<Begin Segment 10>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: By the way, I asked about this before, but your husband visited farmers in Bellevue and performed services.

YI: There was no bridge in those days. There was a ferry service.

TY: So it took a long time to travel. Did he go regularly or on request?

YI: No, he had a schedule. He went to Bellevue once a month, then, what was that, to Winslow on the coast, and Vashon. He went to three places.

TY: To Vashon, too?

YI: Uh-huh. No one of the first generation lives there any longer and so we don't go there. The woman who lived there as a child in those days tells me often that she really enjoyed listening to Reverend Ichikawa's sermon at Sunday school.

TY: Nowadays it is much more convenient to travel, so they can visit the temple in person.

YI: Those towns were in the countryside and there was no entertainment, not even a movie. So he took a short 16 mm movie with him to show.

TY: Oh, he did that sort of thing, too.

YI: They must have really enjoyed it because people come to me to talk about those days.

TY: Then in what form did those farmers, people who received your husband's services, pay the remunerations?

YI: Let me see. The temple is a little different. Most people don't know how to give remunerations to a church, I mean temple. If they want to give some remuneration to my husband, they had to give a separate envelope addressed to "Reverend Ichikawa." If there was only one envelope, he did not take it himself. Because there would not be one for the church. If there were two, then he would take one for himself. The first generation knew how to give money to the temple, but the second generation didn't understand. A second generation man came to the temple and after the service asked, "Reverend, how much today?" My husband said, "No, there is no set fee. Just a love offering." He told me that story with a laugh.

TY: So he received remuneration in cash...

YI: In cash.

TY: Etsuko once wrote an essay about growing up as a member of the Temple family. In that paper she wrote that your family received a lot of food from the farmers and never ran out of food...

YI: Yes, that's right. We never suffered from lack of food. People brought all kinds of things. In the countryside there were many farmers. They brought vegetables. Sometimes they brought a huge amount of vegetables, more than we could possibly consume. We gave them away or pickled them for special occasions at the Temple. Come to think of it, the temples used to live on the food from the parishioners. Although I don't think they do now as much as in the old days.

TY: In addition, the essay written by Etsuko said that your husband loved to buy books, he enjoyed reading books...

YI: Oh, is there such an essay?

TY: Yes, Etsuko wrote it.

YI: You say Etsuko wrote it?

TY: Yes. Her father...

YI: That one, what do you call? There is one called BCA. It comes from the headquarters. It has photos. Is that the one?

TY: Yes, that's the one.

YI: He loved books. He was crazy about books. Even if he had no money, he still wanted to buy books.

TY: Do you mean beyond his allowances?

YI: That's why we didn't have much money. Because he bought books with the little money we had.

TY: Did he buy Japanese books?

YI: Yeah. Mainly Japanese books. He placed orders to Japan quite often. He was giving away books written by famous authors.

TY: Did he order these books?

YI: In those days. Nowadays you can buy them at the headquarters. Various books. In San Francisco. They did not sell books in those days. So you had to place a special order.

TY: That must have taken a lot of time.

YI: That's right.

TY: How did he get a list of such books? Was it in the newspaper?

YI: Yes.

TY: These are the books available...

YI: Uh-huh. My sister's husband also loved books. He bought one after another. Not only the books of his own church but also those of other churches. Even newspapers. So many people sent him books.

TY: Those books must have been expensive because they were special orders.

YI: They were expensive.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.