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TI: Let's go back to Dee. When you had free time, what kind of things would you do in Dee?

MM: Oh, what did we do? We'd just visit, swim, go wading in the pond, homemade pond in the farm, and my neighbor Sato would be, they dug a big place where mountain water would come down, and we'd go wading in that. Oh, when they had the tennis courts, then they started playing, going to play tennis. They didn't have golf and things like that then, no. Just fishing, lot of fishing, because a lot of stream, you know. So they can go East Fork, West Fork, Hood River, go swimming, go fishing, things like that.

TI: And how about things like hunting? Did a lot of people hunt in Dee?

MM: In Dee?

TI: Like your father, did he hunt?

MM: (Yes, he went hunting once a year with Caucasian friends to Eastern Oregon for deer).

TI: Going back to your father, you mentioned that he played the shakuhachi. Did he practice a lot at home?

MM: Rainy days. Other days, he worked every day, worked, worked.

TI: And where would he play in the house on a rainy day?

MM: How would he what?

TI: Where would he play? Where would he practice?

MM: Oh, in the living room he practiced, uh-huh.

TI: Now, for shakuhachi, would he have, like, music to follow, or did he just play?

MM: Just played. We tried, we always tried to blow a note and couldn't do it. He had two of 'em. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, no, I've tried that, too. It's really hard to just get a note.

MM: My daughter has one of them right now, and (one relative) in Hood River has one, they still have it.

TI: You talked about the house, and I saw a picture of the house, and it's a pretty nice house.

MM: Oh, the house? You mean you have a picture of the... when it was still in one piece? The last time we went, the Hispanics were using that as, like a cabin, staying there. So it was all run down.

TI: But describe the house when you lived there. How big was it, how many rooms did it have?

MM: Well, my dad helped build it. It was, we had a living room and a bedroom, and then we had a big kitchen clear across, and not separated, the dining room was here. And we had outhouses those days, but since the war, we had bathroom with running water and everything. Oh, we had to pump the water, well, (in the early days).

TI: And how many bedrooms did the house have?

MM: Two upstairs, but the steps just came up and divided the two, and downstairs, one.

TI: And so where did you sleep?

MM: Upstairs.

TI: And who did you sleep with? Who else slept in that room?

MM: Older sister.

TI: Okay, so two of you were...

MM: Two of you.

TI: And then your parents? Where did they sleep?

MM: Downstairs. And then my... let's see now, how did my brother... oh, they had, I guess they had two bedrooms, my brother and my younger sister. I can't remember where my brother slept.

TI: Maybe in a twin bed upstairs?

MM: Upstairs? It was clear across, so it was big. So stairs came up here, oh yeah, there were there two beds, I think, in that room.

TI: And you said your father helped build that house? So who helped him build the house?

MM: That I can't remember, but he helped, he did a lot of it. And then later on he built a tool shed, and he built a double garage, he built all that. He built also a couple cabins for the workers, too, on the farm. He built most of it.

TI: No, I, again, it's a beautiful home.

MM: Oh, it was at that time. And he was particular. The big lawn in front was just so... in his time, when he had it, he's working on that lawn to make it nice and big lawn, my mother would tend to the flowers and (they were) particular... now it's just full of fruit boxes piled up in front, and no lawn anymore. (...) Hispanics used it (as their home). The Japanese farmer bought my dad's place, too, so Kiyokawas, they're a big farmer, so they needed a lot of cabins for workers. Lot of Hispanics, many Hispanics.

TI: And when did the family sell the farm?

MM: After we came back from the war, and then my brother... I can't remember the date, but about ten years or more.

TI: So in the '50s, kind of, late '50s.

MM: And then my brother just sold that and started working for the Apple Growers Association in the office, California Spray (Co.)

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.