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Lost names kim7/6/2023 ![]() ![]() The Andong Kwons were nobles, scholars, and advisors to the Korean Royal Family. ![]() With the monotonous chant of the monk echoing in the valley of the tombs, my father ceremoniously placed the box of ashes back into the earth, as was his filial duty.Īt the tombsite, the marble gravestone solemnly reads: “Andong Kwon Accumulated Tomb.” Andong is the area of Korea where our line of the Kwon family originates. ![]() Almost 50 years later, my father purchased a plot of land at Bukkokuji Temple in Kyoto where my grandfather’s ashes and bits of his larger bones rested in a wooden box wrapped in beige, polyester fabric. My father had always longed to return to Japan and bury my grandfather’s ashes in the traditional Buddhist way. My grandfather passed away in Japan in 1937 when my father was an infant, and my grandmother escaped with him to Korea to avoid being drafted into WWII as a nurse. Here is a story I wrote called “My Lost Names,” which was recently published in an anthology called Autobiography Matters: What’s in a Name? My Lost Namesĭuring a typical monsoon summer after my freshman year of college, my family took a trip to Japan so that my father could fulfill his lifelong dream of honoring the Kwon name by establishing a proper tomb for his father. Rosa Haewon Kim Kwon Easton? What kind of a name is that? It’s my full name, parts of which have been lost over time through immigration and marriage. ![]()
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