<Begin Segment 11>

MR: When you were packing up and making plans to go, did you make arrangements with anybody to look after things?

YH: There were certain things we have that we thought we should do something about, and one was a sword that belonged to my mother. My mother's family were samurais, and when my mother went over there when my grandpa was dying, we didn't get there in time because we went by boat, but he gave this one treasured sword and said, "It belongs to your husband," to my mother. And so she brought that over, and so he really treasured that. And so we didn't know what to do with that. We thought, "Put it up in the attic where people can't get in." Well, somebody will go in there. Well, we'll bury it on the property, but what if we don't come back? All these ideas, and finally my oldest sister's friend that she knew from way back, asked them to watch it for us, and they did. He was... what do you call it? He made metal things, so he knew, he was more than happy to do it for us. So he took that, and we had this little bonsai plant that my dad cherished. And so this woman from Jefferson High School, the principal's wife's sister, said she would watch them for us. So those were the two main items that we left with other people. And all the rest we thought, well, we'd just make sure. And we could only take one suitcase, so that was, we didn't even have a suitcase, each of us. And so we thought, well, how are we going to, they say one suitcase each, we don't even have one. And so this friend of my oldest sister, he said he had a hotel, the downtown hotels where they leased, and there were a lot of suitcases that people left, and so he brought us all a suitcase. And we all had a suitcase to take our stuff in. And then I don't recall taking pots and pans.

MR: Where is the sword now?

YH: I have it here. And I've got some rust I've got to take care of. But it's just really, it's very precious. And this fellow came over to, he wanted to buy, George has some swords, so he wanted to buy them. And then I said, "While you're here, would you look up my sword?" And he thought I was going to bring out a toy sword or something, and so he has a book, and he sort of knows a lot about it. And he opened it and he turned the pages, and then he opened the sword. He looked at the signature in there, and he was so impressed... I guess it was, the crest was very good. And so he looked at it and put it back, and he said, "Thank you." But then he must have just gone home, and he came back on the phone, and he says, "I'll buy it from you." I said, "We're not selling that. That's a family thing." And he just kept, he did it for I don't know how long, he wanted to buy it. And I told him bluntly, "No," and so we still have it. But it's sort of, saying, "What are we going to do with it?" It'll become a thing of contention in our family, I think, and we don't know.

I suggested maybe giving it to the Oregon Historical Museum, and my brother said, "No, absolutely not." And so, okay, and then where should it go? Of course, everybody wants it. And to this day, I don't know what'll happen to it. And then my sister that passed away, the younger one, said, "Why don't we send it back?" They're going to have a museum on this family place, and, "So why don't we send it back there?" And at first I was real adamant, it was given to Pop, so why should we send it back? And now I think about it, maybe that's the best place for it. But I'm only one voice, and my older sister, she really wants it. [Laughs] If she sees this movie, she'll die, but she really wants it. She says, you know, her thinking -- I don't think she'll ever see this -- but she thinks her son, oldest boy, is married to a Japanese girl. And he's the only one that's married to a Japanese girl. Now, George Azumano's son Jim is married to a Caucasian girl, and he has no children of his own. And my son, oldest son, is married to a Caucasian girl, and my younger sister's is Caucasian. And my brother, who carries the name on, has three girls, and there's no one in that family that's carrying the name on. It stops right... well, Sandy is carrying her name on, but she has no children. So that leaves it... have to kill for it, die for it. [Laughs] It's just an object, actually, but you know, precious. They, all of them, it's funny, at that point, they all sort of got an interest. "Oh, the sword, the sword," you know. But I don't see them wanting to read all the history and everything, none of them. So my sister in California -- and their children all tend to marry Asians, so she thinks she's got the strongest pull on that. [Laughs] But I don't know.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.