My great-grandfather Kikumatsu Aoki emigrated to Hawaii as a Government contract laborer on May 29, 1891 on the Steamship “Yamashiro-Maru”. My great-grandmother Tome Hamada emigrated to Hawaii as a sugar cane contract worker on October 30, 1896.
Kikumatsu Aoki’s last known address was Oaza-Okikamurojima 54. Tome Hamada’s last known address was Sare, Oshima.
Kikumatsu and Tome Aoki met on Hawaii Island and had 3 children. They moved to Lahaina and Kikumatsu ran a small hotel, which burned down during the war and was too expense to rebuild.
A book called “Hontoo Jinmeiroku”, which recorded hundreds of Oshima resident’s whereabouts who left Japan, listed Kikumatsu Aoki’s occupation as “Yadoyagyoo” or hotel business.
Seven years after the birth of her fourth child, Tome Aoki died at the age of 48. Kikumatsu Aoki lived until the age of 84 years old.
In March 2006, my family traveled to Japan to find the gravesite of my ancestors.
I met with Rev. Shizuo Niiyama and found my great-great-grandfather Chuujiro Aoki’s gravestone at the Hakuseji Temple’s graveyard. I found my great-great-grandfather Sashichi Hamada’s family gravestones in the Town of Sare, which is located near the entrance of the Suo-Oshima and Okikamuro Bridge.
By Alan S. Aoki, 4th Generation Japanese from Oshima and Okikamuro Island.
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