<Begin Segment 3>

TI: And describe to me, now, your mother. How did your father and mother...

YM: That's the old Japanese tradition, arranged marriage. She was sent to my father's home a year before the marriage to be with the family, become part of the family. And then she was sent to California.

TI: Oh, that's interesting, I haven't heard this before. So before she came to California, she spent a year with the family?

YM: One year with her future in-laws.

TI: And was that, describe to me why that, why that was part of --

YM: I really don't know. All I heard, I thought it was kind of odd, but apparently that was done in those years. Not everybody, but some families chose to do that.

TI: And do you know, in that one year's time, what she did with the family?

YM: Just lived with the family, and I imagine they put her to work. [Laughs]

TI: Well, that's what I was guessing. So it's a way of getting help.

YM: Well, it's a way of getting acquainted, and it's... I suppose it would be a training of some sort, they felt. So this was the start of her life.

TI: And so after a year of that, then she then goes to California to join your father.

YM: Yes, yes.

TI: And do you know about what year that was when she came?

YM: To California?

TI: To California.

YM: It was... oh, gee. I'd have to look that up.

TI: But how many years was your father working at the farm...

[Interruption]

YM: It was 1915, 1915.

TI: Okay, good. Because soon later, you were born. And so at this point, your mother had spent a year with the family but had not met your father.

YM: No.

TI: So the first time they met was in California.

YM: California.

TI: So do you know how, where they met in California?

YM: No, I don't.

TI: Whether it was down at San Francisco or...

YM: Well, it was at San Francisco, and then back to Fresno area or Fowler. And that was their first time that they met.

TI: So this was kind of a form of being a "picture bride."

YM: Yes, that's right. It's the same thing.

TI: That your father had not really seen your mother.

YM: No, he's never seen her before.

TI: Okay. And tell me your mother's name.

YM: My mother's name is Hichimi, Hichimi Nagao was her maiden name, Matsuura.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.