Densho Digital Archive - George H. Morishita Interview (denshovh-mgeorge

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KL: What do you know about, same kind of questions for your mother's family, the family that she grew up in? Did she have siblings?

GM: Oh, yeah. She told me that she was the fourteenth generation in that village, that home. And I remember when I came out of the army, I said, "Mama, I know you told me that your mother told you a lot of things, and you used to tell me that when you were a little kids, two of the youngest of the family, all the girls anyway." And she used to tell me she used to look forward to the, when her mother used to take her to her home. And they would leave early in the morning and get there just before it gets dark, and it was supposed to be quite a home. And, in fact, my nephew who was in the marines, years later said, "George, did you ever go visit Grandma's mother's home?" "No." "Wow," he said, "that guy had a parade ground reviewing his troops and all that." But anyway...

KL: Did you say she was one of fourteen children or she was the fourteenth generation?

GM: No, she was the fourteenth generation there. I remember kidding her one time, I said, "Mama, did your mom ever tell you where her people came from before they moved to Miyano?" And she said, "Well, they were on the losing end of a battle." And I thought, I wonder if that was the beginning of the Tokugawa era. And she said, "They were from further west." You know, there's that Japanese-Korean thing. And I said, "You know what? We could be Koreans." I said, "Really?" Am I talking too much?

KL: No, no, you're doing great. You're doing great. This home of your grandparents, was it around Miyano also that she would go to?

GM: No. I'm not sure where it was, further inland. And my nephew said he went. My mom just told me when she was a young girl, she and her mother used to leave in the morning and get there just before sunset. And then she remembers her at the foyer of her grandfather's home with these big jars full of candy. So naturally to her, that was quite a thing.

KL: That's good hospitality for a little kid coming to visit.

GM: You know, Japan was pretty poor. Because I know my mom, yeah, she used to tell me, when my father was here, he didn't bring her right away.