<Begin Segment 7>

JS: So earlier you talked about learning to play the biwa, right? And so you continued your studies when you came to Fresno? You continued to take lessons?

RN: Yeah, I took...

JS: Uh-huh, and to perform?

RN: Yeah.

JS: So where did you, what was your teacher's name, do you remember?

RN: Yamasaki.

JS: Yamasaki?

RN: I think.

JS: So you would take lessons at her home?

RN: Uh-huh.

JS: Okay. And then you would have performances, recitals or concerts?

RN: Yeah. I took a lesson when I was five or six. Anyway, I couldn't carry the biwa, it's big, I used to put it in my doll buggy and go up the hill where that teacher lived.

JS: Oh. And this was when you were in Seattle, is that what you said?

RN: Uh-huh, Auburn.

JS: Yeah, when you were in Auburn, you used to push the biwa up the hill?

RN: Yeah.

JS: Did your other sisters also study?

RN: No.

JS: No? So you were the only one that studied?

RN: Yeah.

KN: Tell Jill why you think you were adopted by your mom's sister, do you remember?

JS: Why did Mrs. Fujimura...

KN: Why were you picked out of all the daughters?

RN: Uh-huh, yeah. They had no children, so they adopted me, made me their child. I had to go to court, too, you know.

KN: But why do you think... remember, there was a reason why you think they chose you instead of Alice or May, Grandma Fujimura? Remember you said that you were the prettiest?

RN: Yeah. I was real cute when I was small.

JS: Yeah, you're beautiful. So do you think the arrangement was made before? How did your mother, Mrs. Fukuda, how did she die? What happened?

RN: She died early.

JS: Uh-huh. Was it accident, or she got sick?

RN: She died of cancer.

JS: Oh, so she was sick.

RN: Yeah.

JS: So I wonder if the arrangement with her sister was made before she died.

RN: Could be, could be.

JS: Interesting.

RN: Because my auntie that adopted me, she stayed all through her sickness. And so she got, they talked to each other and they said, "If anything happens to Mother, the auntie will take care of her."

JS: Wow.

RN: So it was a pre-arranged.

JS: Pre-arranged. Wow. So the sister came to see her when she was sick, and then after that, you went to live with them.

RN: Then my Yakima, she died in Yakima. Anyway, we came home, and after she died, had our funeral in Auburn.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.