Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

JAPANESE BOX

Date Range From

1920

Date Range To

1930

Materials

WOOD

No. Pieces

2

Height

5

Length

16.9

Width

16.5

Description

BLACK LACQUERED WOOD BOX WITH DETACHABLE LID. LID HAS GOLD LEAF AND RED BERRY MOTIF WITH GEOMETRIC DESIGN BAND ACROSS CORNER. BOTTOM EDGE OF LID IS MENDED WITH BLACK COTTON TAPE.

Subjects

CONTAINER

Historical Association

DOMESTIC

History

BOX WAS BROUGHT TO CANADA BY DONOR'S MOTHER FROM JAPAN IN THE 1920'S. DONOR'S MOTHER MET AND MARRIED HER FATHER IN VANCOUVER. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WERE ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE RELOCATED TO SLOCAN CITY (1942) BY THE CANADIAN GOV'T. DONOR'S FATHER, REV. G.G. NAKAYAMA, WAS AN ANGLICAN MINISTER IN VANCOUVER, AND THEN ESTABLISHED THE CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION IN COALDALE IN 1945 WHERE HE SERVED UNTIL 1970. FROM AUGUST 29 TO 31, 2011 COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED THE DONOR, JOY KOGAWA, ABOUT HER MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH SPECIFIC OBJECTS THAT SHE DONATED IN 1997. OF THIS ARTIFACT, KOGAWA SAID: “[THIS] WAS ONE OF THE MANY BOXES THAT WE HAD… I IMAGINE THAT IT’S ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT CAME FROM JAPAN AND WAS IN VANCOUVER [BEFORE THE WAR] AND WAS WITH US… ALL THE TIME… DURING THE WAR, I’M NOT SURE WHAT IT HELD, [BUT] IN VANCOUVER, WHEN WE WENT BACK [IN THE 1980S] IT WOULD SIT AROUND, IT WASN’T IN THE BEST CONDITION ANYMORE… IT GOT WRECKED AND NEEDED TO BE TAPED… BUT IT WAS STILL USED AND WOULD HOLD THINGS [LIKE] RICE CRACKERS [OR] CANDIES… MY DAD HAD A SWEET TOOTH. EVERY MEALTIME, AT THE END OF THE MEAL HE WOULD ASK FOR ‘JAM-EE’, WHICH WOULD BE JAM ON BREAD… AND MOM ALSO HAD A SWEET TOOTH, SHE USED A LOT OF SUGAR IN HER COOKING. AND HER FATHER HAD BEEN A CANDY MAKER AMONGST MANY OTHER THINGS, SO SHE LIKED SWEETS.” SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.

Catalogue Number

P19970041320

Acquisition Date

1997-01

Collection

Museum

Less detail