<Begin Segment 6>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: I see. I understand that your father passed away when you were eighteen.

YI: Yes, when I was about eighteen. It was probably the year when I graduated from the girls' high school.

TY: What did you do then? There must have been many things to succeed your father. Since your father was a temple priest...

YI: Yes. My father knew he was dying when he got sick. So my father wrote a letter to the cabinet members of the temple and asked them to take care of the temple because he was dying of an illness. I remember that he wrote the letter. He became ill in spring and died in fall on November 11th. He was only forty-eight.

TY: He died young.

YI: He was forty-eight or forty-nine.

TY: Yasashi, you did take care of the temple affairs...

YI: My elder brother was still in college in Kyoto. He had another year to go. He could not return home before he graduated. Until then, there was nobody. We asked nearby temples for help. To help with services. Finally we found a temple priest in the neighboring village who had extra time. He walked to our village and helped with the services. He saved us.

TY: Then when your brother graduated...

YI: My brother returned home after graduation, got married and did the temple work.

TY: Then until that time for one year you had to get help from different places.

YI: Yes, for one year it was difficult.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.