Family Object

            My grandmother moved to the US from Japan when she was in her early twenties. The only things she brought with her were  a very small amount of money, her determination, and her faith. My grandmother grew up Buddhist, and continued to practice it for many years. She had six children, two boys and four girls. She didn’t teach her children any Japanese, and hardly anything about Buddhism.

            I remember a few things about her practice. There were meetings held where I had to be very quiet and a group of people would get together and chant. They held and rubbed together a string of beads. They gathered around a box containing a small scroll with Japanese writing, they also burnt incense.

            So I brought a stick of incense with me to show part of my heritage, and part of what I remember growing up. My family still keeps the box, and the beads although  nobody practices Buddhism anymore I will always think of my grandmother and her religion when I smell incense, and how she used to put it out with her bare fingers.

For more info on Japan:

www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ja.html