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SF: But then your grandparents, weren't they -- in Guadalupe were they involved in a, like a children's school and some...

RI: Yeah.

SF: ...community building that...?

RI: That's a very exciting story. Lot of, 'course, misfortune and tragedy mixed in with it too. But I think as the people who were present at the time look back -- and they're mostly in their, I would say seventies now, they were children back then -- they're quite fond of those times. And it really shows the strength of the Issei and their children, having to struggle and not just overcome, but, but thrive after, after all that. But yeah, my grandparents, my grandfather was there first in California and then I think my grandmother was kind of like a picture bride. It was arranged through, more through religious contacts. But they both -- well she was also ordained as the, I guess, tokudo priest, this kind of preliminary ordination so she could perform services. So they did seem to form a nice couple, and with common goals. And they came to California, and my -- I hear 'bout him riding horseback to go visit his parishioners -- and old, Model T type cars. Of course the Issei back then were all farm laborers, just barely getting by. Their children were left by themselves during the week. I guess they worked pretty much six days a week out in the fields. So my grandparents offered to open up the temple as the orphanage, in a way, 'cause they were without parents six days out of the week. And so they had something like fifty kids there of all varying ages. I hear all the stories of how they fed them and lined them up for baths. And my mother and all her, her brother and three sisters were also there. So we, I guess each generation has been raised in kind of a communal setting, where it's just not a nuclear family but many other strangers, all being treated like, like members of the family. So I'm sure that's had an influence on how we see our community now. But there was a terrible plague back then -- 'course they didn't have all the vaccines. Many of the parents died, so they were truly orphans. And so they -- many of them stayed a long time with my grandparents. And maybe they got together on Sundays with their parents, but that was all. So they were very much their parents. This went on well into I think the '30s, leading up to when they all had to evacuate 'cause of the war.

SF: What do you think was the ingredient -- if you want to call it that -- that allowed people to, well, the Japanese community to form this collective, or group, or sort of common community response to this real need of raising the kids? I mean, if you think about it today, I mean it would be extremely difficult to conceive of a bunch of Sanseis getting together and taking care of this need together. Think about it, we'd have to pay, you know, how much, and all that. And people didn't have money and life was hard. What brought them together and how were they able to cope this way?

RI: Well, I think you just stated -- part of the main reasons was that life was hard and people didn't have money, and they weren't educated, didn't have any options. And so in times of desperation, this is where certain people step forth. And the Issei ministers who came over knew they were coming over to a life of poverty and hardship. So it's really out of almost, you know, dire need that they were coming to help the immigrants who were very displaced and lonely here. And without any community leaders, I think lot of the plantation owners or farm owners were very careful -- just like bringing over the black slaves here -- to make sure they were not united and didn't have leadership. And they often pitted the Japanese against other ethnic groups -- the Mexicans and so on. And so there's just all this turmoil and no support. So here come people like my grandparents who are educated, and have a certain confidence and they have ties to the old country. So when you get a lot of people who are feeling helpless -- and here comes a man who's -- not only has his heart in the right place, but has the skills to help them. And then with the disease and illnesses and those type of things, it just kind of all came together. And, you know, compared to today where people are educated, and feel quite independent, and all of our leaders are not looked up to, in fact they're often denigrated and made fun of. So it's a whole different environment. I think lot of great miraculous things happen somehow, some kind of spirit, miraculous resilience in human beings comes forth. Especially if it's inside the, kind of the setting of a religious institution where service and compassion are core messages anyway. Then it's a miracle on the one hand. But, I think if you look at all the conditions, it's understandable why it happened. Even after the war with my parents and the hostels, with people again displaced and nowhere to go. Again, it's not like they sat down and said, "Shall we, or shall we not?" It's like, "Hey, we have to," right?

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