JUNKO YOSHIDA
Toshio Shiraishi, a descendant of Oto Matsugoro, prays at the grave of Sakichi Yanagisawa grave last October in Tokyo. Yanagisawa was a resident of the Wakamatsu Colony, a group of 19th-century Japanese immigrants believed to be the first to settle in North America.
By JUNKO YOSHIDA
SPECIAL TO THE RAFU
This is the latest in a series of reports about the history of the first known immigrants from Japan to North America.
The descendants of Sakichi Yanagisawa and his wife Nami, as well as Matsugoro Oto and his wife Miwa − the settlers of the Wakamatsu Colony, known as the first Japanese settlement in North America − visited Sakichi’s grave at Aoyama Cemetery in Tokyo on Oct. 30, 2024.
This was the first time that the descendants of the two families had met.
More than a century and a half had passed since their ancestors first landed in California, and the descendants renewed their appreciation for the pioneers who laid the foundation for Japanese immigration history.
The colony was led by Henry Schnell, a Prussian arms dealer who had sold arms and ammunition to the Ouetsu Reppan Domei, an anti-Restoration government military alliance formed by the clans of the Tohoku and Hokuetsu regions, including the Aizu clan, during the Boshin War of 1868. Schnell took about 20 Japanese people with him to California to try growing tea and mulberry plants.
However, pollution from a near-by gold mine and a lack of water caused the crops to wither, and combined with a lack of funds, the Wakamatsu Colony collapsed after about two years.
Life at the colony was harsh. After its collapse, the colonists went their separate ways, with some returning to Japan, others remaining in the U.S.
Sakichi and Matsugoro returned to Japan, but their connection was not limited to the Wakamatsu Colony. Afterwards, they worked at the Naito Shinjuku Experimental Station of the Kangyo of the Ministry of the Interior, which was responsible for the development of industry in the Meiji era; Sakichi was in charge of the trial production of canned peach sugar in 1875, while Matsugoro returned the following year, 1876, and was involved in a trial canning of tomatoes. These two returnees from the Wakamatsu Colony worked together at the same workplace for a time.
JUNKO YOSHIDA
Descendants of the Wakamatsu Colony returnees who participated in the visit to Sakichi Yanagisawa’s grave in Tokyo: from left,Ayako Matsufuji, Kanako Yamaguchi, and Toshio Shiraishi.
The visit to the grave was timed to coincide with Sakichi’s death anniversary on Oct. 26. Ayako Matsufuji (maiden name Yanagisawa), great-granddaughter of Sakichi and Nami; Kanako Yamaguchi, Ayako’s eldest daughter and great-granddaughter of Sakichi and Nami; Toshio Shiraishi, great-grandson of Matsugoro and Miwa Oto, and his wife Yuko participated.
Also in attendance was Herb Tanimoto, who was visiting Japan from California as a docent for the American River Conservancy (ARC), a nonprofit organization that currently manages and operates the former Wakamatsu Colony site.
Matsufuji commented, “Being able to visit the grave with Mr and Mrs Shiraishi and Herb Tanimoto, who knew Sakichi Yanagisawa, made me feel as if I had completed one of my roles.”
Yamaguchi said, “It was like a dream to have the opportunity to meet the descendants of Matsugoro Oto, 150 years after the fact. I think the most surprised person is Sakichi himself.”
She was thrilled that she and Mr. and Mrs Shiraishi, who share the same history about their ancestors, were able to have such an enjoyable conversation that it was hard to believe they were meeting for the first time.
Toshio Shiraishi said, “I believe that the members of the Wakamatsu Colony went through a series of hardships. However, I am sure that we, as well as Matsugoro Oto and Sakichi Yanagisawa, will be happy when their courageous and ambitious challenges are passed on to their descendants and their descendants are reunited with each other.”
156 years have passed since the settlement was established, and the descendants of those who returned from the Wakamatsu Colony look backed on the footsteps their ancestors had taken in both Japan and the U.S.
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