Densho Digital Archive
Friends of Manzanar Collection
Title: Akira Kageyama Interview
Narrator: Akira Kageyama
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Lomita, California
Date: May 5, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-kakira-01-0006

<Begin Segment 6>

MN: So now, when you were growing up you lost both of your parents. You mentioned this earlier, but I'm gonna ask you again. How old were you when you lost your father?

AK: I guess I must've been about fourteen. Yeah, my father went first. I was about fourteen.

MN: Do you know how old your father was?

AK: He used to be a janitor at Japanese school, and I used to, nighttime I used to go with him and help him clean up and everything, straighten out the chairs, and used to... I think we had a bus, but someplace where the bus can't go or too full, my father used to go pick them up.

MN: So he drove the bus also?

AK: No, not the bus, this small car. It was an old Dodge, only about four people, four children.

MN: Now, your father, what did he die from?

AK: Pneumonia.

MN: Do you remember who took care of the funeral arrangements? [AK shakes head] Could it be Fukui?

AK: Could be. That's the only one I know that's been around then.

MN: Where is your father buried?

AK: In Evergreen.

MN: Do you remember which temple your father's funeral was held at?

AK: I think it was Daiichi Gakuen, Daiichi Gakuen.

MN: Not Koyasan?

AK: I don't think so. Gee, I don't remember.

KK: It must've been held at the Koyasan.

AK: Hmm?

KK: It must've been held at Koyasan.

AK: Koyasan.

KK: 'Cause your mother was affiliated with the Koyasan.

MN: Your mother was really active at Koyasan. What did she do for Koyasan?

AK: Any time they have some kind of get together, well, she used to teach the Japanese dance to girls, and she had them, she played the shamisen and they all danced, and that's how they entertained the audience there.

MN: Did you get involved with the Koyasan Boy Scouts?

AK: I don't think so.

KK: I don't think they had such a thing at that time.

MN: Before the war?

AK: They did. Something tells me that they didn't want me in there, I was so bad. That's all I remember. [Laughs] I tried to get in and they wouldn't let me in.

MN: To the Boy Scouts?

AK: Uh-huh.

MN: Now, your father passed away, and at that time it would be really hard for a single mother to raise a family. Did your mother remarry?

AK: Yes, later on. I don't know how many years afterward. He married, and they had one son, and then I don't know how long they were married, but then he took his son and went back to Japan, and we never heard of him after that.

MN: And then your mother also passed away. How old were you when she passed away?

AK: I don't remember.

MN: Were you in high school?

AK: Yeah, I guess I don't remember that part. I still, I think I was still in grammar school. I'm not sure.

MN: When your mother passed away?

AK: The school that I went to, when my mother remarried, married to a man named Moritoki -- no, maybe he was my father. I don't remember.

MN: Mr. Moritoki passed away, and then your mother married Mr. Fukawa.

AK: Fukawa.

MN: And then your mother passed away, and then weren't you going to University High School?

AK: Yes.

MN: Do you remember what your mother passed away from?

AK: I don't know. It must, might've been another childbirth.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.