On Sunday, the 70th anniversary of a popular tradition in Northern Gulf, Micked in Enmanji Teriyaki Barbecue in Sebstopol. In addition to the Secret-Rip Teriyaki chicken, the small city also serves some lessons in humanity.
Every year, Enmanji Buddhist Temple welcomes thousands of neighbors for a barbecue chicken dinner with a Japanese flare and a family secret: Teriyaki sauce that is sprayed on 1,200 chickens, which is to fry on huge coal pits.
Barbecue Master Brent Ono did not even remember how many years he was cooking there.
He said, “I have lost count. So, my father is the third generation, I am the fourth generation and my brother is the fourth generation. Therefore, we are even here until we can stand in the pit,” he said. “They say that it is one of the best barbecue around, so I think it is an honor for cooking.”
Do not bother to ask for the recipe, although many people have tried.
“Developed by my two grandfathers,” said Juline Leach, co-chairman of the event. “This is a mystery, and you are not going to find out. It was so good that Kikkomon asked for its rights and refused. And soon after, Kickkoman developed his own, but it is different.”
Barbecue was suspended for three years due to Kovid epidemic. But, while it is now smaller than once, it is growing in size every year.
Walk through the ground with julins, and it is clear that he either knows or is related to all in the crowd.
For a gathering of about 5,000 people, there is a separate family atmosphere and all seems centered around the Elegant temple building, which was originally built for the Chicago World Fair of 1934.
“… and after the world fair, they demolished it, placed it on flatbeds and brought it to sebstopol,” Julin said.
Local residents also helped to rebuild it. But finally, Japanese Americans were rounded for the International in 1941, some wandals tried to set fire to the building. If you look closely then a burn mark is still visible.
But then something was extraordinary. A group of adolescents of a local youth group showed to protect the building.
“They surrounded the temple because I think it was two weeks after this,” Julin said. “Because they were friends of those who had to leave here. And they were Catholic and Christians and Jews, but everyone was a friend and no one could understand why Japanese were going away.”
So, is there any lesson for today?
“Yes,” he said, “Love each other every day.”
It is a lesson that many Japanese residents returning were heartbroken by Julin’s father, Martin Shimizu, who was now 94 years old.
“We were accepted as people,” he said, “not only someone was kept to work. Because whatever you wanted to be can become, not only a worker, you know?”
And it seems that the community still feels proud of it.
“The tragedy of the intern is a legacy that … it is a tragic legacy that we take with us as Americans,” said Glenn Pinno, resident. “But the Japanese American community overcame it. And the city protected those qualities and this temple.”
Eighty years have passed since the war ends and now everyone can gather for food and feel like a family. Fear and doubt now seems irrational. And perhaps even today something has to be kept in mind.
