Densho Digital Archive
Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL Collection
Title: Kitako Izumizaki Interview
Narrator: Kitako Izumizaki
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Watsonville, California
Date: July 28, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-ikitako-01-0002

<Begin Segment 2>

MA: And how did he meet your mother?

KI: I have no idea, 'cause my mother used to always say that when she came to America to marry my father, that she had gone to see his family, because he was already in America, so she didn't know what he looked like at all.

MA: And do you know how old she was when this happened?

KI: She was only, she was only about nineteen or twenty. She was very young.

MA: And was she from the same, from Shikoku?

KI: Yes, Shikoku, Ehime-ken. You know, in those days, the go-between would go and look up the family and try to get, you know, that's the way. So she went and looked at all his relatives, but she didn't know what...

MA: And what was your mother's name?

KI: Matsue Hayashi.

MA: So when your mother joined your father in the U.S., they continued to sort of farm?

KI: Yes. The first time she met my father, he had gone to the boat, and she was very short. In fact, I'm only an inch taller than she was, so she was very short. And the first thing he said to her was, "Man are you short." [Laughs] She says he could hardly see her.

MA: So they, so they saw each other and then came down to Watsonville?

KI: Yes. And you know how in those days, well, he had borrowed the horse and buggy or wagon from the boss, and so naturally when she met him she thought, "Oh, gee, he owns a horse and wagon," said, "that's pretty good." And she used to laugh and say that they, as they were traveling down to Watsonville, that the, he'd mention, "Oh, this is," the name of the place or something, and finally he came to this lovely house, which is so, she thought, "Oh my, what a beautiful house." And he says, "Oh, that's not the house," and he kept on going, and it was way in the back like a pigpen or chicken shed, you know, and that's where they were all staying. 'Cause the boss's house, and it was the boss's horse and boss's wagon. That's, I think that's the way most of them were, anyway. [Laughs]

MA: That's a great story. So how many children were in your family?

KI: Seven, yes.

MA: And are you the oldest or in the middle?

KI: No, I'm right in the middle. I have three above me and three below me.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.