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TI: I want to ask some questions about your father.

PY: Okay.

TI: So tell me your, what was your father's name?

PY: Josho.

TI: And tell me a little bit about what he did, what his family in Japan...

PY: Well, he was born and raised in Atatashima, Saiki-gun, Hiroshima-ken. In the Seto Inland Sea, small little island, that's where he was. He was the only son. I know I have some aunties, I think he had about three or four sisters, but he was the only son. So he took over the, he took over the temple. But it's a small little island, and we had, he had a hard time. So before he got married, he went to mainland, mainland America and he, not as a priest, but he worked -- I don't know how long he worked -- but I think he worked in the California area. And then he went back to Japan, and he got married to my mother, and then he came back to Hawaii. So Hawaii was his second trip.

TI: Oh, interesting. Do you know about what year he went the first time to the mainland?

PY: I don't know, but I can, I can find out, though. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, that's okay. Now, at the small island where he grew up, how many generations did the family live there?

PY: I don't know. My brother once gave me the family tree, but I don't remember but it's quite, about ten or eleven, I don't know.

TI: Okay, but a long time.

PY: Long time, yeah, long time. And he gave me all the name of the family tree, but I don't, I have someplace but I don't recall all the names.

TI: And did the family always, were they always Buddhist priests on the island?

PY: Yes, yes. The original Buddhist priests came from Hiroshima, Hiroshima city, and then leaving Atatashima.

TI: So tell me a little bit about your mother. What was your mother's name?

PY: Gofuyo.

TI: And her maiden name?

PY: Yasuda.

TI: And what about her family? What do you know about...

PY: She is from Yamaguchi-ken. Yamaguchi-ken, Kuga-gun, Sakauye-mura.

TI: And do you know what her family, what kind of work her family did?

PY: Buddhist, Buddhist temple.

TI: Oh, okay. And was that common, for marriages to be, like, arranged between Buddhist priest and Buddhist priest?

PY: Well, it's not common, but I guess, you know, right now it's not too much different. But to run the temple, housewife, you've got to know all the, what you call the detail and everything. So for regular, regular lady from a regular family goes to temple, I think they used to get very hard time to adjust to the lifestyle of the temple, yeah.

TI: So your mother, growing up in a Buddhist family, she understood all that?

PY: Yeah, I think she knew everything. She was the oldest daughter of the Yasuda family, so she knew more about this temple thing.

TI: Good, okay.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.