<Begin Segment 5>

TL: In another conversation, you mentioned something about, Santa Cruz Island and collecting...

YB: Yes, I remember that... I was very little then, but this is what Mother would tell me. And I certainly regret the day that I threw the papers away. When I got married and came to Seattle, I was cleaning house. And even before then, I think I threw it away, papers that were kept -- the bookkeeping they had of the expense, the cost and the money, little money that they made off of the abalone business they had on the island.

TL: Uh-huh.

YB: Evidently they had a big storm that came across the island there. And both Mother and Father, and my first late husband's parents went into business, abalone business. They sold the meat for canning, or for eating, and then the shells for making into different things. But one day there was a terrific storm that swept through the island and washed away all thirteen ships. Mother says that was it, the thirteen ships were bad luck. And it just cleaned them out, so they had to give it up and came back to Santa Barbara.

TL: So this must have been your foster family that did --

YB: Yes --

TL: The abalone?

YB: My foster parents and my first husband's parents, who were pioneers also.

TL: Yeah. I should ask the names of your foster parents, as well, their first names and...

YB: My, well, my, birth name would be Utsunomiya. So was... Father's name was Fujitaro... Utsunomiya. Mother was Toyo Utsunomiya.

TL: Okay. And you mentioned, that Toyo Utsunomiya was married --

YB: Fujitaro was my father's name. Now all the brothers... I get confused, they all have 'taros' on the end of it. [Laughs]

TL: Was your foster mother the one who had a lot of education and...?

YB: My foster mother was, because in the old days, if you recall, they didn't believe the women should be highly educated. It was necessary for them to be, well, taught in the way of being a good wife, a mother, raising a good family. And school was not necessary, but Grandpa couldn't see it, he said, "Oh, that's hogwash." He said, "That's crazy." So he hired a tutor for Mother and her sister -- they outdid the boys. Because my auntie did the most beautiful painting and Japanese (poems), on the folding fans, the silk fans as gifts. And Mother could outdo anytime. And the men would come and ask her, "How do you write a certain character, what does this mean?" And she could tell them. She believed in education. And she looked into the Utsunomiya family and found that at one time all the Utsunomiyas belonged to one clan. And had spread out to various parts of the prefecture, so that they were, spread out in different parts of Japan.

TL: Was your father as, was your foster father as highly educated?

YB: Yes he was, but Mother was more interested. She would keep studying. And very much interested in medicine and herbs, because for twenty-five generations, family had been doctors. In those days really herbs, that's all they knew anyway. And she learned a lot about herbs, tried to teach me and I couldn't stand the smell of them, you know how strong they smell, and so, I never paid attention. And my cousins (would) say, "Weren't we crazy not to learn when we could have learned everything then..." which we didn't. But she was able to go and pick up all kinds of herbs for sick people and help them. My foster mother was very good about that.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.