<Begin Segment 18>

MK: Do you join group activities?

CE: I have been joining the group since it started.

MK: Is it once a week?

CE: Yes. Kei, I and Mr. Honma came over too. We were singing the dead pampas grass song, but I don't know why we ended up singing it. That was with Mr. Dozono.

MK: It is a nice song, isn't it?

CE: Is it?

MK: Yes. The melody is rather sad though.

CE: Isn't it?

MK: Do you like singing?

CE: I do. I like listening to music too.

MK: Do you remember Japanese songs?

CE: I do. I used to sing an American pigeon song as a lullaby. [Laughs]

MK: American pigeon song?

CE: Yes. Someone in Seattle composed it. [Singing] My pretty pigeon/ cuckooing and singing/ flying out of the brushwood/ perched on my shoulder and on my hand/ cuckooing with lovely voice/ singing happily/ flying away good bye after eating beans. [Laughs]

MK: That is a very nice song.

CE: I used to sing it to the kids when they were small.

MK: I would like to learn how to sing it.

CE: Would you? This is an American version of the pigeon song. The Japanese version goes: "Come down from a temple roof, come down from a shrine window," right?

MK: When you look back at your childhood in Japan, do you remember any lullaby your mother used to sing to you?

CE: [Singing] Go to sleep, go to sleep. I remember that one.

MK: How does it go?

CE: Where did the boy go/ Over the mountain... How did it go? Went to the town/what did he get as a souvenir/ a drum and flute/ [Laughs]

MK: I thought it was a Chinese lullaby, but the Tohoku version is the same.

CE: It's the same.

MK: Just a different melody.

CE: I like singing. Here I have... [Looking at notes]

MK: You wrote everything down in your notes.

CE: I wrote everything down. [Laughs] I wrote down a lullaby too. [Looking at notes] Where was it?

MK: Singing is also a secret for longevity, isn't it?

CE: Here is the writing. "I never have sung a song to celebrate the birth of the holy son, never sang a Christmas song. I never celebrate and greet Christmas out loud. Never have look at a card or written down Christmas. However, what is it... However, sing in your heart in a room with wind and snow banging on the window. Greet yourself... write in your eyes. Thank God for the birth of the holy child. Be in joy. If I don't suffer, if those who do not know God's love do not suffer, it was not possible to spread God's love." That is how it goes. "If Jesus did not suffer, it wouldn't have been possible to see God's love." [Laughs]

MK: Oh.

CE: I don't know what, but there is a lot written down here. Poem by Meiji Emperor, and Prince Nashimoto. There are a lot.

MK: Yes.

CE: The Manchurian Incident... Meiji Emperor and the Empress.

MK: What a long history. You have lived through Meiji, Taisho and Showa era. And it is Heisei now.

CE: That's right.

MK: This goes, "Prince Akihito was born on December 24th, 1933. Long awaited son to succeed the family. The light of the three countries shines brighter." [Laughs]

CE: Oh, it is about the emperor.

MK: That is a great diary.

CE: It is just a journal. I wrote about a lot of things.

MK: Long life for ninety-seven years.

CE: This was when we celebrated the special 88th birthday, who wrote this? "The heart-warming gathering in the harsh world. May it last for a long time. Setsuko on November 14th, The father Tsuneo Hiramatsu on January 14th, 1953, Prince Chichibu in August in 1969. They are all gone."

MK: Yes.

CE: How sad.

MK: It really is.

CE: I wrote about a bunch of different things. I certainly did.

MK: It is such a great way to keep memories.

CE: Here is another one. "The fifth Infantry Regiment from Aomori Prefecture was stranded in the blizzard while marching in the snow on January 25th in 1902 on Hakkoda Mountain. 199 soldiers died. It was a very painful incident."

MK: I see.

CE: This is a poem to remember Empress Teimei written by the Emperor. "My mother gathered..." what is it? in the autumn garden. What was it?

MK: Many Japanese poems are very emotional.

CE: Yes. Here is another one. "I keep my bright moon in my heard and let it shine on the dark in the world." This is the farewell poem written by Dharma.

MK: You are always carrying it with you, even when you go to Japan.

CE: That's right. I brought another notebook when I went to Japan. I always keep a diary.

MK: You should have it translated for your grandchildren to read.

CE: I don't know.

MK: They can read about what you like.

CE: They already know what I like. I showed them like how to make ohagi mochi cakes. Kei is very good at it. [Laughs]

MK: That's great.

CE: Akiko cooks beans to make natto. Kei takes over and finishes the process.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.