Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi papers, ca. 1940-2003.
MANUSCRIPT HAIKU 255-304
Collection Overview

Title:

Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi papers, ca. 1940-2003
Tokutomi papers, ca. 1940-2003

Creator/Contributor:

Tokutomi, Kiyoko, 1928-

Creator/Contributor:

Tokutomi, Kiyoshi, 1923-1987

Creator/Contributor:

Machmiller, Patricia J.

Creator/Contributor:

Yukuharu Haiku Society, English Division.

Creator/Contributor:

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society

Creator/Contributor:

Kari Haiku Society, U.S.A

Abstract:

The Tokutomi papers fill 50 manuscript boxes with over 6000 items. In addition to documents and correspondence, there are ca. 1000 photographs and some ephemera. Much of the material is in Japanese. The papers are organized into two series: Personal papers and Haiku related material.
Personal papers include: Family material (Biographical, Kiyoko's employment, community involvement, funeral memorials, etc.); Kiyoshi (Notebooks, Hokubei Mainichi, Redress, Mathematics material); Kiyoko (Address books; Hokubei Mainichi, Teaching Japanese and Calligraphy); Travel; Awards; Correspondence.
Correspondents in English include: Tom Arima, Jerry Ball, Janice Beichman, Alex and Alice Benedict, Helen Dalton, Violet De Cristoforo, Patricia Donegan, Claire and Patrick Gallagher, Lee Gurga, Christoper Herald, Mary Hill, June Hymas, Kris Kondo, Patricia Machmiller, Jane Reichhold, Raymond Roseliep, and Ebba Storry.
Japanese correspondents include: Masake Abe, Matsuko Aoki, Fay Aoyagi, Toshiyo Asaka, 'Shinku' Fukuda, Hisako Furuta, Emi Goto, Kengo Notokebuchi, Reiko Ikeuchi, Kazuo Ito, Sosuke Kanda, Midori Kitagawa,Yacko Kiyoiei, Sachiko Eoga, S. Koyanagi, Toshiyuki Kume, Michiko Matsuo, Minoru Mitsiyi, Emiko Miyashita, Iaku Nagagawa, Noriko Nakamura, T. Naotsuka, Minako Noma, Toshiko Okuyama, Seiji Oshima, Kazuo Sato, Yoko Senda, Shibata Family (Matsue, Sumie, others), Shugyo Takaha, Yasuko Uchiyama, K. Watanabe, Kametaro Yagi, Teruo Yamagata, Ikuyo Yoshimura, and Yoshiko Yoshino.
Haiku Related Materials are organized as follows. The personal haiku of Kiyoko and Kiyoshi, including Kiyoko's publications; and records and other material from various haiku organizations including Yukuharu, Yuki Teikei and Kari. There is also substantial material on the saijiki project supported by members of Yuki Teikei.
Photographs in the collection document the Tokutomi family and their activities. There are two audiotapes featuring Sabine Sommerkamp, Makoto Ueda and Ellen Brooks. The oversize box includes a shikishi, photographs of the first Yuki Teikei haiku contest awards and proofs and printing masters for volume 6 of the "Haiku journal".

Date:

1940 (issued)

Contents:

255-257: Personal papers: family. -- 258-263: Personal papers: Kiyoshi: Notebooks. -- 264: Personal papers: Kiyoshi: Teaching, Hokubei mainichi. -- 265: Personal papers: Kiyoshi: Math contest. -- 266: Personal papers: Kiyoko: Address books, calligraphy. -- 267: Personal papers: Kiyoko: Calligraphy. -- 268: Personal papers: Kiyoko: Teaching Japanese. -- 269: Personal papers: Travel. -- 270-271: Personal papers: Awards. -- 272: Personal papers: Correspondence: English: A-D. -- 273: Personal papers: Correspondence: English: G-S. -- 274: Personal papers: Correspondence: Japanese: Gen. -- 275: Personal papers: Correspondence: Japanese: A-M. -- 276: Personal papers: Correspondence: Japanese: N-Y. -- 277: Personal papers: Correspondence: Outgoing.
278-280: Haiku: Kiyoko. -- 281: Haiku: Kiyoshi. -- 282: Haiku: Organizations: Yukuharu. -- 283-288: Haiku: Organizations: Yuki Teikei. -- 289-290: Haiku: Organizations: Saijiki Project. -- 291-294: Haiku: Organizations: Kari. -- 295: Haiku: Contests, Conferences. -- 296: Haiku: Misc. -- 297: Photographs: Family. -- 298: Photographs: Math contest, Fairchild, calligraphy. -- 299: Photographs: Community, friends. -- 300: Photographs: Yukuharu. -- 301: Photographs: Yuki Teikei; Kari. -- 302: Photographs: Travel (Japan). -- 303: Photographs: Other travel, misc., audio tapes. -- 304: Oversize.

Subject:

n-us-ca
Tokutomi, Kiyoko -- 1928-
Tokutomi, Kiyoshi -- 1923-1987
Yukuharu Haiku Society. -- English Division.
Yuki Teikei Haiku Society.
Kari Haiku Society, U.S.A.
Japanese Americans -- California
Haiku
Haiku, American
Renku

Note:

From the American Haiku Archives.
Kiyoko Shibata and Kiyoshi Tokutomi met in Japan in 1948. Kiyoko, born and raised near Nagasaki, had just graduated from college and was beginning a teaching career at the Nabeshima Junior High School. Kiyoshi was teaching English at the school while he awaited re-admittance to his native United States after being stranded in Japan during the war. When he was permitted to return in 1951, he asked her to join him in California which she did in 1954. They were married in 1957 and their daughter, Yukiko, was born later in that year.
During these years Kiyoshi was very ill with tuberculosis and various treatments were ineffective. He was not strong enough to work so Kiyoko's job with Fairchild Semiconductor provided the family support. In 1962 Kiyoshi took an experimental medication that left him permanently deaf. Hoping to ease the isolation for him, Kiyoko introduced Kiyoshi to the practice of writing haiku. He soon became enthusiastic and suggested teaching haiku to English-speaking writers.
To further this objective, in 1975 the Tokutomis founded the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, the first English-language division of the Yukuharu Haiku Society headquartered in Japan. Yuki Teikei became independent of Yukuharu in 1978. Membership grew steadily and soon the organization was publishing the "Haiku journal", its official magazine and, later, "Geppo", a work-study journal for members, which the Tokutomis edited. The Society's first haiku contest (now called the Kiyoshi Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest) was held in 1978. During this period, Kiyoko also was active in Kari Haiku, the Japanese haiku group of Shugyo Takaha. In 1979 she led a group of American haiku poets to the Fourth International Poetry Conference in Seoul, Korea, and spent two weeks touring Japan after the conference. Thereafter she traveled on several occasions to Japan (regularly after her retirement) and met with haiku and renku poets there. In 1997 she again led a group of American haiku poets on a tour of Japan ending at the Haiku International Conference in Tokyo where she was one of the featured speakers.
Kiyoshi developed other interests as well as haiku. In 1966 he began writing for the Japanese-language newspaper "Hokubei mainichi", contributing articles on haiku and other aspects of Japanese culture. His lifelong interest in mathematics led him to develop an annual mathematics competition which was sponsored by that newspaper and schools in Santa Clara County and became an international event with the participation of San Jose's sister city, Okayama. Kiyoko's activities outside of haiku included teaching Japanese and calligraphy. Both Tokutomis were active in the local Japanese-American community.
After Kiyoshi's death in 1987, Kiyoko continued their work with Yuki Teikei; the organization celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2000. She continued writing haiku in both English and Japanese, being named dojin in Kari (a designation given to the most accomplished members of the group). Kiyoko's Japanese-language haiku was regularly published in "Kari magazine" and her English-language haiku was published in various journals and anthologies. In 1993 she and Patricia Machmiller, a fellow poet and member of Yuki Teikei, published "Monterey Peninsula and Bay regional saijiki" and 2002 saw the publication of "Kiyoko's sky: the haiku of Kiyoko Tokutomi" translated from the Japanese by Machmiller and Fay Aoyagi.
Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi papers.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.

Type:

biography

Physical Description:

print
50 ms. boxes : ill., ports.

Language:

English
jap

Identifier:

MANUSCRIPT HAIKU 255-304

Origin:

California

Copyright Note:

Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.