<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So you mentioned your mother. Let's talk about your mother a little bit. So what was her name?

HN: Kimi. Her maiden name was Kimi Oishi.

TI: And where in Japan...

HN: In Kambara, Japan. She was born in Kambara.

TI: And tell me a little bit about her family. What...

HN: Okay, let's see. Her father's side came from the town, Akabane suburb of Tokyo. When I went to Japan, met my uncle and cousin at the time. They were telling me the family has a history in the town by something like six, seven hundred years, and they took us to the Buddhist temple. In those old days, the only good records were maintained by the Buddhist temple, family by family. They called it family register. And we did find the family something like almost seven hundred years -- this happened when I was researching about fifty years ago, so it's about... they were telling me at the time it was six-hundred-seventy years, so it's seven hundred years by now. So that family came from Kamakura. When the Kamakura Shogun regime dispersed, they were taken over by some other, so the whole people disperse all around Tokyo and so forth. And that, so we know their family came from the Kamakura Shogun lineage, and the record on the Buddhist temple is there. We checked it out. And so if you go to that town Akabane, the name Ito is prevalent, because of that, you know. I guess that wasn't the only family, but that group, family, went, settled there and then they spread the name Ito.

TI: Okay, and that... so your grandfather's name...

HN: Yes, is Ito. On my maternal side.

TI: So a long lineage of --

HN: Yeah, right.

TI: And were they of the noble class?

HN: Yeah, noble class. Well, samurai, I mean, not the nobles, but samurai class.

TI: Good, okay. And so your mother... and so how did your father and mother meet?

HN: My father came to the States during the Russian-Japanese War. Then he was single and went back to Japan, and when he went back to Japan, maybe ten years later, then it was one of these meeting, you know, where they bride and the groom met at the family gathering, I guess. They called it omiai and they arranged it --

TI: Arranged a marriage.

HN: Arranged marriage, yeah.

TI: And before we move on to your siblings, tell me a little bit about your father. What was he like personality-wise?

HN: He was a very mild guy, but stubborn. And he --

TI: And how about -- go ahead.

HN: And he was, as I say, he was very mild, never raised his voice, you know.

TI: And your mother, what was she like?

HN: Oh, she was very active and very positive person, in her way of thinking.

TI: Okay, good.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.