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Tawa Family Letters
SPC.2022.021
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box 1, box 2
Family and friend correspondence circa 1920-1960; undated
Physical Description: 2 boxes(0.83 linear feet)
Language of Material: Japanese, English.
Included are letters that Sukegoro and Chiyoko Tawa (田和助五郎・千代子) received from their family and friends between the 1920s and
1950s. The senders of the prewartime letters include: Katsumi "Kokki" and Seiko Miyake, who were Japanese watercolor artists;
Rosho Toyotake (豊竹呂昇), or Naka Nagata (永田仲), who was a female gidaiyu, that is, a Japanese puppet theatre narrator and musician;
Koshun Murakami (村上孝俊), a Buddhist priest in Okayama, Japan; Tomojiro Kunitomi (國富友次郎), who was an educator and the mayor
of Okayama, Japan; and Kametaro Matsuda; Tetta Koyama; Shinzo Yuasa; and Marukumo Fujinkai. The Wartime letters were written
by Bishop Dojun Ochi (越智堂順) of the Soto Zen Buddhism, who was interned in the Lordsburg Internment Camp and the Santa Fe Internment
Camp in New Mexico during the war and worked at Seabrook Farms in New Jersey after being released; Father Hugh Lavery, who
was a Japanese-speaking Maryknoll priest in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and supported the Japanese American community, traveling
between WRA incarceration camps during the war; the Tawas' relatives and friends who were also incarcerated, including Masakazu
and Komine Tawa, Tetsuo Tawa, Shoko Murase, Kazunosuke Arai, Iwa Watanabe, Seiichi Nako, Masao Kurisu, Jutaro Narumi, and
Tokujiro Ikeda. The senders of the postwar letters include: Sadako Yoshida, George Katsutaro Yabuki, Iwataro Oka, and Joichi
and Kinuko Okubo.
- 三宅克己 Miyake, Katsumi "Kokki" and 三宅せい子 Miyake, Seiko, 1929-1939
- Box 1 Folder 1-38
- 豊竹呂昇 Toyotake, Rosho, 1925-1929
- Box 1 Folder 39-49
- 村上孝俊 Murakami, Koshun, 1935-1938
- Box 1 Folder 50-54
- Family and friends during the prewar period
- Box 1 Folder 55-60
- Family and friends during the war
- Box 2 Folder 1-23
- Family and friends during the postwar period
- Box 2 Folder 24-29
box 2
Wartime documents 1942 October 15-1945 November 15
Physical Description: 8 folders
Materials are mainly documents that Chiyoko Tawa received during her incarceration at the Poston camp. Included are letters
issued by the Department of Justice Alien Enemy Control Unit regarding Sukegoro Tawa's internment, petition signed by incarcerees
at the Poston camp requesting the release of him, correspondence issued by Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles, California
Bank City Market Office, Treasury Department Office of Collection of Internal Revenue, and other items such as, a booklet
and a card mailed from Federal Security Agency Social Security Board, and one booklet titled as "Japanese: a guide to the
spoken language." There is also a file containing Xeroxed copies of Sukegoro Tawa case file and internee card that were provided
by the donor for research purposes only.
By donor request, the use of Sukegoro Tawa case file and internee card are restricted. Onsite research uses only.
box 2
Family and friend portraits 1921; 1933; circa 1940-1960; undated
Physical Description: 4 folders
Included are portraits and wedding photos given to the Tawas from their friends. There are a portrait of Sukegoro Tawa which
was presumably taken when he married Chiyoko in 1921, a portrait of Seiko Miyake who was a Japanese watercolor painter, and
a portrait of a woman holding an infant, who were most likely Chiyoko and her grandson, Katsumi, which was taken to celebrate
Katsumi's 100 days.
box 2
Haiku poems, clipping, receipts, and family tree 1932 August; circa 1930s; circa 1942-1950; undated
Physical Description: 5 folders
Included are a clipping featuring scholarship recipients at the Poston I High School commencement, which includes Junko Tawa;
receipts for purchase in the prewar Japan; haiku poems, which were presumably written by Sukegoro Tawa in the Poston camp
during the war and after the war. There is also a file containing the Tawa family tree, which was provided by the donor for
research purposes.
There is a file including the Tawa family tree which was provided by the donor. By donor request, the use of the family tree
is restricted. The file is viewable at the Reading Room for research purposes only.
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Immediate Source of Acquisition
- Availability of Digital Reproductions
- Tawa Family History
- Family Friends
- Preferred Citation
- Digital Reproductions
- Processing Information
- Related Materials
- CSU Japanese American Digitization Project
- Content Description
- Conditions Governing Use
- References