<Begin Segment 6>

RP: But, just to get back to, back on the island again.

TI: Oh, okay.

RP: You were involved, as you said, with kendo.

TI: Yes.

RP: And how early do you remember taking up kendo?

TI: I must have been around ten or eleven I think when I started kendo. And the kendo teacher, the instructor, was my dentist, Dr. Fuji. And somehow I got into kendo and -- the tetan kendo -- for many, many years. In fact, I even gave up playing baseball as a kid. I did kendo.

[Interruption]

TI: Yeah, I was more involved in kendo than any other sport.

RP: What was it about kendo that interested you so much?

TI: Well, gee, I can't say what it is. But, well, our instructor was real active and, well, I shouldn't say I got good, but I guess I was a little better than the others. So he'd take me to Long Beach where he was teaching kendo there, and he'd also take me over to... I can't remember... Dominguez Hills, he had a kendo class there. So I was quite, I guess, efficient, if I can say so myself. And of course when the war started I had to get rid of all that equipment.

RP: And how did you get rid of it?

TI: Oh, you know, in the community of Terminal Island there was a great big... well, I say big but it was a building that the cannery used to burn whatever they didn't need. Well, I went over there. The door was always open. So I'd open and I just threw my equipment in there and burned it up.

RP: Just after the war broke out?

TI: Yeah, after the war broke out. I figured, well, I don't want to be caught with any Japanese equipment, especially kendo equipment.

RP: Is there anything else that you burned besides the kendo equipment that you took...

TI: No, that was about it.

RP: In judo you're ranked according to belts of colors.

TI: Yes. Uh-huh.

RP: How does it work in kendo?

TI: Kendo, I don't know if they had any color. They were all the same. The equipment was all the same.

RP: You were talking about practicing at different locations with different groups of people. But eventually you also competed against other kendo associations?

TI: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: Throughout California?

TI: Yes. But you were given a rank, you know. And whenever there's a tournament or matches, that rank always came out. Like first degree or second degree or third degree rank. They call that dan. You know, first degree would be Shodan, and second would be Nidan, Sandan. I did kendo for a long, long time when Mori-sensei... did you hear about Mori-sensei? Mori-sensei was here, I shouldn't say worked, but I practiced under him and I helped him along. And I was given the rank of godan. Yeah, which, which was exceptionally high for, you know, people participating in kendo here in the United States.

RP: And who was Sensei Mori?

TI: Huh?

RP: Can you tell us who Sensei Mori was?

TI: Oh, Mori. Mori-sensei, he came from a, a Japanese family. Gee, I can't remember all this. The main family were publisher and they published various Japanese magazine. And... I can't even remember the magazine that was published. But the family was a big printer. And not being the member of the main family... he must have been a cousin of the main family except he took the name Mori. But he was an exceptionally strong person. And he came to United States... I can't say the date but he came here with the idea of learning the fencing here in United States. And I think he became a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club and learned fencing. But I don't think he ever participated. I think he wanted to be a fencer and go back to Japan and become a member in one of the Olympics there, you know. Because he was really fast.

RP: Tosh, did you have brothers and sisters?

TI: Yes.

RP: Can you give us their names?

TI: Oh, yes. My oldest sister name is Kaneko Nakanishi. She's a couple years than I am. And the next sister would be Satsuki Hamabata and the third sister would be Mary... gee, I can't even remember their name, Mary Tamura. And my, the youngest one would be my brother, Katsumi Izumi.

RP: You mentioned that your dad had a nickname. Do you remember some of the other nicknames of guys you hung out with in Terminal Island?

TI: Oh, nickname? Oh, I guess there were a lot of nickname but it just doesn't come to my mind what they were. Hmm. Can we skip that for a while?

RP: Sure, yes.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.