Densho Digital Archive - Roy Murakami Interview (denshovh-mroy

<Begin Segment 7>

RP: So he established a dojo in Oxnard. And then he also established one in San Fernando.

RM: Yeah.

RP: And then finally in North Hollywood.

RM: Yeah. He had the Rafu Dojo before, but they only go, those established ones would start to build up and then he would just go out seeing things more than... and, well, after the war he did same thing, where he did the same thing, Oxnard and Rocketdyne, we started one there, but...

RP: Rocketdyne?

RM: Uh-huh.

RP: That was an aeronautic...

RM: Yeah.

RP: Down in Olga Park?

RM: Olga Park, yeah. Well, they, they wanted to start one so we helped start one. And then I took it, I was taking it on and doing it. And it became too much for me but they had a black belt there so we left it to him and I guess they didn't go as well.

RP: Where was the, where was the dojo that your father established in San Fernando?

RM: It was on one of the side streets on San Fernando. I don't know... Keywin, I don't know if it was Keywin or one of those.

RP: Was it a...

RM: It was a house.

RP: Oh, it was a house.

RM: Uh-huh. And they did, just gutted it and put mats in there and bathrooms.

RP: How about the dojo in North Hollywood, where was that?

RM: It was over there in... the white, what the heck was... whites, I don't know what... near Cahuenga and... oh gosh, I don't know the street now. It's near the power line. Used to be near the power lines anyway. And it was a building that started, they started language school there and then we started...

RP: What did you have for mats in those days?

RM: Regular wrestling mats. Regular wrestling mats.

RP: How, how would you attract kids and teenagers to take judo? They're mostly Niseis. Did you have to advertise or...

RM: No, we didn't advertise that much. The people around us that we know all of them.

RP: And they'd send their kids.

RM: They were farmers and they had, they wanted to take up a martial arts sport. So a lot of 'em did. Some of 'em lasted a long time. Some of 'em didn't.

RP: Were there any women that...

RM: No, not at that time.

RP: ...early on? How about, did judo have any appeal at all to other ethnicities...

RM: Yeah.

RP: Like Caucasians or...

RM: Yeah, Hispanics, there was a couple of Mexican Hispanic who were San Fernando. I don't remember his name but he went about to fourth degree black belt. Then we have a little, around sixty or so, we had one who was Roy Lara. He went to third degree black belt. He passed away early though.

RP: So your father would visit these dojos...

RM: Periodically. Once a week or something like that. Them days it was a long drive.

RP: Oxnard, yeah.

RM: You know, by car even.

RP: And he would have, he would have an assistant, assistant teachers at these dojos that were...

RM: At the dojos, yes, they started developing assistants. Some, I think Oxnard developed quite a bit of black belts that took it there. And North Hollywood did, too.

RP: He must have been a busy guy. I mean, he's running a business...

RM: Oh, yeah.

RP: And he's...

RM: Well, he does days, so... but it kept him out of trouble, I guess. [Laughs]

RP: Did he, was he involved in the community other than judo?

RM: Oh, yeah. All the things. They had farmer's association, things like that.

RP: Was there a nursery association, too?

RM: No, not that time.

RP: At that time.

RM: It was... that's California Nurseryman, no, they didn't have that. They started that after, I think. But they had a farmer's association. They would get together and have parties and you know, things like that.