Manzanar Pilgrimage Turns 39
By AlexIsaoHerbach
Rafu Staff Writer
Saturday, May 3, 2008

Hundreds of participants make this year’s pilgrimage one of the most attended in its history.

Photos by MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo
Hundreds enjoy UCLA Kyodo Taiko at the start of this year’s Manzanar Pilgrimage on Saturday. Behind the cemetery fence, dozens of media gather to document it.

Students and the pilgrimage participants discuss during the Manzanar After Dark program.

The 39th Annual Manzanar Pilgrim­age was one of the most successful trips in its history, according to organizers, as upwards of 300 participants made the journey to the former Japanese Ameri­can internment campsite Saturday.

It was a day best defined by its diversity, as pilgrims of varying ages, ethnicities and backgrounds visited the Manzanar National Historic Site, many of whom were participating for the first time. Former internees were joined by their children and grandchildren, curi­ous high school students arrived in their friends’ cars and buses teemed with various secular, academic and religious groups, making this year’s pilgrimage one of its most diverse.

“I think we’re all here for a good reason,” said Hussan Ayloush, execu­tive director of the Southern California branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations, speaking on behalf of the gathered crowd, which included over 100 Muslim Americans. “To pay tribute to the courage and the sacrifices of the Japanese American community. In the Forties, they had to pay a price to ensure that the Civil Liberties of all Americans were protected. We owe them so much, we owe them a great debt and we’re all here to pay that
tribute to them.”

The Muslim-American contingent, which has been growing steadily within the last few years, was the largest in the pilgrimage’s history. Their community has joined the pilgrimage in solidarity after the Japanese American community reached out to them following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The variety of speakers was indicative of the growing diversity of the event. Addressing the pilgrims from a Department of Water and Power truck bed on the periphery of the site’s cemetery, the program’s speakers emphasized the importance of remembering the past, and in recognition of the mixed crowd—who may not have a personal connection to Manzanar—the power of individualized insight.

“We all may think the same and see the same, but we’re all going to leave here with different things: different thoughts, different experiences, different ways to continue the legacy,” said Stacy Iwata, president of the UCSD Nikkei Student Union.

After a rousing call to order from solo bagpiper Dan Sprague, emcee Darell Kunitomi led the crowd in a sing-along of Don’t Fence me In, accompanied by UCLA Kyodo Taiko and keyboardist Scott Nagatani.

The Manzanar Committee began the day’s program by presenting four certificates of appreciation. Bruce Embrey—the son of Sue Kunitomi Embrey, the founder of the Manzanar Committee—awarded certificates on-stage to photographer Archie Miyatake, whose father documented camp life through pictures and who remains an active community photographer in his own right; Lillian Kawasaki, president of the Friends of Manzanar; and
Alisa Lynch, chief of interpretation at the Manzanar Historic Site. Another certificate was presented to Crystal Geyser, who supplied pilgrims with bottled water, a much-needed comfort in the blistering desert climate.

Mary Kageyama Nomura, the famed Songbird of Manzanar, followed with her rendition of “The Manzanar Song,” which was written by the late Louie Frizzell, a beloved teacher at Manzanar High School.

The sing-alongs and Tanko Bushi Ondo (traditional Japanese dances) may appear to some as inappropriate during an event at a site that once represented persecution and civil injustice. But the most striking—and the most compelling—aspect of the pilgrimage is that it is not simply a time of mourning. Though it is certainly a time of respect and remembrance, it is also a celebration, a commemoration for this community to show how far it has come since Relocation.

“Because it is a pilgrimage, we go back [to Manzanar] to remember and yet also to celebrate where we’ve come, and our past, and what we are trying to do for our future,” said pilgrim Patty Nagano.

This is not to say that the pilgrimage does not offer its share of respect. After the speakers finished, a group of 10 internees and community volunteers gathered at the base of the DWP truck, each cradling wooden placards in their arms. Each placard had the name of one of the 10 internment camps written on the front.

Emcee Kunitomi then called out the name of each camp as its placard carrier walked it silently over to the cemetery. The crowd followed the volunteers into the cemetery for an interfaith memorial service in front of the cemetery’s iconic monument.

In keeping with the theme of diversity, several denominations contributed to the service. A Shinto priest blessed the buried dead and was followed by words and prayers from Buddhist, Christian and Muslim officials. Pilgrims were then invited to offer incense.

The interfaith service is the most personal experience the pilgrimage has to offer. It is not the day’s most fun or celebratory portion, but it is the only time where the pilgrims can participate as an individual. It is the pilgrimage at its most stirring.

“A pilgrimage is not a vacation. It is a transformational journey during which significant changes take place,” said keynote speaker Dr. Art Hansen, professor emeritus of History and Asian American Studies at Cal State, Fullerton. “New insights are given, deeper understanding is obtained, new and old places in the heart are visited. Blessings are received and healing takes place.”

At the conclusion of the memorial service, many of the pilgrims returned to their buses for the long ride back home. Many others stayed to visit the site’s Interpretive Center or continued on to nearby Lone Pine, where the Manzanar at Dusk program was held at a local high school. This event, highlighted by small group discussions led by former Manzanar internees, brings the greater political and sociological themes of internment into focus while making the experience more accessible to younger generations that did not experience internment firsthand.

It is the juxtapositions the pilgrimage inspires—the elderly and the young, history and culture, sorrow and celebration—that is at the heart of the Manzanar journey. Perhaps it is the complexity of the event, emotionally and spiritually, that brings so many people back every year.

For more information on the Manzanar National Historic Site or the pilgrimage, contact the Manzanar Committee at (323) 662-5102 or visit www.manzanarcommittee.org.