<Begin Segment 7>

MN: Now tell me about this Japanese school. Did you go every day, or just Saturday?

TY: We went just Saturdays, yeah.

MN: And what was it like? Did they teach you how to sing the Kimigayo? Did you celebrate the Tenno's birthday? What did you do there?

TY: We went to study, study Japanese language and we went, I went to see the pretty Japanese girls so I can have fun with the girls I saw. That's beside the point, but you know. [Laughs] We went to Japanese school to learn Japanese, and we learned a lot of things. I'm surprised I know the things that I know because the modern Japanese people say, "Oh, you know that? You know that? Where'd you learn that? Where'd you learn that?" So I tell 'em I went to Japanese school in the '20s. And so our Japanese schoolteacher was from Japan, and young people, young students from Japan and they wanted to earn money to go to school here so then they taught Japanese to the kids over here, and so that's why they taught us everything that they know, so that's why we know these things. So like sometimes I'll sing, I'll be humming this tune which I like, "Tennen no Bi," I don't know if you know that or not, and I don't have nothin' to worry about anymore so I hum these songs while playing golf and all that. "Where'd you learn that? Where'd you learn that? Who taught you that?" So, "I learned it in Japanese school." And they're so surprised that I know that.

MN: Hum it for us, the "Tennen no Bi."

TY: Pardon?

MN: Hum it for us.

TY: Hum it for you?

MN: Yeah.

TY: [Laughs] Well, I'll sing it for you. [Sings] That means "the old hardship that I went through, it makes me relax and enjoy my life," or whatever. That's what that song is. That's why I like it. It's really true to life. That's why I love that song. I learned that as a kid and I still know it.

MN: Now, what about judo? Did you take judo lessons?

TY: Yes.

MN: In what dojo?

TY: Moneta dojo. I call it the Moneta dojo in Moneta.

MN: Who was your sensei?

TY: My sensei, original sensei was, what's his name, some kind of (Toshitaka)? Yamauchi Sensei, we called him Yamauchi Sensei, anyway. His first name, I can't remember his first name.

MN: Now, did you also say that Nishimura, Mr. Nishimura's brother later became your sensei?

TY: Yep, he was there before we were. He was a little bit older than I was, and he was, I think he was doing judo about two years before I was, and then so he, he was a good student and at that time when I started he was a brown belt. And then as time went by Sensei said, "You teach these guys and I'll take care of the seniors," or whatever. So then he started with us little kids. And so we go to Yamauchi Sensei and then he would teach us different things, and then Nobu Nishimori would teach us different things. He was our trainer. So then I started there as a kid, I think I was eleven years old, and then I went there until I was seventeen.

MN: How often did you travel to the other dojo for shiai?

TY: We went different times. Shiai, we had shiai in different areas. Depended on when we got invited, once a month or every other month or, depended on where the main shiai was. And they have a three dojo shiai, three dojoshiai here, and so and so, then the best one goes to another elimination type of a match. And then we have one great shiai once a year at the dojo in L.A. What was the name of that dojo? You mentioned it last time.

MN: Rafu Dojo?

TY: Rafu Dojo, yeah. That's where we go for the main event, to get the big promotion. We used to have, say ten dojo, or maybe twelve or fifteen, we'll have a competition, elimination competition, and then we would fight for the banner of the best team, say like a World Series type of thing. [Laughs] And that used to be once a year.

MN: Was Moneta Dojo considered a strong team?

TY: One of the, one of the better teams, yeah. And then Nishimori, Min Nishimori's brother, him and I were same.

MN: Is that Jinobu?

TY: No, he's the brother of, what is it, Joe Nishimori. He was older than Min, Min, next older brother. Say like, Nobu Nishimori, then Jinobu, Jinobu, and then Minobu. And Jinobu and I was the same, so we used to really fight to get the yuushouki, the flower, I mean the flag. So we were one of the better teams, not bragging, but we used to be proud that we got the big banner. [Laughs]

MN: So after you had the big shiai in downtown, what did you do, where'd you go?

TY: What did we do? We had dinner, I guess, Sanko Low, China meshi, Sanko Low, I think it was. And then, yeah, we were all invited to Sanko Low restaurant and had China meshi. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.