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MN: Okay, today is August 31, 2010. We are here at the Centenary Methodist, United Methodist Church with Thomas Nobuyuki Shigekuni, and Dana Hoshide is on the video camera, and I will be interviewing and my name is Martha Nakagawa. Okay Tom, let's start with your parents' names. What is your father's name?

TS: Yonetaro Shigekuni.

MN: And what about your mother's name?

TS: Shizuyo.

MN: What is her maiden name?

TS: Sasaki.

MN: Your parents later in life got an Anglican name, do you know how they --

TS: (...) Somebody gave him the name Frank. That wasn't his idea. Somebody just said, "You're Frank," and he became Frank.

MN: What about your mother?

TS: Somebody gave her a name of Mary, but that wasn't her name either and that wasn't her choice, or the family's choice.

MN: And which prefecture did your parents come from?

TS: Hiroshima.

MN: How many children did your parents have?

TS: Three boys and one girl who died about six years old.

MN: And that would be Fumiko?

TS: Fumiko, (yes).

MN: Can you, from the oldest child to the youngest, can you give me their names?

TS: The oldest son was Tsuneo, T-S-U-N-E-O, and second one was Masaki Henry, and then me, and then there was a daughter named Fumiko (who) died.

MN: And she was right after Tsuneo?

TS: (Yes).

MN: Can you tell me the circumstances of her death?

TS: (Yes), she stepped on a nail and got blood poisoning.

MN: How old was she?

TS: Six.

MN: And you have the story about your mother and how she became a Christian because of your --

TS: (My sister who died at six years of age) was a member of the Church of Christ. My mother was a Buddhist at that point and she used to always come home and tell her about all this stuff that she was hearing in the Church of Christ. When she died, (my mother) joined the church. My mother came from long line of Shinto priests and I thought she was giving me a bunch of baloney (about Shintoism. When) I went to Hiroshima (I saw) a big shrine called the Sasaki shrine. I said, "Oh, she wasn't lying to me."

MN: Now, were you born yet when Fumiko passed away?

TS: No, I never knew her.

MN: Now, did your parents give Tsuneo an Anglican name?

TS: No, but they used to call him Tunney, T-U-N-N-E-Y.

MN: But by the time Henry Masaki, was born your parents were giving both a Japanese and an Anglican name, is that correct?

TS: (Yes).

MN: Was that typical of Issei parents at that time?

TS: I think so. (...)

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.