The treasure-laden slope that leads down to Tsawwassen Beach in Fred Gingell Park keep turning up stories from the past.
After a double-barrelled shotgun was found hidden just off the trail last year, local resident Blake Willson has also found another artifact with links to the past.
Willson is helping restore natural vegetation to the steep slope below the park.
In April he found a small piece of carved marble bearing a Japanese inscription, buried a few centimetres in the soil.
Willson lived in Japan for several years and learned the language and recognized the Japanese letters. Anyone else finding the rock might not have recognized that and may have tossed the stone aside, he said recently.
“It’s really quite meaningful for me to find that,” he said. “It particularly registered with me because I have studied Buddhist meditation for many years.”
He guesses that it’s been lying there for a century and came from one of the Japanese workers employed in the fish plants in the Tsawwassen and Point Roberts area in the early 1900s.
Willson said that fish canneries in Point Roberts hired lots of Japanese workers between the 1880s and 1917.
Translated, the letters mean, Jizo Bodhisattva. The latter word refers to a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment, while Jizo is the name of the individual.
The Buddhist (name was: Jizou Bousatsu) is known by everyone in Japan, but is particularly highly regarded by Japanese Buddhists as a protector of children. He is also well-known in China as a famous enlightened Buddhist.
Jizo Bodhisattva is a highly revered enlightened monk in Japan to whom parents pray if they have children who have died, Willson said.
“All over Japan (especially in Buddhist temples), one can see small rock statues of children with red caps and a red vests on, offering wishes to children who have tragically died,” he said.
Readers can learn more at: https://www.okujapan.com/blog/japanese-jizo-statues/.
