<Begin Segment 8>

SF: So Yoshiko, in terms of Sagamiya, did people -- I mean, you mentioned people would come from out of town and they would make kind of a big pleasure trip out of going to, picking up manjuu and getting a bath and all that. So did, was there a place for people to sit down and --

YM: We used to have a fountain and ice cream. And they used to have kintoki there...

TS: Kintonki, yeah.

YM: With shaved ice. It's the, red beans in there. In summertime, that was a place to go and have your dessert or whatever.

SF: So was it mostly like families or like, teenage kids would come together?

YM: Well, teenage children come. And I know, Tad mentioned that my uncle used to make the senbei, and that was made by mochi, and he, we'd slice it. And then, he'd, in the basement, they'd have a drying place with shouyu and sugar to dry the -- (mochi, sembei...)

SF: Oh.

YM: And that was, I think, among the Niseis, you remember that the most.

TS: That was the best --

YM: Senbei.

TS: You can't buy senbei like that...

CK: No.

TS: Anymore.

YM: And it got to be a little bit sticky, but...

TS: Even in Japan.

CK: Yeah -- no, that's right.

YM: That was the best senbei that a lot of the Niseis remember. I remember Beefo coming in and says, why don't you put some more [inaudible] -- and they, we enjoyed that, senbei --

SF: That was all hand-made?

YM: (Yes).

SF: Wow. So how do you, how did, how did you make that?

YM: Well, pounded rice, and then you have it (sliced) real thin, about less than a quarter-inch. And then cut that in, in with...

CK: Slices?

YM: Say, about an inch or two-inch slices. And then they dip it into the sugar and shouyu. And then they'd have a drying machine that dried it. And I never did help on that too much. But it was down in the basement.

SF: So eventually, it became too labor-intensive, or the stuff from Japan that was already pre-packaged came in --

YM: Oh, yes.

SF: When did that --

YM: All the rest of, most of 'em came from Japan in the square cans. And the -- we used to bottle, I mean, have it in a round (glass container and) sell it by the nickel and dimes and quarters in those days.

SF: So when did Sagamiya's stop making the home-made kind?

YM: I think just a little before maybe the war. And we used to make all the mochi for the community.

TS: Yeah.

SF: So before New Year's, you used to have a huge run on the stuff then?

YM: Yes.

SF: Did you see, people have to make a special order, say, I want...

YM: (Yes).

SF: Some of this.

YM: We used to start about 4 o'clock in the morning, every morning. My uncle goes down there and start the steam and get the rice cooking and...

SF: Did that ever become mechanized?

YM: A little bit. Well, we had the machine with two big wooden -- what do you call 'em?

CK: Mallets.

YM: Mallets, going down, up and down by machine. Oh, there used to be a, a belt that pushed it up, and it had two of 'em going at once. And then the, the usu was made out of some kind of wood -- I mean --

SF: Usu. What, what is this?

YM: Usu is the...

CK: Bowl.

SF: Oh.

YM: Bowl that -- made outta some kind of, of -- what is that? -- well, it's not, it wasn't concrete, but, oh, well, I don't know what kind of a (granite), rock-like. And I think one is donated at the Wing Luke Museum. My, my cousin had it in his yard, and I asked him to donate it to the museum. So it's at the museum now.

SF: So was that a commercially built device, or did your parents design it and build it?

YM: I don't -- it was there before. So it must've been there from way back. I don't know when it was built. But the store has a history back to 1909 or something like that.

SF: And so there was a fountain, and you had this shaved ice with the red bean on top. And manjuu and mochi. Did you have like ice cream and...

YM: Uh-huh.

SF: Things like that?

TS: Yeah, but it cost a dime. [Laughs] Ice cream on top of the, kintoki.

YM: You had ice cream on top of the kintoki, huh?

TS: Yeah.

YM: That was different.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.