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SY: And can you tell us a little bit about your father's family in Japan?

YN: Well, I wish I knew a lot more because then I could make it much more interesting, but to find the particular village, the machi, Tonda, it didn't show up on the map readily readable. And in the 1990s Grace and I took a group of people to China, and of course, when you get to China the Chinese government takes over and you're just the one who takes care of the luggage and sees that everyone is fed and all these kinds of small things, but as far as the tourism is concerned, they handled the tourist part. On our way back, since I was a coordinator of the group, I had to take my group back to the U.S., but Grace had the opportunity to stay, so she made arrangements with her cousin Rhoda and her husband Reverend Nick Iyoya, who were in Iwakuni in the prefecture of Yamaguchi. So before our going she wanted to try to find the place if she could, and the Iyoyas couldn't find it because they didn't know the kanji for Tonda. One day, I think it was Rhoda who was reading a folktale about Tonda, and the tale goes in such a way that there was this cloud in the sky and it kept moving, and every time it moved it cast a shadow in a different place, and suddenly it moved and stayed in one place, and a farmer looked and saw something very shiny in this little spot of cloud, or shadow. So he got excited and went over and, my gosh, it was a mask and it was shiny. And so he carefully took it into his house and he put it in a special place in his house, the tokonoma. And in the middle of the night the house began to shake. In the Japanese tradition they say "gacha gacha gacha," and it was shaking. And so the following day he decided, "My gosh, this is terrible. It's shaking. I must have done something wrong." So he went to the city and talked to the mayor, and the mayor had a meeting with the people in the village and they all said, "It's very important that you --" [sneezes] excuse me. I think that cloud got me too. Anyway, the groups decided that, "You know, we should take this up to the temple because it must be some omen of some kind that is causing this earth to shake." So they took the thing and placed it in this treasure house at the temple, and suddenly the earth became quiet. And so the city clerk who Grace met said that tale is really based on truth, that there was some such a thing happening. So anyway, this particular mask, as I understand it, is revealed each year at a certain time, but except for that time you can't see it, and if you open the treasure house to see it, I think some bad things may happen. It's like in Hawaii, if you take rocks away from a certain place in Hawaii, Pele will punish you.

So anyway, as a result they, because of the folktale, had the kanji for Tonda. Nick, who is very versed in Japanese -- that's his first language -- was able to find it on the map. And so Grace asked Rhoda if she could take her down and see this town where my father and mother came from. So they did start, but it began to rain quite a bit and so it was very cold, so they stopped at this little roadside stand and eatery but with no walls, and with hibachi and they had some soup and teriyaki chicken probably, or something like that, and when they got through they proceeded on and they found this sign that said Tonda. So there's a gasoline station, and discovered this town, and so they inquired about, "Where could we find information about Kanesuke Nakamura?" That was my father. "You have to go to the city hall." So that's where they went, and fortunately the clerk there spoke English. At first Rhoda spoke in Japanese, and of course he responded in Japanese, but when Grace said something in English, he responded in English. And so from then on there was this discussion in English, and he said, "Oh sure, we can find some information about Kanesuke Nakamura." And my mother's name was Kuni, maiden name Kawasaki, Nakamura, and so he brought out this legal size pile of papers, rice paper, was tied together in a braided form cord which was vermillion in color. And so when we asked our daughter, who is an attorney, about this cord she said, "Oh, well, that's where the term 'red tape' comes from," because instead of using binders in the notebook form they use this braided cord to hold things together. So in this book she discovered that not only is my father and mother registered there and my brother who was born in Japan, he was nine years old when they came over -- she discovered that my name is on there too. I was registered. And my sister, Shigeko, was registered, and my younger brother, Masamitsu Mark Nakamura, is in there too. So my father apparently felt it was necessary to let people know in Japan that he had other children. So that was a nice revelation.

Then she wanted to know more about the place, and the clerk said, "By the way, are any of you in the family interested in art?" And Grace said, "Well, we're all artists." The guy lighted up and he said, "Well, there is a Nakamura here in this machi who is a very famous artist. Whether he is related to us or not I don't know. (However) Nakamura, according to Ed Asawa, who was a research librarian in Los Angeles city and is very, very conversant in Japanese and he did a lot of research for us on the origin of the Nakamuras, he said, "Remember, Nakamura is a very popular name in Japan." So when we're looking for the mon, the crest design, he said, "Well, you have to look through and then you probably have to go to the machi and ask someone there if that's the right mon for our family." Well, my brother (Mark) did some research through this Kamon service. He got one, and it's a pretty attractive mon. Anyway, the fact that there is a Nakamura there, it is a possibility that we are related. It's a very good connection. But in the process of going to see his work, every township has a place where the products of that area are shown. So when she went to see the products, that were displayed on the table from the area around Tonda, then the Nakamura's paintings and graphics were all around. That was a very good thing. She took photographs of (them, but) unfortunately, they're on slides. So we'll have to convert them to something (digital) and printable. But anyway, she found that was a very nice connection.

SY: I assume that this artist that was in Tonda was not living. Was he still alive?

YN: Well, I'm not sure. I think he is living. I'm not sure, but apparently he is rather prolific, so he had quite a few pieces up. And the pictures I've seen shows he had quite a bit of talent. So anyway, we'll claim him, you know?

SY: [Laughs] Sure.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.