KNEELER

Description: SLIGHTLY CURVED RECTANGULAR WOOD BOARD WITH LINEN COVERED CUSHION. COVERING IS BROWN AND RED WITH CRANES. ONE CORNER IS WORN THROUGH AND TORN. BACK OF BOARD HAS PAPER COVERING WITH MULTIPLE COLUMNS OF JAPANESE CHARACTERS.

History: DONOR RELATES THAT THIS CUSHION IS A KNEELING BOARD USED TO PRAY AND MEDITATE. DONOR IS UNSURE OF ITS ORIGINS BUT BELIEVES THAT IT WAS BROUGHT TO CANADA BY ONE OF HER PARENTS, BOTH OF WHOM WERE DEVOUT PEOPLE. THE NAKAYAMA FAMILY WAS ORIGINALLY FROM VANCOUVER BUT MOVED TO COALDALE FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR WHEN THEY WERE INTERNED AT SLOCAN CITY IN THE INTERIOR OF BRITISH COLUMBIA BY THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. THE DONOR'S FATHER, REV. CANON 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. SEE RECORD P19970041001 FOR EXPANDED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION AND PERMANENT FILE FOR FURTHER HISTORY.