Densho Digital Archive - Fred Oda Interview (denshovh-ofred

<Begin Segment 11>

TI: Let's talk about some of the, you talked about, with your friends, just playing and, like, swimming and different games. How about things like organized sports? Did you, did the community have things like judo or kendo and things like...

FO: Yeah, I did kendo.

TI: Okay, so talk about that. Where did you do the kendo and who was the instructor?

FO: Well, like kendo, there was a big Japanese hall, they used to call it Toyo Hall. It was a big barn-like building, you know. And those days, they didn't have heat, and we used charcoal for heat. They used to have a big bucket, and had hibachi-like heat upstairs and downstairs. But good thing there was a big barn-like, otherwise, the darn gas from that smoke would get you.

TI: Yeah, that would be pretty dangerous, if you had charcoal heaters inside.

FO: Oh, that's how a lot of people die nowadays, they live in trailer house and try to use charcoal to heat up the trailer house, poison gas. Like I told you, that hall was like a barn, great big old building with the sun coming through some cracks.

TI: Oh, that's interesting, especially if you do kendo, which is like an exercise, and you need more oxygen, I would think that sometimes you would get a little lightheaded with all the charcoal.

FO: No, we didn't have it when we did kendo practice and stuff, but just when they have movies and stuff like that, yeah.

TI: So the Toyo Hall was, that's how they heated.

FO: Then I noticed the Japanese, they want people to donate. So when you donate, they have a big piece of sheet, and they write your name down, I guess, how much you donated, and they plaster it on the wall. [Laughs]

TI: I think they still do that today with the new buildings. They have now, not pieces of paper, but then they have, like, little plaques.

FO: People will donate so much, yeah.

TI: Plaques engraved and things like that. So tell me more about kendo. Who was the instructor, how many other --

FO: Kendo was, it was Mr. Yamamoto, I guess, was his name, elderly Issei. Then after we had Takata, Herbert Takata, I guess, was his name. He came back from Japan and he trained in Japan, and he was rough, boy. [Laughs] That old man, he may be gentle, but when Herbert took over, well, he meant business.

TI: And did you guys have the full equipment?

FO: Oh, yeah. We burned all that up, though, Pearl Harbor time.

TI: Oh, interesting. So after the bombing of Pearl Harbor...

FO: Yeah, you know, they said Japanese magazine, that's why every Japanese backyard, you see smoke. They were burning up.

TI: So who, so when you burned all the kendo equipment, did you help do that or did the instructors do that? Who burned...

FO: We, you know, every family, they had their own, you know, equipment. So I don't know what the other families did, but...

TI: And kendo in particular, because it was more of a, kind of a... what's the right word? Martial art, I guess, in terms of...

FO: Yeah. That's why when the FBI, they picked up lot of these martial art people and schoolteachers, and anybody that had anything to do with Japanese.

TI: That's interesting. Yeah, so you had your own kendo equipment, but then it was all burned in '41.

FO: Yeah.

TI: How about other organized sports? So you mentioned kendo.

FO: Yeah, Watsonville had a good baseball team those days, yeah. They used to play these college teams from Japan, they'd come, and they used to play these semi-pro teams from San Francisco.

TI: And were you a baseball player?

FO: No, I was too young, those days.

TI: So did any of your friends play or they were all too young?

FO: They were all too young. I'm talking about the older, older Nisei, yeah.

TI: But even though you were too young to play on those teams, did you and your friends play baseball?

FO: Yeah. Well, a pickup team, you know.

TI: So why was it that the Niseis, the older Niseis, had a more organized, like, semi-pro team?

FO: Well, the Issei backed them up. And each town had a team, you know, they played each other. Salinas, Watsonville, Monterey, yeah.

TI: And why were the Isseis so interested in baseball? I would think the Isseis would rather promote kendo or judo, but they promoted baseball?

FO: Yeah.

TI: Why do you think that was?

FO: Well, for the kids, I guess, you know, for the kids.

TI: Because the kids like baseball more than the others?

FO: Yeah, just like my cousin in Los Angeles, he grew up downtown Los Angeles, and this American lady saw these Japanese kids running around with no supervision, so she organized a club for them. And her name was Mrs. Oliver. That's why, to this day, there's some of those guys still around yet that belong to the Oliver Club.

TI: And for you, was there anything like that in Watsonville for your age? Like a place or a club for you guys to get together, like a community center? Or was it pretty much just on your own?

FO: Yeah, we were on our own, yeah.

TI: Okay.