<Begin Segment 7>

TI: Well, so when your father went to Riverside, we talked about Chula Vista and San Diego, with Chula Vista barely scraping by, San Diego, because of the congregation, you had a house and a bigger stipend. What was Riverside like? Was it more like Chula Vista or more like San Diego.

FD: It was more like San Diego. It was very pleasant.

TI: So you had a house there.

FD: Well, we lived in a house that served as a church. It was a big house, and it was pleasant. It wasn't fancy, but it was roomy, and I had a room of my own for a change. And my brother had a room of his own, and then my little sister used to share a room with our mother.

TI: And when you say it also served as a church, it must have had a large, like one large room in there, like a large dining room?

FD: A large living room.

TI: Living room.

FD: And then a lot of the old rooms had, the old houses had a second of the living room that they called a parlor, as that was sort of raised about so high. And, well, it was like a platform. I've seen houses like that in San Francisco, too, those old houses. And anyway, that platform serves as a platform for the church, and then the congregation sat in chairs that were in the, in the living room, per se.

TI: And do you recall like about how many people attended services during this time?

FD: Well, no, I don't recall. But I would guess maybe in a neighborhood of, oh, between twenty to thirty perhaps, and sometimes more.

TI: Now, to get ready for, like, a Sunday service, did you or your siblings have to do anything to help prepare, or was this your father and mother who did everything?

FD: Oh, my father did, except that they maybe take... not maybe, but they let me take piano lessons from the time that I was about eight years old. And I really enjoyed playing the piano until I found out that my father expected me to play piano for the church services. [Laughs] So that's one of the chores that I really dislike. If he told me in advance which songs were going to be sung at a service, then I could practice in advance and at least get acquainted with the melody so that I could play it. But then sometimes they'd say, well, the congregation gets to choose whatever they want to sing. And so they would pick things out of the blue. And, of course they picked tunes that I had never heard before, so I had no inkling of what they were supposed to sound like and I had to read the music as I went along. Well, sometimes it was a real struggle and I felt sorry for the congregation because I thought, "How can they sing along when I'm struggling with the piano?"

TI: So it'd be just from the hymn book or something, they would just choose one and then you'd just have to open to that page, sit there and just start playing.

FD: Yeah.

TI: Wow, so you were good enough to be able to at least do that.

FD: Yeah, that is after a couple of years I was able to do that.

TI: I guess that's one way of learning how to perform on demand, just do that. How about other, like, Japanese community events and things in Riverside? Do you recall anything like picnics or other types of things like that?

FD: Well, I suppose my father used to conduct Japanese school in the church, both in Chula Vista and in Riverside. And he mentioned one day that that was... so people usually wanted their children to learn to speak Japanese so they could speak it at home. And outside, if the children came to the church, then maybe the parents would come, too. So that was sort of a ploy to get more people to come to church.

TI: now, when he would do that, were there competing, then, Japanese language schools for the Buddhists?

FD: Probably, but I wasn't really aware of it.

TI: Okay. And when your father did his services, Sunday services, did he do it in Japanese or English?

FD: He did both.

TI: And so you had to play piano for both services?

FD: Uh-huh, yeah.

TI: And do you recall which one was larger, the Japanese or the English services?

FD: I don't remember.

TI: And do you remember, like, which one came first, which one came second or anything like that?

FD: I think the Japanese came first.

TI: And I'm thinking, so the English would be, would that be more of a Nisei audience?

FD: Uh-huh.

TI: Okay, so younger, kind of closer, maybe a little bit older than you.

FD: And then in addition to the Sunday services, they had bible class I think on Wednesdays, and then on Fridays they had choir practice. And it seemed to me like I was going to church almost every day.

TI: Because for choir I'm guessing you were the piano player for that.

FD: Yes.

TI: And bible study on Wednesday and the services on Sunday. And then if there were things like weddings and funeral services, were those also conducted at the house?

FD: Uh-huh.

TI: Okay, so you had things like that. And so was your father, it seemed like he was a pretty busy man then.

FD: I suppose so.

TI: And how, what did your mother do during all this time? Did she do any other work or did she just support her father?

FD: She just supported my father, and I think she taught a Sunday school class. Then they would serve refreshments, and so she did a lot of work in the kitchen and she supervised the teenage girls who helped her.

TI: Now did your father, because of his English-speaking capabilities as well as his business background, did he ever advise other Japanese people about just maybe community affairs or business affairs?

FD: I don't know.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.