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MU: What ken did they come from, your father...

HW: Kanagawa.

MU: Kanagawa. Now, Kanagawa would be -- what city would be...

HW: It's Odawara -- is the nearest city.

MU: Okay. That would be southwest of Tokyo?

HW: (Well, it's south by southwest of Tokyo.)

MU: (South by southwest?)

HW: Yeah, because it's right on the ocean.

MU: Do you know why they wanted to come to America?

HW: Well, my (father's) oldest brother -- (father) was the fifth son in the family -- (...) was over here. And an uncle also came for a period of time. Being the fifth son in Japan, in the order of things for sons, why then the second son -- if the first son isn't here, the second son gets the family... and he's the fifth one down the line. And he was also -- being the fifth son -- was given to an uncle who had no children, and who taught him, schooled him from his childhood days.

MU: Schooled him on what?

HW: Japanese.

MU: Uh-huh.

HW: He didn't go to school, as such, but he did get schooled by his uncle. Then as he matured, why, he was drafted into the army, Japanese army and fought in the Japanese-Russian war. And then after he came back, in 19 -- war ended in 1905 -- in 1907 he migrated over here to join his father -- I mean, his brother.

MU: After you've grown up, were you able to talk to your dad about his experience in the Russo-Japanese War?

HW: Yes, yes, we talked.

MU: Any interesting comments he made?

HW: Yeah, there's a couple, several actually. He was machine-gunned while he was cutting barbed wire, getting ready for an assault on the Russian lines. Went to the hospital with five machine gun shots. Lucky that he didn't -- they didn't destroy his knee. He was on his back, cutting barbed wire, and he got machine-gunned in the knee, the leg. And during -- then as he was recovering and able to get around, but not ready to go back to the front line, he knew some, he knew, understood Japanese language pretty good, you know, the written language. And there was a Chinese prince, you might say, visiting. He wanted to learn more Japanese. So he became a tutor to the Chinese prince for a period of time. That was one of his favorite memories. The other was -- he would tell me, says, "You know, when you go into the army, they're gonna teach you how to use a bayonet." He says, "Forget it. Grab the rifle by the barrel and start swinging, because by the time you're pokin' around with that bayonet, you get killed." [Laughs]

MU: Well, was one of the reasons he wanted to get out of Japan and come to America -- maybe get away from the military things over there?

HW: Well, as I gather, he was not radical but he was kinda liberal. And, as far as being in Japan in those days, and being the fifth son of a large family, things were more rosy over here -- if he came over here. Yeah. That's the reason why he came. But, I believe that he "wetbacked," because he didn't talk about it too much, but I know that he came into British Columbia.

MU: As a "wetback"?

HW: No, legally.

MU: Oh. Tell us a little bit.

HW: And then he worked in the timber industry for a little while. And then he slipped over the border to work in the timber industry in Blaine. And he told me about a missionary, name turned out to be Reverend Murphy of Seattle. He made a deal with Reverend Murphy. He says, "I have a hobby of taking photographs and I will take photographs for you when you come up here on your mission venture if you will teach me a little bit of English." And so, that's how he learned some English, enough to go to California and join his brother. [Laughs]

MU: Okay.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.