16 August 2010

Triumphs and Tragedies of Rogers Pass Remembered

A relative of one of the victims says a prayer for his ancestor who died in the avalanche.

Rogers Pass British Columbia - For almost 100 years Naofumi Kumagai knew little about his grandfather Shokei, one of 58 victims of the 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche. On Sunday, finally given the opportunity to pay his respects, Naofumi broke down.
 
"Dreams, didn't you let my grandfather, Shokei Kumugai, who was leaving after hard work, feel the warmth of his little children's soft hands reaching his body and touching his cheeks gently," he said through a translator as he choked back tears while reading a poem. "Today I brought you some pictures of your wife and children who you must have wanted to see the most for a long time. I also brought you all the feelings that your grandchildren and your family has for you. At last, with my third oldest brother, I finally came here to see you."
 
The Kumagai family was one of four to travel from Japan to British Columbia to honour their ancestors who were among the 58 dead in the 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche. Joining them were the families of slide victims Masatora Abe, Takefusa Imamura, and Mannosuke Yamaji.
 
They were all here for a ceremony at the Rogers Pass summit to honour the victims of Canada's biggest avalanche disaster. It was the second ceremony held to honour the victims, the first taking place on 4 Mar 2010, exactly 100 years to the day the avalanche hit.
 
This ceremony was timed to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the railway reaching the summit of Rogers Pass and the final day of the Japanese Buddhist Bon Festival.
 
The victims were out cleaning up an avalanche that came off Mt. Cheops when another slide descended from Avalanche Mountain, burying them. The ceremony took place almost at the exact spot where the victims died.
 
The day began in a somewhat festive mood as participants in the ceremony rode to Rogers Pass aboard the Canadian Pacific's Empress steam engine, a rare opportunity to travel by rail through the mountains.
 
 

Participants rode behind locomotive 2816 from Revelstoke to the ceremony in Rogers Pass.
 
 
For the Japanese families of the victims, the ceremony provided an opportunity to finally honour their long-lost relatives.
 
They were at the ceremony thanks in part to Revelstoke resident Tomoaki Fukimura, who diligently researched the victims and tracked down the victim's families.
 
"I now know where my grandfather came, worked, stood, and slept," Kumagai said. "Now I can see you and feel relief with your pictures in your hand."
 
The families each said a prayer to their ancestors while Reverend Dr. Leslie Kawamura of the Living Dharma Centre, performed a Buddhist chant.
 
The Yamaji family had attended the 4 Mar 2010 ceremony but they felt it important to return for this one as well.
 
They came to respect the deceased because they had not been properly respected for the past 100 years, Reiko Yamaji said through a translator on the train ride to the pass. Sunday was the day to recognize them, and respect them, and send them to the other world.
 
Masanori Imamura's great uncle Takefusa was only 16 when he came to Canada in 1907. He was the youngest avalanche victim and Masanori knew almost nothing about him until he was contacted by Fujimura.
 
"I get overwhelmed by emotions when I think about the voyage from Yokohama to Vancouver and what he went through here in Canada, leaving his family in Japan and enduring the hard work in this foreign country," Masanori said through a translator in a speech during the ceremony. "Today owing to your help and consideration we four bereaved families are able to attend this ceremony. Please accept my heart felt thanks for giving us this opportunity."
 
Julie Lawson, the granddaughter of Bill Anderson, one of the few men to survive the avalanche, and the great-niece of Charles Anderson, who passed away, also spoke at the ceremony. Bill, she knew, survived because he left the site of the avalanche moments before the slide hit.
 
"I can only imagine how heart wrenching it must have been for him to have returned to the site and encountered such devastating silence and darkness as he did," she said.
 
Sunday evening, as the sun set below Frisby Ridge, many of the people who were at the ceremony, and many who weren't, came to Centennial Park to partake in Toro Nagashi, a traditional Japanese Buddhist ceremony in which participants float paper lanterns down a river, ocean, or lake, to guide the spirit of the deceased back to the other world.
 
The families of the victims led the ceremony, casting lanterns with their relatives names on them into the Columbia River. They were joined by many others who took the opportunity to honour their own deceased loved ones.
 
Alex Cooper.