The Tasaka family, primarily from the island of Sashima, Japan, began their residence on Salt Spring Island in 1905. Isaburo Tasaka had been in North America since 1893 and, after landing in Portland, Oregon, where he logged in the winter, he had established a business in Steveston exporting barrels of salted chum salmon. The border, at that time, was open and settlers routinely travelled back and forth. After a return visit to Japan, he had brought his pregnant bride Yorie to Steveston in 1903. The Tasaka home on Salt Spring was located in the village of Ganges on Seaview Avenue near what is now Mouat Regional Park.

While living in Ganges, Isaburo commuted seasonally when he went fishing in Steveston and returned home on SSI to earn extra money by being a handyman for the Mouat family and doing carpentry work. One of Isaburo’s notable endeavours was the production of charcoal using two charcoal kilns that he built in what is now known as Mouat Park. The charcoal he produced was primarily for sale in Victoria to fish packing, soap and explosive plants, but also on Salt Spring to McAfee’s blacksmith shop. The remains of two of his charcoal kilns were rediscovered in 2013 in Mouat’s Park at the end of Seaview Avenue. A kiln restoration project, with interpretative signage, was initiated by the S.S.I. Japanese Garden Society and executed by PARC. It is now complete and one of the kilns is accessible for public viewing.

See information on Charcoal Kilns on Salt Spring
and their Restoration by the Japanese Garden Society

There is a funny family story in the Tasaka family about Isaburo. When commuting over to Steveston to work he would sail across the strait, but on one occasion as he neared the shore he dropped his sail and paddled the rest of the way. A fishermen standing on the dock couldn’t believe his eyes, thinking that Isaburo had paddled all the way from SSI! The guy thought Isaburo was superhuman! This story was told to Chuck Tasaka by his brother Kaz.

Isaburo Tasaka was also skilled in building dry stone walls in the Japanese tradition and among other projects on the Island was responsible for the construction of a sea-wall on the water-side of Mouat’s Hardware. This work was commissioned by Gavin Mouat in the late 1920’s. It is now under the harbour-side boardwalk but can be viewed from the Coast Guard dock, particularly at low tide. Another example can be seen on the shore of Ganges Harbour in Walter’s Cove.

The Tasaka’s had 18 children, of which 15 survived into adulthood. The last was stillborn; Chizuko died while still a baby and is buried in the SSI Cemetery; and Hajime was about four when he died of typhoid fever in Steveston. The family maintained a presence on Salt Spring Island until 1929 when Isaburo and Yorie returned to Steveston. Then, in 1935, Isaburo returned to Japan, with Yorie and their four youngest children, to attend to his father’s estate in Sashima. Their descendants number in the hundreds and have settled throughout B.C. and the rest of Canada following the Japanese Canadian uprooting and internment of World War II.

Source: TASAKA, Ted Ohashi & Yvonne Wakabayashi, North Vancouver, BC, 2005, pg.42