Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Madelon Arai Yamamoto Interview
Narrator: Madelon Arai Yamamoto
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Independence, California
Date: May 6, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-ymadelon-01-0007

<Begin Segment 7>

RP: Were there always tubs available for you, or were there times where you had to wait, when there were so many women and their washing at that particular time?

MY: I don't remember, because really time wasn't that important to me at that age. If I had to wait, so what? I'd find someone else to talk to or to play with. I'm sure the adults would've remembered that more than me. And they also, they said they had an iron house or a place where they could iron. I don't remember that at all. I remember if we ironed anything it was in our own barrack. Yeah. No, laundry was a daily chore.

RP: Now, I wanted to talk specifically about your father's garden a little bit, since that's kind of the, one of the main reasons why you're here at Manzanar this weekend. Do you recall when your father built the pond?

MY: We arrived there in June of '42. I don't think it was until the second year that we were there, '42, maybe '43, '44. I don't think it was late as '44. Well, there's a picture of me, my mother holding Eizo and I'm on one side, and then Eizo at that time wasn't quite a year old, so that would be maybe May or June of '44, and the fish pond was already built, because behind us you can see the boulders. So I'm pretty sure that my father must've started it in'43.

RP: '43.

MY: Yes, this is the one right here. [Points.]

RP: This picture right here.

MY: [Holds picture up] See, he's not even a toddler, and you see the boulders right along here?

RP: Okay.

MY: Yeah.

RP: Roughly around '43.

MY: Yeah, the spring of '43.

RP: And did he have any help in putting this garden together? Were there other adults?

MY: Yes, but I didn't pay much attention to it. But he didn't do it all by himself. He had many friends that helped, that were interested in building the pond. And even though all adults had some sort of responsibility or, quote, job, in camp, they had lots of time. No one had cars, no one could go to the movies. Oh, we did have movies, though, but that was just on Fridays and Saturday nights. We had a lot of time on our hands. And he worked as a carpenter at one time for the government, and I think it was at that time he discovered that there were carp up in, what do you call those mountains? The Inyo-White Range, or what is it?

RP: Uh-huh.

MY: The Inyo-White Range? Okay. And so they went up there to build a bridge or to repair something for the county people, not for Manzanar, and he thought -- there were carp and also perch -- that would be a good idea to have a fish pond. And he was discussing it with a couple of people, and I didn't listen much, but before I knew it they were in front of the house digging it out. [Laughs] And then before I knew it they arrived with the concrete, and then before I knew it there was boulders all around there. And then once that was built, then I don't know if he had a water hose, but then there was the outdoor tap of each, right next to barrack, apartment one of each barrack. And took almost half a day to fill it with the fresh water, and then when they built the pond they had, he put a concrete little river all the way up to that water tap.

RP: Spigot?

MY: The spigot. And then when he needed more water in there he would turn it on and it would just naturally come down on an incline. And then at the other end it was, the pond had an exit, so if it filled up to a certain amount it would...

RP: Spill out.

MY: Spill out, uh-huh. And he had, like, a ditch, and it went down next to the road. And it never caused a problem. It would just dry up very quickly.

RP: Madelon, do you recall what he planted around that, the pond area?

MY: We had grass. A lot of the barracks had grass in between because the apartments, I mean, not apartments, the barracks, the doors faced each other, so if this is three, then barrack two faced us so the doors faced another barrack. So it was a way to develop a little community, and we'd take turns watering the grass or growing a garden. It depended upon who your neighbor was and what their interests were as to what you had in front of your house. And I'm sure he spoke to the people across from us. I think Mr. Kobayashi was one, and he was a bachelor and so he wasn't hard to convince. He didn't have to discuss it with his wife, didn't have a wife. [Laughs] And then the family that lived right opposite us, I can't remember their names, but it was okay with them, so before we knew it we had the fish pond going.

RP: And you were in 33?

MY: We were in Block 33, Block 33, Barrack, no, Barrack 4. We were Barrack 4.

RP: You were in 4.

MY: 33-4-4.

RP: 4-4.

MY: And then Barrack 4, Apartment 4.

RP: Okay, so you were on the end.

MY: Yes.

RP: Okay, and so where was the garden located in relationship to you?

MY: [Points to piece of paper] Here, okay, we're right here, and so it was right here.

RP: It's right in here?

MY: See this end right here? There was a double door here, but my father closed that off.

RP: There's the double doors.

MY: He didn't want anyone entering here. And he built a bench. We used to sit on this all the time, 'cause right here was the main street that was paved, going up to the hospital.

RP: Right, going right by you there.

MY: Yes.

RP: And so the garden was located right there.

MY: Yeah.

RP: So on the east, would be the east side of your apartment there.

MY: Let me, yes, east side of the apartment. Yes.

RP: And between building, Barrack 3 and 4. Okay.

MY: Yeah, 33-4-4, I remember that.

RP: So you remember roughly mostly lawn around the...

MY: Yes.

RP: No other flowering plants or anything? You said he used to, liked to grow chrysanthemums.

MY: No, because he said that he wanted to have the lily, the ponds, so we had flowers in the pond itself.

RP: Water lilies.

MY: Yeah.

RP: That was quite a draw.

MY: Yeah, I think we even had a lotus lily, if I'm not mistaken. That was special in his mind.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.