| | by admin | | posted on 3rd May 2025 in Quakers in 100 Objects | | views 145 | |
Shizuko's Quaker Quilt, gifted during wartime incarceration, became a lifelong symbol of peace, kindness, and quiet resistance through hardship.
Shizuko Ina was one of over 120,000 forcibly displaced, detained, and confined in an interment camp during World War II (1939 - 1945). During the war, the U.S. government forcibly imprisoned Japanese Americans, including both citizens and non-citizens, to ten 'War Relocation Centers' (often called internment camps) after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Life in the camps was harsh, especially for expectant mothers like Shizuko. The quilt known as *Shizuko’s Quaker Quilt* first entered her life not in Japan, but during her internment in the San Francisco War Relocation Center.
One day, a woman from the American Friends Service Committe approached the camp’s fence. Spotting Shizuko, and perhaps noticing her pregnancy, the Quaker woman heaved a quilted blanket over the barbed wire and called out gently, “I hope this helps”. That unexpected gift of care, given without condition, became a quiet companion through many long seasons of trial.
The quilt remained with Shizuko through several relocations to other prison camps. During a time when her husband, Itaru, was separated from her and detained by the Justice Department for his anti-war dissent, the quilt offered comfort and continuity. Worn but well-loved, it served not only as warmth but as a memory stitched into cotton-a symbol of mercy amid state cruelty.
After the war, Shizuko settled in San Francisco. The quilt was always part of her bedding, layered beneath the chenille bedspread. Her children grew up seeing it, but not knowing its story. It was simply “Mother’s blanket”-until much later, when memory and testimony brought its meaning to light. In time, it was recognised not merely as a family heirloom, but as a piece of history, and a symbol of Quaker witness under difficult times.
Quilting has long been used by women across cultures to carry stories, prayers, and resistance. This handmade quilt bore no slogans or protest signs, but every stitch testified to human connection over cruelty, to hospitality in a time of suspicion. Though the name of the woman who made it is lost, her gesture lives on, speaking still.
For Shizuko, it became a foundation-literal and spiritual-of her home after the war. The quilt's softness spoke of strength. Its patchwork became part of her own witness, later inspiring her to share with others about the injustices of internment, and the acts of kindness that made survival bearable. What had been thrown over a fence in faith became an altar of memory.
Though the quilt came from an American Quaker woman, it came to represent something deeper: the universal language of compassion. Shizuko later became active in reconciliation and remembrance efforts, working with peace groups including those connected to Friends. Her story is just one thread among many that show how Quaker testimonies take form not only in Meeting but in action.
The American Friends Service Committee continued its efforts long after the war-supporting Japanese Americans in rebuilding their lives, advocating for redress, and honouring stories like Shizuko’s. The quilt thus became a shared legacy, bridging the gap between strangers and generations, faiths and languages.
Shizuko’s Quaker Quilt is now preserved by her descendants, finally recognised for its historical and spiritual value. It has been shown in community exhibitions on wartime internment, and in Friends’ meetings as a symbol of what it means to love the enemy, welcome the stranger, and uphold the dignity of all.
As one Friend reflected upon seeing the quilt, “This is not just fabric. It is a sacrament.” Shizuko’s story, and the unknown Friend who first cast the quilt over the fence, remind us that peace can be sown quietly, one thread at a time. Even in the shadow of barbed wire, a covering of love can be passed hand to hand-and heart to heart.
