<Begin Segment 3>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Yes. So, you started going to school, an elementary school.

YI: When I turned six, I started going to an elementary school in our village.

TY: What was it like?

YI: Well, at school, I was a timid girl and cried often. I cried easily. Then, there was arithmetic. I didn't like arithmetic at all. I could not do it. The teacher would ask a question all of a sudden. Since I did not know the answer, I would give some number anyway -- the wrong answer. Then tears would flow. Because I didn't like it. Then, arithmetic was called sanjutsu, but nowadays it is called sansu. I hated that subject.

TY: How large was your school?

YI: What?

TY: How many students were there at your school?

YI: A class in those days... Let me see. Probably there were about eighty of us. Half boys and half girls.

TY: Really. Did you have uniforms? At the elementary school.

YI: What did you say?

TY: Elementary school.

YI: In those days, there was none. Just regular clothes. We wore kimonos. We didn't have school uniforms.

TY: Then, did you have school uniforms at the middle school?

YI: From elementary school?

TY: From middle school.

YI: We did not have school uniforms. My sister who was six years younger was the first to have a school uniform.

TY: Was it western-style?

YI: What?

TY: Did it become western style clothing? The school uniform.

YI: Yes, it was. Since then. In my days, we wore only kimonos. Moreover, it had to be the one with tsutsu-sode, straight sleeves. The school rules forbid the long sleeves or rounded sleeves.

TY: Oh, is that right?

YI: And then, the sleeve had to be straight. Also, hakama which is a skirt, had to be in maroon color, the color of that sofa. That was the only color allowed. On that skirt, there was a half-inch tape around the hem, about four inches above the hemline. That was the mark of my girls' school.

TY: Was that the girls' high school you went to?

YI: I went to the elementary school up to the sixth grade. Then there was an entrance exam. In those days, you could not go to a school unless you passed the exam. I was lucky and passed the exam. I studied at the girls' school for four years.

TY: You went to the elementary school for six years and then to a girls' high school.

YI: After I finished the sixth grade, I went to the girls' high school in a neighboring town commuting by train for ten minutes. There was no girls' high school in my town. The train was full of villagers as well as people from nearby villages. After getting off the train, I had to walk for about twenty-five minutes. The school was in a town far from the station. Now when I think about it, that was quite a trip. I had a big bag to carry.

TY: Yes, I see. You had to carry all those textbooks?

YI: Yes, those books. I commuted to the school.

TY: Then, after finishing the elementary school, the girls went to girls' high school.

YI: Elementary school, then girls' high school. The boys went to middle school. The boys and girls were separated. Separate schools. Equivalent to a junior high school here. Nowadays, they study together.

TY: Yes, they do.

YI: After the war. In my days, we studied together only at the elementary school. By the time we were ready for girls' high school, we were separated.

TY: What happened to the pupils who did not go to girls' high school?

YI: Most people who did not go to the girls' high school in the village. There were seven or eight people to took the examination, but only one person didn't pass. So that person went to another school which didn't require an examination to enter. Everyone who didn't pass went to this school, a technical school.

TY: As for those who did not go to higher schools, was it because of economic reasons?

YI: Those were the people who did not pass the exam. There was the entrance exam. Furthermore, your ranking in the exam would be posted -- the names were posted. I was sorry that there was one girl, a doctor's daughter, who did not pass, so she went to another school.

TY: Those who failed... you said earlier that the majority did not go on to higher schools, did you not?

YI: Yes, in my village. In those days, to be admitted to a school, similar to a junior high here, you were required to take a test. Besides you had to pay money. Tuition. That's why the majority did not go in my village. Those were farmers. Also, in my days, people did not think the girls should be highly educated. That was a bad custom. They said that the girls did not have to study. They said that highly educated girls are a problem. What a strange country it was. So people said the girls did not need higher education and did not allow the girls to study.

TY: But in your case, your father was an educated man. He was a priest.

YI: Yeah. Only certain families allowed their daughters to go to girls' high school. In my village.

TY: What kind of families were they?

YI: What?

TY: What kind of families sent their children to middle school or girls' high school?

YI: Well, in my village, somewhat well-to-do families did. A temple, a doctor or businessmen. They were mostly children from those families.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.