Densho Digital Archive - Rokuro Kurihara Interview (denshovh-krokuro-01-0001)

<Begin Segment 1>

RP: -- an oral history interview for the Manzanar National Historic Site. This afternoon we're talking with Rokuro Kurihara. Mr. Kurihara lives at 518 Monte Vista Avenue in Glendale, California. Our interview date is May 13, 2009. Kirk Peterson is manning the camera and Richard Potashin is our interrogator.

RK: [Laughs] Oh, okay.

RP: And we'll be talking with Mr. Kurihara about his experiences as an internee at the Manzanar War Relocation Center and then afterward in the Seabrook Industries in New Jersey.

RK: Bridgeton, New Jersey.

RP: Bridgeton, New, Bridgeton, New Jersey. We'll archive this interview in the site's, site's library. Rokuro, do I have permission to go ahead and record our interview today?

RK: Yes, you sure can.

RP: Thank you very much. And, how do you want me to refer to you, Rocky or Rock?

RK: Rok.

RP: Rok, okay.

RK: Rok.

RP: Rok, okay.

RK: Yeah. That's the Japanese version of my name, Rokuro.

RP: Rok. Okay Rok. Tell us where you were born and what year.

RK: I was born July 11, 1927, at 544 West Riverdale, in Glendale.

RP: And how far down the road is that?

RK: About a mile, mile down, on Pacific.

RP: You haven't moved very far, in that...

RK: No. [Laughs]

RP: The only place you moved to was Manzanar. And you didn't have any choice in that.

RK: Yeah. Well, I lived at my mom's place and, and then we moved to Vine Street when I got married. And then we moved here.

RP: Yeah. Can you share with us some, what you can recall about your, your family, your parents especially. Can you give us your dad's first name?

RK: My dad's name is Kenjiro, Kenjiro.

RP: Can you spell that?

RK: K-E-N-J-I-R-O.

RP: Okay. Kenjiro Kurihara.

RK: And my mom's name was Nobu, Nobu, N-O-B-U.

RP: N-O-B... uh-huh. Where did your father come from in Japan?

RK: Shizuoka-ken. Enoura, Enoura, Shizuoka-ken. And my mom came from Shizuoka-ken, Numazu, Numazu-shi.

RP: Did your father share with you any information about his early life in Japan?

RK: Well, he was a fisherman. He was a fisherman. Enoura is a fishing village so he, he was a fisherman.

RP: And was he, was he from a large family?

RK: Well, he was adopted into this family, into the Kurihara family.

RP: Originally, he was born into what family? Do you know?

RK: I think his name was Kawaguchi. Kawaguchi. And I think he was born, I think, he was born in a town called Odawara, Odawara.

RP: So he grew up in another family...

RK: Yeah.

RP: ...as a fisherman.

RK: Yeah, into the Kurihara family.

RP: And then he came to America. Do you know what, roughly when he came?

RK: You know, I would say about 1915. I'm not sure, but about 1915, I think.

RP: Uh-huh. Where did he settle?

RK: Well, I think he came to, as a schoolboy or something. He went to La Jolla, you know, near San Diego, La Jolla.

RP: And as a schoolboy, he was trying to finish high school or...

RK: No, I don't know about that, you know. That's what I heard anyway.

RP: Uh-huh. That's where he got, he settled in there.

RK: Yeah. But not very long. Not very long before he came to Glendale.

RP: And, what did he do in Glendale?

RK: Glendale he, at first, this was, he peddled the vegetable and fruits at first. And after that, he was a gardener. And his, his whole lifetime was a gardener, as a gardener.

RP: When did your mother come over?

RK: I don't know. But it was right around 1916, I guess, yeah.

RP: Do you know if they married here in the United States or did he go back to get her?

RK: No, I'm sure they were married in Japan.

RP: Oh, in Japan.

RK: Yeah. Japan.