<Begin Segment 7>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Let's go back to the entrance exam to normal school. You failed the physical exam, and after that, to the doctor, you went straight to the doctor instead of going home...

AT: I went straight to his office. When I told him that I couldn't make it, he started saying, "Didn't I tell you so?"

TY: You were liked very much by the doctor, too, right?

AT: Yes, yes, yes. "You can't make it even if you go. You will fail the physical exam. You will probably pass the academic exam, though," he said. "But, don't go, you will fail the physical exam anyway." But, the first exam was in February. After that, all the exams to girls' schools took place in March. "Doctor, but I want to go try," I said, then he said that in that case I could go, but that I would fail the physical exam anyway. So, when I told him that I couldn't make it, he said, "I told you so, what did you think I meant?" Well, I was just a kid, so I said, "Yes, Doctor," and went home. Ever since then, I stopped talking about normal school. I just said that I could just go to girls' school.

TY: And then...

AT: I was thinking about going to normal school because I wanted to be a teacher.

TY: You went to Shintoku Jikka Girls' High School, and...

AT: Then, well, there was a regular school called Yamanaka Girls' High School. And, there, five hours a day, and at Shintoku, it was six hours everyday. The reason was because they had handicraft. Also, they had a good sewing class. They even taught cloth handicraft and paper flowers. In the flower arrangement class, we used fresh flowers. Well, on every Friday afternoon, in the afternoon, they had a class. The ikebana teacher was the same teacher that I had, well, and she was learning from the headmaster. Then when I went, she said to me on the day of the entrance ceremony, "Oh, Miss Nagao, you entered this school?" She knew I became a student there. So I said, "Yes." Then she said to me that there was a flower arrangement class on Fridays so I should stay and join it. So I thanked her. I didn't buy aspidistras for the first flower arrangement class. Everybody started with the aspidistra basket. I bought chrysanthemums. "Oh, Miss Nagao, why didn't you buy aspidistras?" "I have already done it at home." "Oh, is that so?" So I arranged the chrysanthemums that day. I still remember it today. Then I called the teacher, "Teacher, please take a look at my work since I have finished it." In this way, about thirty people stayed and arranged flowers. This [inaudible] teaching for a long time. She said, "Put some here, and it will look even better if you add one stem here." So I said, "Thank you very much," then my friend said, "Hey, come take a look!" and friends started gathering to my work. "Have you arranged flowers?" "Yeah, yeah, it's been about a year and a half to two years." Then they said, "Is that so?" It was fun then. When we worked on flowers, they just bought aspidistras and asked me to make the leaf arrangement, so I said, "It's not good if I arranged the leaves for you. You are learning, so you should do your own!" Then the teacher, Ms. Shinano, a very fun teacher, said, "Miss Terao, you can be a teacher here." [Laughs]

TY: Before then, before you took a class of ikebana, you had been taking classes?

AT: Yeah, I learned at home. But, I had the same teacher when I entered the girls' school, it was the same teacher, see, teachers were lining up at the entrance ceremony, right? When I was sitting on the chair in the front row, she said to me, "Oh, Miss Nagao, you entered this school?" "Yes." "You should join the flower arrangement, we have a class here." "Thank you very much," and [inaudible]. [Laughs] So I started staying in school to join the class. Then everybody, everybody bought aspidistras, right? I bought chrysanthemums. "Oh, Miss Nagao, why didn't you buy aspidistras?" "I have arranged aspidistras at home." "Oh, that's right." So I said, and I arranged chrysanthemums, and the teacher, at first, took aspidistras piece by piece like this. She distinguished them. Then she divided them and talked about it. But, I had already learned it at home before, in this way, I arranged them right by myself, and I arranged them. While she was talking this and that about aspidistras, I finished arranging and started fixing it very seriously by moving a leaf this way and that way. A friend said, "Hey, can you just not watch me, come teach me!" It was good that I had the same teacher. The teacher was Ms. Shinano. She was good. I kept learning the flower arrangement once a week at home on the weekend, and once a week on the weekend at school for a long time. Sometimes, I just went home when I wanted to. When I attended the flower arrangement class, it was six o'clock by the time I got home.

DG: How about others? Did your friends do like you did?

AT: No, women didn't learn. I was home, at home, so I learned there, and when I entered Shintoku, the flower arrangement teacher was the same, and she said that I should join, and a lot of people lived in the dorm, those who took lessons. Not too many regular people were there. There were a lot of those who lived in the dorm.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.