The history of koi keeping in the USA.

[PapaBear]

This is all having a very familiar ring to it.
I grew up in the middle of the San Joaquin valley, which also had a large Japanese population and many of my schoolmates were descendant's of those who were once in the internment camps. (To this day it infuriates me to think that the man who came up with that brilliant idea went on to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court)
My father recalls the fact that one day he showed up for school and all of his Japanese classmates were just gone. Those interred, rather than looking for someone to be angry at hungered for something productive to do while they were there. The garden farms they had worked in the valley were replaced by small plots they chiseled out of the miserable dirt at the camps. Those who were of age sought military service out of a sense of patriotism in spite of the injustice done to them, and the desire to restore honor to their families which had been dishonored by the misguided powers that be. Growing up where I did I can honestly say that if you wanted to hear of the grave injustice done to them you had to ask a white man. Those who were interred never gave in to bitterness, but rather went about the business of hard work and a productive life.
That is the culture from which our "culture of Koi" descends. Small wonder we get so much more from it than "pretty fish".

[saratogatan]

the internment camp has been a very shameful dot for this great nation. I don't want to get myself into trouble here. But can't help sharing some stories I read, and have some memory of:

- a neighbor kindly offered a few bug to buy a business and the whole property from a Japanese family before they were shipped out. The buyer made a killing profit of the transaction by taking advantage of others suffering. This happened in San Jose area.

- a Japanese lost hundred of acre of farm land to some people of no-color, he got paid almost nothing, (I think he was not paid at all, but my memory is failing). Then the war ended, the japanese farmer came back to work in the farm that was once his. Not an inch of land was returned to his name. The new owner shamelessly hold on to the land and became very rich. This happened in Central valley.

I can only hope that the suffering of the Japanese people are not forgotten, and we shall learned that lesson in our heart that suffering like this never repeat itself in the future.

stan

[aquitori]

Pretty shameful history, but I also do remember what the Japanese did to the Filipinos during WWII. As to not go off topic, the American Japanese started the hobby here in California and if my memory serves me correct, it was by Japanese landscapers....

I think this type of history lesson would make for a great book, I think as time goes on we should get some of history from those who remember before they pass on.

[JasPR]

Sure plenty of grievances to go around on all sides- the war was all about man's inhumanity to man. It is the human condition. I can not tell you how many places in Japan, I have been turned away from because I am caucasian. This is especially true in the night spots around town ( Yakuza wantabe doormen) . But I have never felt this same prejudice in Niigata? Only one well known breeder that I know who is outright racist towards Americans. The rest I have met over the years are almost to a person, the 'salt of the earth' types. JR

[dick benbow]

were those who joined the military in the 442nd?

The interment camp topic is a real hot button for me. I have literally dozens of books written from first person experiences on the subject. Canada did exactly as we did by the way and in both nations at the end of the war no citizens of japanese ancestries were EVER found to have been disloyal. BTW Eddie Fujimoto who started KOI USA was an interpreter in the pacific threatre with Japanese prisoners of war.
The 442nd was the most decorated unit in our armed services and was immortalized by the expression "go for broke".....

Thanks Jim for the contact, was interesting to hear your comments on the breeders......I only ran across one individual in Japan who openly didn't care for me. I was a young soldier who was seriously dating his only daughter at the time and now looking back, I quess i couldn't blame him

[zek]

Quote: Originally Posted by markgardner Dick One of the Japanese history books I'm currently reading makes reference to life for the Japanese imigrants in California at the start of the second world war. It states that in the area Japanese were effectively stripped of their land and homes and placed in virtual concentration camps. The evolution of Japan and the Japanese people, in the last 130 years or so is fascinating, a period which spans most of the evolution of Nishikigoi, both in Japan and in their spread worldwide. The story you offer of Japanese imigrants keeping Koi alive on the ship with their water rations is wonderful, and so typically Japanese, that ingrained determination to succeed. Cheers Mark p.s. we're all as old as dirt, some of us don't have to dig as deep as other though to find the start of our dirt! ;-)

I grew up near the Kent valley in Hobart. My mother has told me about her driving to the valley with her father to say goodby to the japanese farmers who were about to be deported to the camps. Used to go duck hunting at Smith Farm. I think everything is paved now.

[dick benbow]

My foundest memories are of Des moines way Nursery, now defunct because of the third run way for sea-tac Airport.. The Dad came over from Japan before the war and opened his business. His three boys worked the farm till the war broke out. Joe his oldest was killed with the 442nd. Miraculously they did get their nursery back and both Ben and Hal went to Washington State and garnered a degree in horticulture.

Back thirty years ago when I first met Hal, the father had started a black pine and was training it to be a semi cascade. I loved that pine and would visit it daily to see that it got watered and pruned properly. This went on for years and it was referred to as my pine around the nursery. One day a landscaper found it and asked the price. Hal caught me the next day and said if I wanted my pine i had better "buy it". It was $200.00 which was a fortune for me back then but Hal worked it so That I gave them $5.00 down and $ what i could when I could till I got it paid for. I even had to borrow Hal's ford truck to lug it home in. It sits now over my waterfall pond and people are quite smitten by it when they come to visit. It has a very special place in my heart because of their kindness. It is a chore to prune which I do with a happy heart......
The white river historical society has retained much of the history of the valley and has it on display in Auburn at the Museum.

[darion6]

It seems like the koi hobby has brought many people together who may not have otherwise had contact with one another. This is yet another benefit of the hobby that I never really thought about.....maybe we are evolving as a people(eternal optimist here)

[Dan Blatt]

If memory serves me right, I believe I read somewhere that Al Gore started the koi hobby.

[lypope]

Dick, if memory serves me, the 442d was made up of Hawaiians of Japanese ancestry. The Japanese in Hawaii were never interred; that just took place on the West Coast. My ex-husband's family were all in California. My ex-father-in-law and his brother were both already in the Army when WWII broke out. The brother went on to make it his career - retiring after 30 years; my FIL was a translator after VJ Day, and stayed in the military for only about 2 years after the war ended. He then became a landscaper and was in great demand in the wealthier areas of Southern California, as he was quite talented. My ex's mom's family were fairly well-to-do farmers in the Santa Barbara area. The land they owned is now part of UC Santa Barbara - and they never saw a dime. What always struck me was the high level of patriotism the people who were interred exhibited after the war ended, and the determination that their children (my friends and classmates) would go to college and succeed. Most of my friends in school were Japanese-Americans; I came by the love of Japanese culture through them.