Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Related collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Masa Uehara Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1966-1981
Collection number: D-366
Collector:
Uehara, Masa
Creator:
Snyder, Gary--1930-
Extent:
0.40 linear feet
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
100 North West Quad
Davis, California, 95616-5292
Abstract: Masa Uehara was married to the poet Gary Snyder from 1967-1989. The collection consists of 111 letters she received from
Gary Snyder over the course of their courtship and married life.
Physical location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Masa Uehara Collection, D-366, Department of Special Collections, University of California Library,
Davis, California.
Acquisition Information
Acquired in 2001.
Biography
Biographical Narrative
Masa Uehara, daughter of Tokusei and Mitsu, was raised in Japan. She and Gary Snyder were introduced in 1966 at a dinner party
hosted by Hisao Kanaseki, one of her university professors and a friend of Snyder's. At the time of their introduction Uehara
had recently graduated from Kobe University and was planning to pursue graduate studies at Ochanomizu Women's University.
Uehara and Snyder married on August 6, 1967 in a ceremony which took place on the rim of an active volcano on Suwa-no-se,
a small island north of Okinawa. In April 1968, their first son, Kai, was born in Kyoto. The family left Japan in December
1968 to make their home in California. A second son, Gen, was born in 1969. In 1970, Snyder and Uehara and their two young
sons took up residence on San Juan Ridge, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near Nevada City, California.
Uehara studied ballet, Japanese classical dance, and Bharat Natyam in Japan and the United States. She was a member of the
Balasaraswati dance troupe in Berkeley and performed in Japan, India, and many parts of the United States. She later undertook
graduate study in Graphic Design/Visual Communications at California State University, Chico and started her own free-lance
design business.
Uehara and Snyder divorced in 1989.
Source: Yamazato, Katsunori. "Seeking a fulcrum: Gary Snyder and Japan (1956-1975)" Ph.D. dissertation, University of California,
Davis, 1987.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Masa Uehara Collection consists of 111 letters she received from Gary Snyder over the course of their courtship and married
life from 1966-1981.
During the fifteen year period of the correspondence, Snyder traveled extensively, giving readings and lectures at colleges,
universities, and other forums all over the United States and abroad. This required him to leave his young family behind
for significant portions of every year. In his letters home Snyder kept his wife closely informed about his building network
of friends and colleagues, his developing environmental ethics and poetics, and his thoughts about the places he visited.
This collection is arranged in one series, Correspondence. The series is arranged chronologically.
Related collection
D-050, Gary Snyder Papers
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Uehara, Masa
Snyder, Gary--1930-
Poets, American--20th century
American poetry--20th century
Authors, American--20th century
American literature--20th century