Diaries Give a Glimpse of the Role of Religion Behind Barbwire
Through war, peace and incarceration, Rev. Daisho Tana wrote his innermost feelings in paperbound diaries. Now they are getting translated into English.
Today, this 'American Buddhism' both as an ideal and as a reality, is on the verge of flourishing. It is a true honor to be able to give myself fully to this new American Buddhism at such a crucial time. - Rev. Daisho Tana, Jan. 28, 1942.
It was a dramatic time for the Buddhist priest living in Lompoc, Calif. War had broken out and suspicion of Japanese Americans was at a high. But in a time of crisis, Daisho found a purpose.
From the Pearl Harbor attack to his days in a Santa Fe, New Mexico internment camp, Daisho continued to pen his innermost thoughts and observations in Japanese in paperbound diaries totaling up to 1,600 pages.
Through his writings, we get a glimpse of the role of religion - particularly Buddhism - in camp life, said Dr. Duncan Williams, a University of California, Berkeley professor of Japanese Buddhism who is translating Daisho's diary into English.
"Before the war, Buddhist temples were the center of community functions. In camp, many people turned to religion to help support communal life," said Williams, a Shin Issei who came to the U.S. to study at 17. He is also an ordained Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition.
Historians have generally ignored the importance of religion in internment camps, but it was extremely important to internees. It linked them back to Japan, said Williams.
"We have this thing where we say '120,000 JAs were put into camps, two-thirds of who were American citizens.' Those American citizens were children ... but the voices of mom and dad, and grandma and grandpa have not been recognized.
"Popular accounts of camp life don't give the full extent of people age 30 and up, who built everything up only to lose everything," he said.
The Man Behind the Words
Daisho was born in the Meiji Period and wrote in the more grammatically difficult type of formal Japanese. Because his diaries were so long and complicated, scholars have not been using them as a reference for JA history.
"The grammar is not modern Japanese grammar," said Williams, but its level of difficulty helped keep Nisei informants from reading his innermost thoughts. In an honest, descriptive and reflective writing style, Daisho describes the fear gripping the community and the reactions of JA groups, including the JACL.
Like in any diary, Daisho also includes details about daily life.
On Feb. 3, 1942, he wrote: "I went shopping today. While I was looking through the paper, someone came up to me and said, 'Hi Sensei, it must be tough for you these days, but please continue guiding us till the end.'"
"He'll tell you things - his opinions of other priests - and other gossipy things. But he also really said what he thought in a personal and direct tone," added Williams, who strove to keep the same tone in his translations.
Daisho was in his 40s when he came to the U.S. as part of what is now known as the Buddhist Churches of America to serve at California temples including Berkeley.
"[Daisho] was a part of the prewar generation Issei. He was very well educated," said Williams. "He had a mission of spreading the dharma, and thought of himself as a cultural ambassador. He saw that Japan had something to offer religiously as well as culturally."
He was also a Japanese language schoolteacher and principal who had a strong sense that Buddhist teachings were very important tools for universal outreach to the non-Japanese. He also understood that Buddhism is culturally shaped - Buddhism in America has to change.
Gradually, Buddhist monks changed their titles to "ministers" and temples became known as "churches" in order to fit into the American landscape.
But even before most JAs were rounded up into internment camps, the FBI targeted Shinto and Buddhist priests.
"To be Buddhist, you were considered anti-American or not pro-American," said Williams. Many JAs burned their pictures and literature from Japan and converted to Christianity in hopes of escaping persecution.
But by March 1942, Daisho was living behind barbwire separated from his wife and children. He was interned primarily at a Northern Santa Fe, New Mexico camp run by the Department of Justice. In incarceration, his entries remain optimistic.
"Considering the life he lead prior to, during and after World War II, it is incredible that his pride and honor remained intact," said Akira Tana, Daisho's youngest son. "His faith is what probably helped him survive."
Found in Translation
Thirty years ago, Tomoe, Daisho's wife who was an accomplished tanka poet, transcribed the original entries and had them published in Japan.
"I recall her daily routine of early morning exercise and time spent transcribing before her day even started," said Akira, a San Francisco-based jazz musician. "My mother would oftentimes share her joy in transcribing as she felt she was reliving the days with her husband together, though they were physically separated during that time."
After Daisho's death in 1972, the family wanted to have the diaries translated into English. By chance, Akira met Williams in Cambridge Mass., when Williams was going to graduate school at Harvard University.
"Duncan expressed an interest in my father's diaries so I loaned him copies of them," said Akira. "It turns out after many years after a chance meeting, that Duncan's interest in the translations are finally coming to fruition and is finally becoming a reality."
He has edited the diaries and taken out more mundane entries, but they clearly give a glimpse into a man of faith incarcerated during a time of war, said Akira.
Williams hopes to finish translating the dairies in 2008 for publication, but the project does not have a publisher yet. Translating Daisho's diaries into English is only one of his many projects that examine the role of faith in the time of settlement and war. His books, "Issei Buddhism" and "Camp Dharma," are both slated to come out in 2008.
The role of religion is huge in this time of JA history, said Williams, who also pointed out that up to the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, 70 percent of JAs in the mainland were Buddhist. During the War, the 100th Battalion and the 442nd RCT were not allowed to have Buddhist chaplains even though a majority of the men in the troops were Buddhist.
For Williams, translating the diary entries has brought him closer to the man behind the words.
"He had optimism even in the most dire of situations," Williams said. "He did his best to live every day in a righteous way."
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