<Begin Segment 3>

TI: Let's go to your mother's family. What was her life like when she was growing up as, as a child?

MT: Mother was born in a place called Nagatsuka. It's away from Takata. And here again, they were rice farmers and had quite a bit of land. And they were living comfortably also. But, as I explained to my daughter and grandchildren, over here, at Mercer Island, the kids went to Mercer Island High School, and we, my daughter, Charlene, got them to go to piano classes and things like that. But in Japan, Mother lived fairly comfortable so they, they hired a shamisen teacher, like here in comparison to piano playing, to learn the shamisen. And Mother started to learn when she was about five years old, I guess, and she was very, very good and in fact, after she came over here she became a natori, which is equivalent to a sensei. So, she lived a very easy life, but, and I imagine that she had, I guess, maids and houseboys that helped her and so she never cooked in... living in that condition, so even when she came to America and raising us kids, she had a hard time cooking because she never cooked since she was a child in Japan.

TI: Did she have any brothers and sisters?

MT: She had, she had, let's see... two, two brothers, I think, and one sister. And they lived in Hiroshima, and the older brother and the younger sister. One was, Yamatani was the older brother, and the younger sister was a Kanda.

TI: So now, how did your father and mother meet?

MT: Well, it was in typical old Japan where the family and family got together and they were introduced, I guess, and married Japanese-style. Like I mentioned, my mother was fifteen years old and my dad was just about twenty years old. So, she got married real early and so she always mentioned how when Japanese-style they went from Nagatsuka to Takata, they brought all these things that a bride should bring, I guess, and I don't know what it all consisted of, but it was like the olden days, they, they carried it and walked it over with all the gifts of... I imagine here, you know, we have certain sewing machines and things like that, but those days in Japan, I guess it was some items that it was pretty well set what they came with in addition to their clothing, so...

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.