<Begin Segment 6>

MN: Now, the Japanese school was held at the Reedley Community Center, is that correct?

LW: Yes.

MN: Is this a community center that the Japanese American community built?

LW: Yes. It started out, well, the Japanese American community, that was one of the first things they did was to find a place where they could build a center. So they built it piece by piece as the Japanese immigrant family grew in age and also in number.

MN: What other activities were held at this community center?

LW: The community, we also had our, the Buddhist families had their Buddhist worship service. The Christian families had their Sunday school and the Sunday services there. It was also a center for community activities, so it started out as, with one building, one building where all these various community events could be held.

MN: How about like judo or kendo classes?

LW: Well that came later. That was a larger building, a larger community center adjacent to the original community center, and in the larger, newly built community center all their activities were held, including judo, kendo, and other larger community events, programs for, on festive occasions the larger community center was used.

MN: Did you take any judo or kendo classes?

LW: Yes, my dad enrolled me, in judo when I was, I think I began judo classes when I was probably first year, or last year of junior high or as a freshman in high school. I think that's when I began judo lessons.

MN: How did you like that?

LW: I didn't like it as much as other sports, like basketball and softball, baseball, but it was, it was nice because I could practice and also do judo with, along with my friends, high school Japanese friends.

MN: Now, so you grew up, your schedule was you went to school every day, you had Japanese school on Saturdays and church on Sundays, judo practice once a week in the evenings. Did you have any free time, and if you did what did you do?

LW: Yeah, well, we managed to have free time. I guess I used to, I learned to ride a bicycle, and I had a Japanese American friend who had, who taught me how to ride a bicycle, so we would occasionally ride together, but we liked also to hike and also swim. We had the irrigation canal running right adjacent to our property. Irrigation canals that farmers needed to bring enough water to, to do the farming, so the irrigation ditch was large enough for us to swim in so we enjoyed swimming along with the other activities.

MN: Now did Reedley have a Okayama Kenjinkai?

LW: No, it did not. I don't remember -- course, I was too young to learn about the various kens from which immigrants came, but I don't remember ever having a specific ken groups get together. I think the community was small enough so that the one big community center was the thing that drew, brought people together.

MN: Were there, like picnics that, like, a kenjinkai would normally have? Did the Reedley community have those kind of events?

LW: Yes, the Reedley community every spring had a, what we called the Reedley picnic. There were, so there were no kenjinkai picnics. It was the entire Reedley Japanese community that had the spring picnic.

MN: Now, what about the Obon and New Year's, did the Japanese American Reedley community celebrate Obon? I know you're not Buddhist, but...

LW: Yeah, I don't remember ever celebrating Obon, but I do remember celebrating in Reedley what we, what we called the undoukai, which means children and youth participating in athletic events, racing events, but I guess that was the main thing, various kinds of races with prizes. So that was always the big community event that the entire community got together, and that was done right at the community center. We had enough open space where these events could take place.

MN: What about, like Oshogatsu, did you do mochitsuki at the community?

LW: Oshogatsu, the community itself, yes, I think we had one day in which we, one morning, I remember going to a New Year's event in which we all gathered together in the original community center and paid tribute to the Emperor, as I remember. And I think those, I think they all sang the national anthem, Kimigayo, and, but that's, that was a memory I had probably as a elementary school child. That was the most vivid I have of a New Year event.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.