<Begin Segment 11>

HH: My father always had a sake. He drank sake with his dinner.

TI: Do you recall having friends over and drinking?

HH: Oh, yes, because he was in this, when they first came to Hawaii, this group of people. I don't know if they were from the same area, but they organized what they called the haiku club. There were about six or seven of them, and they would meet at each other's home. They would take turns so that you have a rotation like, and they would have dinner and then do their haiku. And when they finished they sent this haiku to Japan, to somebody who was helping them, kind of guide them along, 'cause it's not something they knew that well. And then he would even, they would even have contests and stuff, and they would print it in the newspaper one day, when they had a haiku done and who won first place and that stuff.

TI: So when they had the haiku club meeting at your house, tell me as much as you can remember about what they did.

HH: Well, they would... it's easy to have dinner at houses. What they do is they build a horse -- you know what a horse is? A low table, put wood planks on and then they'd serve dinner. Usually your mother would help, help from one of the other wives. And they would make the dinner, they eat the dinner, then they do their haiku.

TI: Now the dinner would be a special dinner, or was it a simple dinner?

HH: Simple, because they want to get to the poetry thing. Haiku, you know what that is? Five, seven, five.

TI: And during dinner, would they all serve some sake also?

HH: No, not that much.

TI: 'Cause they wanted to work, probably.

HH: Yeah, yeah. They had to work.

TI: So they finished the meal. Did they stay at the table, or did they --

HH: They stay at the table. The table is set so you can write on it. You just clear the table, and then...

TI: And so that's what I'm going to ask, so when they started working, did they, was it kind of quiet where they're writing?

HH: Yes.

TI: Or are they talking about what they're writing?

HH: Not too much talking. I think they wrote more, because once they did it, nobody's that good that they can critique, you know, their, the work or help them. They send it to Japan, and a guy would critique and send it back.

TI: Oh, so amongst the group they didn't critique each other? Like, you know how writing groups now where sometimes they'll read...

HH: I don't know. Maybe later on when they got better they probably could, but they relied on the Japan connection.

TI: Okay. And then when they finish writing, what did they do? Did they just go home or did they stay around and talk?

HH: Oh, no, they go home. It's late by that time.

TI: And how frequently would they get together?

HH: I think once a month, and they had, if they had about five people that means you rotate five homes. And so, by the time you make the rounds...

TI: So it sounds like maybe twice a year it would be at your house.

HH: Yeah, just about.

TI: Okay, good.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.