Densho Digital Archive - Irene Yamauchi Tatsuta Interview (denshovh-tirene-01-0018)

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KL: Where was the school?

IT: It was in one of the blocks. We lived in Block 8, which had the most kids, which was fun. I don't know why I remember 13, we had a rec hall and I think, like, they taught piano lessons. Of course, I don't, I didn't take it, but they had a, they also had a little store that you could buy candy bars and little things.

KL: In Block 8?

IT: No, this was centrally located. Our whole camp was divided into two, up to Block 20, 20 or something, and then after 20-some, I remembered we used to go to I think 22 for our lessons in, what do you call, koto, the harp lessons.

KL: Who taught you koto?

IT: Her name was Nakashima or something like that.

KL: And where were the lessons?

IT: We had to walk through, there was a dirt path through the sagebrush and all, and it was in the second section of the camp. And we went to her place and she taught us koto, my sister and I, and my cousin. My cousin was same age as me. I still remember, we would bring out little nails and whatever you, you hit...

KL: A pick or something.

IT: Pick, yeah. My, we'd get almost home, then my cousin would say she lost it. We'd walk all the way back, looking, couldn't find it, came back, it was in her sweater pocket. [Laughs] I remember that. And then my mother also had me take flower arrangement lessons. I think I was in the second grade, and I hated it because everybody spoke Japanese and I didn't speak Japanese, I didn't understand it. And just to be with all these old ladies, it was not fun for a second grader, you know? But what was interesting -- oh, and we also, my sister and I took tea ceremony lessons. She was gonna make us ladies. [Laughs] Anyway, we used to demonstrate, and I don't know if we were the only two kids, or maybe there might've been, but we would put on these demonstrations or recitals or whatever, and there's a certain way of folding the napkins and stirring it and all, and then you would say something in Japanese, "Please help yourself," or "Would you like this and that?" One day they started laughing, and of course we don't know what we're saying, and so I asked my mother, "How come they laugh?" Says because I, when I was serving, I gave the answer and she gave the question after I gave the answer. But what this teacher would do is put cocoa and sugar and that's what she'd do for the kids. Well, when my mother died she offered my sister and I free lessons, and I think she was also the flower arrangement teacher, so take a pick, tea or flower arrangement. We didn't either of 'em, so we didn't take any. [Laughs] But that was her way of, she was, my mother was, I guess she liked my mother as a student maybe. I don't know, something, there was some closeness there, so she offered us free lessons.

KL: What was her name?

IT: Otani. I think that was her name.

KL: O-T-A-N-I?

IT: Yeah.

KL: So the lessons were intergenerational, the cultural lessons like the tea ceremony and the flower arrangement?

IT: Actually, it was for adults, but my mom had us taking lessons. Tea ceremony, there might've been other kids, but I still remember we were the only ones who were performing, so it was like a recital. I don't think there were people taking tea lessons. The flower arrangement, she didn't even put my sister in it. She put me in it, and I hated it. What, the koto lessons, I remember taking those until she said we had to sing. And that was it, I didn't want it anymore. [Laughs] But that was near the end.

KL: Did your mother already have, your mother took the tea ceremony and the flower arranging classes, too?

IT: Yeah.

KL: Did she already have skills in those areas, or was that a new endeavor for her?

IT: I think she knew how to play the koto, because, you know. And we weren't good enough to read anything, we just memorized. But she always liked things like flower arrangement and things, and when we came back from camp, when I was like twelve -- I came back, yeah, like sixth grade or something -- she sent me to a Japanese lady to learn how to sew, 'cause I was supposed to learn all these womanly things. [Laughs] But my sister didn't go.

KL: You said you had two kotos with you in Minidoka?

IT: Yeah. I don't know how that -- it had to be in Minidoka, yeah -- I don't know how we got it there. I have no idea, but I remembered when they came and busted, they really busted in the door. There were cracks in the, the wood where the door was. The way they took my mother, it was scary. We didn't know where they were taking her. They just grabbed her and took her. Then, I don't know where we went, but we had to come back and pick up something, then they took us to the hospital to stay, and they had a crew that came in and packed our stuff. We didn't know what had happened, that's when the kotos left. So we don't even know if they really had it, because they could've taken it, too, the people who packed and all. But she, they wrote a letter to her saying they have it in the warehouse and, "So come and claim it. And if you don't by such-and-such date," I don't know if they're gonna auction it off or whatever. Well my mom was so mad at the government, so we never, she never looked into it. And I thought those harps are pretty precious, but of course I didn't want to take any more lessons and my sister didn't either.

KL: Did your brother take any special lessons, or --

IT: No.

KL: What did he do with his time?

IT: You know, I don't remember. Because we were, in Minidoka we were in the block with the most kids, out of forty-four blocks, we always were busy playing.