I've been collecting information about Yanagiwara Kanekichi and have compiled it in my own words.
About Kanekichi Yanagihara
His name has appeared many times in the magazine "Kamuro," and he was doing business in Hilo, Hawaii.
The information from Alan Aoki is likely correct regarding the date and time of travel. Yanagiwara Kenkichi's roots before that can be traced back to the end of the Edo period through the "Kaisei Gen Koseki". Before that, all we have are the family registers(Kakocho) at Hakusei-ji Temple. Usually, temples only keep chronological records of the past, but Hakusei-ji Temple also keeps family registers. However, it only goes up to the mid-Edo period. There seems to have been a request to have documents from before that kept at the temple, but I have not heard anything about what happened afterwards.
The Yanagiwara family crest is a " SobaOshiki chijimi sanmonji crest" which signifies the separation of the Kono family, the guardian of Iyo. Originally it was a "oshiki kansuji sanmonji crest", but the branch family from the Edo period onwards often used the former.
Yanagiwara Kanekichi was doing good business in Hilo, Hawaii until the attack on Pearl Harbor, but as soon as war broke out between Japan and the US, he was arrested like many other Japanese Americans in January 1942 and interned at the Sand Island Internment Camp in Honolulu, Oahu. However, in March of the same year, he was deemed a leader among Japanese Americans and was sent to an internment camp on the US mainland as part of the second group of leaders in Hawaii. Most of the second group consisted of 166 Issei men. His wife, Tome-san, was left behind in the Hawaii internment camp. The US Army and the Department of Justice separated families and interned them.
From March to April 1942, Kanekichi was interned at Angel Island Internment Camp in California, then transferred to Fort Sill Internment Camp in Oklahoma from April to May 1942, Camp Livingston Internment Camp in Louisiana from June 1942 to June 1943, and again to Santa Fe Internment Camp in New Mexico from June 1943 to October 1945.
According to the "List of Inmates" published by the Santa Fe Japanese Community Association (Santa Fe Times) that I have on hand,It says:
"Yanagihara Kenkichi Residence: Barracks No. 58 Age: 60 Origin: Nishikata Village, Kamuro, Oshima County, Yamaguchi Prefecture US address: Hilo, Hawaii Occupation: Business Family address (internment camp): Hawaii"
He returned to Hawaii in November 1945 aboard the military troop transport USS Yarmouth, arriving in Honolulu with 450 other internees. It is said that Yanagihara Kanekichi's son, Raymond Hiroyuki Yanagihara, served in the U.S. military during World War II, so Kanekichi was not a "No! No! Boy," and it is believed that his son swore loyalty to the United States. Unlike Japanese people on the mainland, Japanese people in Hawaii did not have their property confiscated, so it was not difficult for them to return to normal life after the war.
For reference, I have attached a group photo of Yanagiwara Kanekichi at the Santa Fe Internment Camp.Yanagiwara Kanekichi is second from the left in the front row.
;)
Before the Muromachi period, Kono was pronounced "Kawano," but from the Edo period onwards it was pronounced "Kouno," so it is clear which is the older branch.
Genzo Yashiro
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