Ireichō
The Book of Names
National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration
National Tour 2025-2026
On February 18, 2025, we launched an ambitious effort to bring the Ireichō, a book monument containing the names of 125,284 individuals of Japanese ancestry unjustly incarcerated during World War II, to different camps and communities throughout the US.
The tour kicked off at the National Archives/Navy Memorial Visitors’ Center in Washington DC, where the Book of Names was displayed alongside the original copy of Executive Order 9066. The 100-year old Masaharu Ishii stamped his sister’s name in the Ireichō to officially kick off the national tour which continued with stamping opportunities to commemorate the Day of Remembrance at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History from February 19-21, 2025.
Named after the Japanese term for “consoling the spirits,” the Ireichō monument honors both those who have gone before us as well as those who carry on the memories and legacies of forced removal, unjust incarceration, and family separation. Every visitor to the monument is invited to contribute to the creation of the monument by marking one or more names in the Ireichō with a blue hanko stamp. For many camp survivors and descendants, leaving this mark has been a way to honor the personhood of a family member who suffered the indignities and losses of the wartime incarceration.
You are the monument to this history. By participating in the stamping of the book during the national tour, you, too, become part of the permanent record of the names and the honoring of them. The tour will run to late summer 2026, when the Ireichō will be formally gifted to the Japanese American National Museum by the Irei Project. JANM is our partner for the national tour, as part of JANM on the Go.
