adapted to working from home during the early stages of the pandemic. Under his leadership, the quizzes sparked lively discussion, laughter and debate amongst participants, promoting a sense of togetherness and connection during a time of social disruption.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Gabriel Newman of Vernon is a recipient of an Inspiration award for his work creatively capturing the reality faced by heritage organizations through the Loneliest Interpreter series at O’Keefe Ranch.
Without visitors or school programs taking place at the O’Keefe Ranch during the COVID-19 pandemic, interpreter Gabriel Newman launched the “Loneliest Interpreter” video series. The series focused on a variety of historical topics, such as crafting butter, which would be undertaken at O’Keefe Ranch and the realities of working at a heritage site during a pandemic.
Gabriel’s videos were perfectly timed – raw, authentic and funny, the videos helped spur laughter, joy and a sense of community as people tried to make sense of the new reality spurred by COVID-19. You can watch one of them below.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Al Donnelly is a recipient of an Inspiration award for his work documenting the Boundary region and maintaining the Boundary Historical Society’s cabin at Jewel Lake near Greenwood.
An active member of the Boundary Historical Society, Al has undertaken deep research pertaining to the history of the Grand Forks and Greenwood areas. During the pandemic, Al worked ceaselessly to locate, collate, research and write stories about the Boundary region. The work has culminated into the production of the Boundary Historical Society’s 18th historical report publication.
In addition to carrying out tireless research, Al is a stalwart steward of the Society’s 1899 cabin located at Jewel Lake. Tackling duties pertaining to security, cleanliness and ground maintenance, Al’s work help ensure that the public will be able to enjoy the cabin for years to come. The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala online on June 5.
The British Columbia Historical Federation (BCHF) is pleased to announce that Natalia Deros of Heritage Abbotsford Society is the recipient of the Best News and Media Award for the society’s recent Stories to Spaces: Local Community Places social media campaign.
The award offers a certificate and cash prize of $250 for published news and media resources generated by BCHF members and can include newsletters, social media campaigns, podcasts and more.
Fusing built heritage with storytelling, digital heritage imaging, archival research and interviews, Natalia’s work brings Abbotsfordians together and draws upon the knowledge of the community to bring about dialogue on racism, inclusivity and heritage practices.
The Stories to Spaces: Local Community Places campaign helps bridge the generational gap between younger and older audiences, promoting knowledge exchange and inspiration. Currently, the campaign features posts about the Punjabi Patrika, Lekw’óqwem (Mill Lake), the Fraser Valley Regional Library system, Gifford and more. The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala online on June 5.
Snunéymuxw Reserve in downtown Nanaimo, circa 1900. Photo: Nanaimo Museum A1-80
And they’re off! When the ferry docks at Departure Bay, so begins a frantic race for the Island Highway, and Nanaimo is quickly in the rear-view mirror. This summer, why not visit the city’s historic downtown to see what you’ve been missing?
Also known as the “Hub City” (the downtown streets are laid out like the spokes on a wheel), Nanaimo is very walkable and easy to explore. Hoof it along the Harbourfront Walkway, then drop into the Art Gallery or Vancouver Island Military Museum. Both are just around the corner from the landmark Hudson’s Bay Company Bastion that’s been standing guard above the harbour since 1853.
The downtown is loaded with quaint shops, restaurants, and pubs — one of them inside a restored E&N Railway station. There are other impressive heritage structures, including the Nanaimo Courthouse that was designed by Francis Rattenbury. Built from granite and sandstone, it speaks to the prosperity of Nanaimo’s coal, lumber, and fishing industries, and the unbridled optimism of the era when it was constructed, in 1895.
For a strong sense of place and history, the Nanaimo Museum is an essential stop. Exhibits are numerous and varied: a coal mine, settler-era classroom, Snunéymuxw cultural artifacts, and a Hall of Fame dedicated to the city’s persistent love affair with sports, from soccer to track and field and hockey.
Manager Sophia Maher says she’s proud that the museum is part of a vibrant downtown. In addition to adapting to the pandemic, staff have been focused on renewing gallery spaces and expanding an exhibit about Nanaimo’s earliest inhabitants, the Snunéymuxw (“Nanaimo” is derived from their name.) At a city reconciliation event, Sophia asked Elder William White to visit the Museum and help deepen their presence.
Downtown Nanaimo, 1890s. Photo: Nanaimo Museum A1-32
“We tell lots of European stories, but we want to know what’s missing from the Snunéymuxw point of view. We’re missing thousands of years’ worth of history.” William, with a degree in history and anthropology, accepted the invitation: “I fell in love with their model of the longhouse, people making blankets, the spindle whorls, the welcome figure, and the regalia case.” He’s also keen to help animate the exhibit. “What can we add to make it more exciting for the museum-goer? We could possibly hear people speaking, drumming, or singing Welcome Songs.”
He also sees a need for more stories about the impact of colonialism on his people, through the eyes of the Snunéymuxw themselves. “How do we work the Indian Residential School experience into this? The discovery of coal?” William adds that when the Hudson’s Bay Company first showed interest in mining coal, the Company didn’t reveal that they would sell it. “Our people traded; that was our currency.”
The museum plans to move a rejuvenated Snunéymuxw exhibit to the front of the gallery space. Curator Aimee Greenaway says this will give it the weight it deserves, and will “reposition these stories.” Aimee sees this as part of a larger, necessary shift. “Our internal wiring is to tailor to interests and research, but there are also overlooked histories, from Metis to Jewish and Black histories.”
Chinatown, circa 1958. Photo: Nanaimo Museum R5-13
During the pandemic, the museum is discovering new ways to share stories, whether through online programming, one-on-one visits developed through an innovative “Bubble Buddies” project, or self-guided tours. Challenging and exciting times are ahead for the seven full-time and five part-time staff members. Nanaimo is a key intersection for travellers going to or from Vancouver Island; the Museum itself could become an important crossroad to reconciliation and understanding.
For William White, collaboration with the museum will “give people voices who have not been heard before. This development is the first time in history that the songs, values, and images will be brought forward for a new time and place.” He remembers listening to recordings of the late Anderson Tommy, who grew up at what is now Departure Bay. “His old people taught him a Welcome Song, and he remembered his old people telling him — he almost cried — you will hear this song echo long after we are gone.”
Nanaimo Museum: https://nanaimomuseum.ca. Located at the corner of Commercial and Museum Way.
Q’Puthet Unwinus, Snuneymuxw cultural research project, 1970s. Left to right: Elder Hazel Good; Q’Puthet Unwinus project coordinator Kay George; Anderson Tommy; and Roy Aleck. Photo: Courtesy of William White
A street view of Tashme in 1942. Tashme was the largest Japanese internment camp in British Columbia with over 2,600 people incarcerated there at its peak. Nikkei National Museum, 1994.69.4.27
By Jacqueline Pearce and Jean-Pierre Antonio
Michiko Kihira is the chief translator. Jean-Pierre Antonio is an assistant translator. Jacqueline Pearce of Burnaby is a grant recipient of the 2019 BCHF Centennial Legacy Fund in the amount of $4,300 for her Japanese-Canadian internment camp haiku translation project. The goal of this project is to translate at least 300 of over 600 haiku poems contained in two unpublished documents written in Tashme internment camp as well as to translate a small selection of haiku from other camps. There are few published records of haiku written in internment camps, and the project aims to compile the scattered information and examples into a single collection, so that this very unique part of Canadian literature and history can gain wider recognition.
It took almost three hours to drive to Sunshine Valley from Fort Langley. It is about 22 kilometres past Hope on the Crowsnest Highway. Our destination was the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, a relatively new institution dedicated to the memory of life in the Tashme internment camp. Tashme was the largest internment camp in British Columbia for Japanese Canadians. The camp, built on the site of what was previously a working farm, was in operation between October 1942 and August 1946. At its peak, over 2,600 people were incarcerated there.
A large percentage of the Nikkei adults and children had previously lived in Vancouver and smaller communities along the coast, and they were accustomed to urban living and modern amenities such as indoor plumbing, heating, cars, and stores. In Tashme, the majority lived in 347 uninsulated tar paper shacks. Each shack was occupied by a family of at least five people. Smaller families either shared a shack or were housed in an “apartment” building. Barracks housed young, single women and a large barn housed single men. In addition, there was separate housing for the non-Japanese supervisors from the BC Security Commission and for the RCMP officers and teachers, many of the latter sent by churches. No prison walls were needed to keep people inside the camp, since the isolated location, rugged landscape, and the hostile social climate of the province were considered enough of a deterrent to thoughts of escape.
Over the years since the camp closed, few people passing by on the adjacent highway were aware of the site’s internment history. Today however, there is a newly erected Provincial historical marker on Alpine Boulevard, just off the highway, which provides basic information about Tashme and the people who were confined there. Visitors who pull off the highway and step inside the Tashme museum at 14781 Alpine Boulevard will find an opportunity to look through a window into the past and gain a deeper understanding of the harsh realities of the internees’ lives.
On the day we visited, brilliant sunshine was reflecting off a metre of newly-fallen snow, and the entire valley looked deceptively like an idyllic winter postcard. However, after a couple of hours touring the museum and the grounds and listening to the curator, Ryan Ellan, we were left with no illusions about this picturesque place. The museum provides plenty of detailed information about the site’s internment camp years through archival photos, maps, personal artifacts, and the interior of a painstakingly recreated shack that accurately shows visitors what the cramped kitchen and tiny bedrooms were like.
Kitchen utensils and personal items look as if they have been set aside for a moment and will be picked up again when the family returns. Through these tangible details, visitors can begin to understand the dramatically reduced circumstances that the internees endured. At the time of our visit, the cold of winter penetrating the thin walls helped evoke another layer of the internees’ experience.
In addition to the museum, visitors can also see the outside of a cabin used for Tashme primary school classes, a long, barracks-style building used to house unmarried women, the remains of two silos and the massive barn that was used to house single men. All of these buildings are original and in need of restoration after so many years of neglect. Even so, the barn, despite its current condition, is awe-inspiring. The massive ceiling struts, visible from the second-floor loft space, suggest the interior of a cathedral. The comparison, however, relates only to the sense of open space. Standing there for a brief 15 minutes, the icy chill penetrated our layers of winter clothing. There is no insulation in the building, and during the years the internees slept there, sleeping cubicles were separated only by thin curtains.
The Stop of Interest Sign erected in 2017 on Alpine Boulevard, just off the highway. Jacqueline Pearce
At one end of the barn there was a wood burning stove for cooking, but it could not possibly have provided enough heat to warm up the vast space. We had to wonder: What did the internees think about their day-to-day life in Tashme? How did they feel about the deprivations, or about having previous routines and relationships suddenly taken away? How did they manage the hardships?
There is not a great deal of first-hand information available today to let us know the internal thoughts and feelings of those who lived in the camp. Many of the adult internees have passed on, and those who were children in the camps are now entering their 80s and 90s, and the decades have taken away many of the sharper details of their memories. Perhaps, however, some of the emotional insights can be found in the rediscovered haiku poetry of Tashme.
Few examples of personal writing remain from the internment camps. Most were lost, destroyed or discarded over time. This makes the collection of materials recently donated by the Sameshima family to the archives of Nikkei Place, the National Japanese-Canadian Museum and Cultural Centre in Burnaby, particularly unique and significant. In the collection there are two remarkable volumes called Yamabiko (Mountain Echo) and Reiko (Spiritual Light).
They contain over 600 haiku composed by members of the Tashme Haiku Club during the years of internment. Their existence today is due to the care of one of the club members, Sukeo “Sam” Sameshima. He kept the two mimeographed volumes safe for over 70 years as he moved from home to home after internment, before finally settling in Coaldale, Alberta. It says a great deal about his love of haiku and his determination to not let the life he led in Tashme be forgotten.
Sukeo “Sam” Sameshima, was born November 23, 1915, in New Westminster. He was the second of six children born to Saichi and Kumi Sameshima. According to the Sameshima family, Saichi most likely came to Canada in 1907, and Kumi arrived in 1913. Saichi repaired shoes and established a business in New Westminster, then later in Nanaimo. By 1920, with four children, the family returned to Japan for the children’s schooling. In 1931, at age sixteen, Sukeo returned to BC. He apprenticed in New Westminster as a shoe repairman, then returned to Japan again briefly. When he came back to BC, he settled in Port Alberni to open his own shoe repair shop. In a 2002 interview published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America, Sukeo states that it was in Port Alberni that he was introduced to writing haiku. He joined a local haiku club called Kamome (Seagull) in 1940. After Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7, 1941, and BC’s 100-mile exclusion zone was created in 1942, Sukeo was sent to Hastings Park in Vancouver to await his internment destination. From there he was sent to Tashme, where he set up another shoe repair shop and also helped to establish Tashibi, the Tashme Haiku Club. It was towards the end of internment that the two haiku volumes, Reiko and Yamabiko, were compiled. In Tashme, Sukeo married Kazue “Kay” Shimozawa, who gave birth to their first child during their incarceration in the camp. When the Pacific War of the Second World War ended, the internees were released from Tashme, but were not allowed to return to the coast. Sukeo and his young family moved to a Canadian Air Force base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He had a temporary job there, helping other Nikkei as they traveled across Canada to new homes outside of BC. In 1948, he moved his family to Alberta to be closer to his wife’s relatives, and he opened a shoe repair shop in Coaldale, Alberta in 1949. He worked there until his retirement in 1992. Apart from a ten-year period after the war, Sukeo continued writing haiku until his death on October 5, 2017, a month short of his 102nd birthday. As well as the publication of ten of Sukeo’s haiku in Frogpond, seven of his translated haiku were published in Paper Doors: An Anthology of Japanese-Canadian Poetry in 1981, and two translated poems appeared in Haïku: Anthologie Canadienne/Canadian Anthology in 1985. His haiku were also included in Japanese-language publications. Thanks to his love of haiku, the two Tashme collections he helped create and safeguard, Reiko and Yamabiko, still exist today.
The publication Yamabiko consists of haiku from numerous authors. Its cover features a handdrawn illustration of the mountains surrounding Tashme and incorporates details of the camp, 1946. Nikkei National Museum, 2017.18.2.2.1
Haiku is a short form of poetry that has been popular in Japan for several hundred years. In fact, the word haiku is both singular and plural. It was brought to Canada by Japanese immigrants in the early 20th century. Traditionally, haiku tends to use natural imagery to express ideas and emotions associated with a particular moment of experience.
Many of the haiku in Reiko and Yamabiko draw from the natural setting of the camp, including the gentle agricultural valley and the rugged mountains surrounding it. The internees also used imagery from their own lives, recording both their industrious and their leisure activities. The portrait of life in Tashme that emerges is complex. Their work conveys the beauty of the environment they lived in, but the natural imagery they incorporated also speaks clearly of pain, worry, and loneliness.
For example, the following haiku from Reiko was written by one of the second-generation1 poets, who went by the pen name Kiyoshi. No pronoun is given in the first section, but one might assume the poet is talking about himself, walking alone and perhaps feeling the weight of being cut off from his previous activities and friends, yet, at the same time, beauty is found in the autumn leaves that form a path underfoot.
The following eight haiku, also written by second-generation poets, convey a keen sensory awareness of the environment and reflect some of the day to day activities of camp life (the poet’s pen name is given on the right).
カチカチと ハンマーの音 冬の朝 美津子/Mitsuko crack-crack hammer’s sound winter morning crack crack the sound of a hammer winter morning
寝ね足らぬ 目にストーブを 抱きけり 綾子/Ayako lack of sleep/sleepy eyes to/on stove huddle round feeling sleepy our eyes on the stove as we huddle around it
晝の鐘 いてつく路を かける児等 正茶/Shocha or Seicha noon bell frozen road running children/child noon bell children running on the frozen road
降りしきる 雪の奥から 犬吠えり きよゑ/Kiyoé falling heavily far off snow dog barking heavy snowfall in the distance a dog barking
クリスマス カード手に手に 子等の笑み かよ子/Kayoko Christmas card/cards holding in his/her hand children’s smiles Christmas cards in every hand children’s smiles
年惜む 失業の身 家にあり 肇/Hajime lament/regret the year’s end still unemployed sitting at home regretting the year’s end I sit at home still unemployed
床の母 かかへて見せる 雪の街 正茶/Socha or Seicha Mother in bed help sit up/hold up in arms can see snowy town bed-ridden mother I hold her up to see the snowy town
霜の花 自転車無惨に 放られあり frost flower bicycle thoughtlessly thrown away / left behind frost flowers a forgotten bicycle left behind
In the following haiku (also from Yamabiko), we get a picture of Sameshima walking through the forest, surrounded by trees, their tops rising into the blue sky. His eyes, too, are drawn upward, and there is a sense of his spirit lifted as well.
早春の 梢々が 青空へ early spring treetops treetops to the blue sky early spring so many treetops rising to the blue sky
The following are further examples of Sameshima’s haiku from Yamabiko, with the kanji and direct translation provided. For brevity, we haven’t provided the polished English haiku, but have instead left the interpretation up to the reader.
耕馬帰る 夕日抱きし 並木道 plough horse returns setting sun embraced tree-lined road
夏の朝 口笛の子に 出会ひけり summer morning whistling children meet / met
理髪師の 日向に佇てり 長閑なる barber in the sunlight standing tranquil / peaceful is
腕時計 はづし涼しき 夕風に wristwatch take off cool evening wind
秋の燈に 眼鏡のケース そと置かる autumn lamp-light glasses case gently put down
冬の灯に 帽子二三が かかりあり winter lamplight hats two or three are hung
The following haiku of Sameshima’s are from Reiko:
春天へ 警報黒く 吊られたる spring sky in warning/alarm bell black is hung
春水の 溢るるバケツ 持上ぐる spring water overflowing bucket lift/lift up
馬ぴんと 耳を立てたり 雪解の陽 horse straight up ears stand snow-melting sunshine
猫の髭 衣裁つ鋏 置かれけり cat’s love fabric/garment scissors put down
つばめ大きく 舞ひ朝の ビル高き swallow big looping in the morning building high/tall
路地出でて チューリップの陽の ありにけり lane/alley exit tulip/s in the sunshine there is/are
朝空へ 鯉幟なる 風がある morning sky to carp banner full wind blows/enough wind2
荷車の 子等積んで駈く 秋の晴 hand cart/wagon full of children/loaded with pulled autumn clear day
雪の朝 牧師の瞳に 触れ合ひぬ snowy morning priest’s eyes (glance) (my eyes) meet/met
凍つる夜の 夜光時計を 見さだめぬ freezing night dimly lit clock checking the time
冬の灯の 棚の古本 見つめゐる winter lamp light old books on shelf gazing at
小さき家 雪の朝日の 煙上ぐる small house/houses sunrise in snow smoke rises
バンの雪 栗毛の馬が 踏み出づる snow on the carriage/van chestnut (coloured) horse steps out into the snow
ひしひしと 路地を通りぬ 星冴ゆる shuffling through the alley stars shine bright look up
“Tashibi” cartouche cropped from the cover of Yamabiko. Nikkei National Museum, 2017.18.2.2.1
In his book, Within the Barbed Wire Fence, renowned Nikkei poet Takeo Ujo Nakano talks about his experience interned in Camp Angler in Ontario. This camp was designed to house German prisoners of war captured in Europe, but was pressed into use as a camp for Japanese-Canadians deemed a danger to the state. Nakao noted that “Because of the tedium of camp life, [the haiku club] quickly attracted members.”3
Haiku clubs (as well as other clubs and activities organized in the camps) broke the monotony of camp life. In his online article on the recently created Tashme Historical Project website, independent scholar Eiji Okawa suggests that for the haiku club members, writing haiku was more than a hobby, or leisure activity to fill the days’ empty hours. He says, “It gave them the avenue to express their emotions and visualize their heart and soul during the dreadful internment years.”4
He goes on to say that writing haiku, “facilitated cultural adaptation to the environment of Tashme.”5 Reading even a sample of the Tashme haiku, we can find support for his points. For example, after the tragic drowning of a child in one of the two rivers flowing past the camp, writing haiku may have offered a cathartic experience for a poet known by the pen-name, Koson (Lonely Village). The first haiku below refers to the tower at the edge of camp, which held an emergency bell, or siren. There is the sense of both the sound and the people’s panic rising.
非常警報 人沸きたたせ 夏天へ emergency bell people upset/panic/disturbed to the summer sky people panicking the emergency bell rises to the summer sky
いたいけな 死肢硬直 青草冷ゆる sweet/adorable corpse grown stiff green grass becomes cold a sweet child limbs stiffening the green grass chills
夏天へ 命奪へる 水音鋭き to the summer sky life robbed/stolens harp sound of water a life is taken into the summer sky the sharp sound of water
In these three haiku, the expression is restrained. The situation and the poet’s emotions are not explicitly stated. Yet, there is an implied sense of sudden deep and painful emotion, which the poet is perhaps coming to terms with through the act of writing.
Within the simple imagery of haiku, the poets were able to give voice to deep emotions they might not otherwise have been able to share. The haiku club used language to quietly reclaim a small, but significant, agency in their lives, presumably unobserved by camp authorities. As with other circumstances of internment, the name of the camp, Tashme, was imposed on the Nikkei. The name was created by the BC Security Commission as a kind of anagram, combining the first two letters of the names of three commissioners — Austin T. Taylor (TA), a prominent Vancouver businessman, John Shirras (SH) of the BC Provincial Police and Frederick John Mead (ME) of the RCMP.
The members of the haiku club, however, reinvented the name Tashme, using Japanese characters. They chose three kanji that can be read with almost the same sounds as the three parts of the name, “ta-shi-mi.” Ta means “many/plenty.” Shi means “strong resolution/will.” Mi means “beauty.” They could have chosen other kanji characters that can be read with the same sounds, but in selecting these particular kanji, the haiku club imbued the name, Tashme, with new meaning. For them, the camp name no longer referred to three BC Security commissioners; instead, it expressed the haiku club’s goal of creating plenty of beauty through their own resolution and will.
While haiku are very short and simple, they can be difficult to translate. The Japanese is often intentionally ambiguous, with no pronouns included and no clear indication of whether a subject or object is singular or plural. Each haiku can be interpreted in several different ways. In addition, a single kanji (Japanese character) may have more than one meaning, and some kanji used in the 1940s and earlier are no longer in use today. Sometimes, metaphors and references have been lost to time, or do not translate well. In other cases, the original poem’s rhythm and sound-play can be difficult to convey in English. Keeping these considerations in mind, we have created a rough direct English translation of each Tashme haiku, followed by a more polished English haiku version (for the sake of brevity, we have not included all of the polished versions here). With the English haiku, we have attempted to keep as close to the Japanese as possible, providing an interpretation that we feel makes sense given what we know about the context in which the poems were written. While the Japanese poems tend to be written in a pattern of 5-7-5 on, or sound units, we have not attempted to translate these into 5-7-5 English syllables. To do so would impose too many extra words on the poems. We have tried to retain the brevity, focused imagery and mood of the original poems.
This re-imagined Tashme can be seen very clearly on the covers of the haiku collections, Yamabiko and Reiko, in the lower left-hand corner in a gourd-shaped cartouche. Its creation was a subtle act of autonomy, an indication that through writing, the Nikkei internees would at least see this new environment in the way that they chose to see it — a way that allowed them to maintain a burning ember of their cultural and human identity. This ember is also kept alive through their haiku. These two collections, Yamabiko and Reiko, are invaluable documents that record the internal lives and the extraordinary endurance of the internees.
The authors would like to thank archivist Linda Kawamoto Reid and collections manager Lisa Kiyomi Uyeda at Nikkei Place for their help and patience during our visits to the Nikkei National Museum archives, Ryan Ellan, curator/owner of the Tashme Museum, for his guided tour of the museum and site, and Rachel Enomoto, haiku poet and translator, for her review of selected translations. We are also grateful to Sam (Sukeo) and Kay (Kazue) Sameshima for their donation of documents and photographs to the Nikkei archives and for the interview we conducted with Sam via correspondence and the help of his wife Kay, shortly before his death.
Yamabiko, Tashme Haiku Club, 1945, Kazue and Sukeo Sameshima fonds 2017.18.2.2.1, Nikkei National Museum Archives, Burnaby Reiko, Tashme Haiku Club, 1946, Kazue and Sukeo Sameshima fonds 2017.18.2.2.2, Nikkei National Museum Archives, Burnaby “Notes from the Prairie: an interview with and haiku by Sukeo Sameshima” by Bruce Ross in Frogpond: The Journal of the Haiku Society of America 25:2, 2002, pp. 53–56 Paper Doors: Anthology of Japanese-Canadian Poetry, Gerry Osamu Shikatani and David Aylward, eds., Coach House Press, Toronto, 1981 Haïku: Anthologie Canadienne / Canadian Anthology edited by Dorothy Howard and André Duhaime, Editions Asticou, Hull, Quebec, 1985
1. Second generation (Nisei) refers to Japanese-Canadians born in Canada to parents who immigrated to Canada from Japan. The generation born in Japan is the first generation (Issei). 2. A carp banner is a koi fish-shaped cloth or paper banner (or wind sock) that is hung to celebrate Boys’ Day (now called Children’s Day) in May. 3. Ujō Nakano and Leatrice M. Willson Chan, Within the Barbed Wire Fence: a Japanese Man’s Account of his Internment in Canada (Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 2012), 70. 4. Eiji Okawa, “Tashme Poetry Club,” Tashme 1942–1946 Historical Project, http://tashme.ca, assessed April 10, 2019. Quoted with permission. 5. Eiji Okawa, “Tashme Poetry Club”.
Jacqueline Pearce is an award-winning haiku poet and children’s book author based in Burnaby. Jacquie has degrees in English Literature and Environmental Studies and an interest in local history. Her first novel for children focused on the friendship between two girls of Sikh and Japanese heritage in the Vancouver Island community of Paldi during the Second World War.
Born in Jamaica, Jean-Pierre Antonio came to BC as a child. He grew up in Duncan and graduated from Cowichan Senior High School. He graduated from UBC with a BFA before taking an MFA at York and a BEd at the University of Toronto. He is currently teaching English at Suzuka University in Japan.
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