After Sakiko’s death, we created a temporary memorial in our garden in Bennekom.
We could see her urn from our living room window.A long winter.And an early spring.
The Kanamori family gravesite in Japan was almost 200 years old. It had originally been in the middle of Mikuni, the small village on the Japan Sea in which Sakiko had grown up. In 1989, she had moved it to a new location outside the town. But, by 2004, no family members lived nearby anymore.
In June 2005, Byron visited Japan. Everyone wanted to find a new site that the family could visit and care for. One possibility was moving everything to the Netherlands.
There were two graves. In the smaller one were ahes from Sakiko’s father, her mother, her aunt Tomi, and her grandparents. In the larger one were ashes from nine more distant relatives dating back to 1808.We placed flowers and fruits on the graves. Here is Tamamura-san, a Mikuni resident and a close friend of the Kanamori family.The priest from our local temple led a short service. He had conducted the funerals for Tomi and for Sakiko’s father in 1989. Here he is inspecting the stones.Toyoko-san explaining the family tree. She is a Kanamori cousin, the daughter of Sakiko’s Aunt Kiyo.
From Mikuni to Bennekom.
Our local stonecutting firm removed the stones. Here is Shinzo-san looking on as the stonecutter discusses his plans. Shinzo is also a cousin, the son of Kiyo and the brother of Toyoko.We placed all the ashes in two bags. Tadaaki-san looking on. He is a cousin-in-law on the Yoshida side.The priest then led another service at the temple. Ashes from all fifteen persons (including Sakiko) are now buried forever in a common grave in the temple garden. Here is the final resting place.We shipped the stones to the Netherlands, to become the core of a new Mook-Kanamori family gravesite.
After Byron’s trip to Japan, there were two more urns.
The dark urn contains ashes from the smaller grave and the light one contains ashes from the larger grave.In August 2005, the stones arrived from Mikuni.We found a good place at the end of the path, on the left side.Toyoko-san was sure that the ancestors were “very surprised” to be in Bennekom (and we hoped “happy” too).
We looked for a place that was green, quiet, and close to everyone. And we found one in Dieren, a small town northeast of Arnhem near the German border.
Our new gravesite is in a memorial park, away from well-traveled paths, in front of a grove of fir trees.On Christmas Eve 2007, Telfer (Sakiko’s Father-in-Law), Byron, Barry, and Dennis had a short burial service.We put all the urns in the ground, along with two orange (Dutch) flowers.We visit quite often. Barry and Dennis are less than two hours away in western Holland, and Byron is a bit more than two hours away in Germany.
