Toshihei Jikihara papers, 1906-1930
Japanese American Research Project (JARP) Collection
Finding aid prepared by Susanne Mari Sakai in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Megan
Hahn Fraser, December 2011; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé
UCLA Library Special Collections
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1575
(310) 825-4988
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu
Online finding aid last updated 12 December 2017.
Title: Toshihei Jikihara papers
Collection number: 2010
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
3.0 linear feet
(6 boxes)
Date: 1906-1930
Abstract: Toshihei Jikihara 直(1869-1929), a Japanese immigrant, was a longtime resident of Upland, California and best known
as a poet. He came to the United States in 1903 from Okayama Prefecture and thereafter held many occupations including labor
camp operator, farmer, and inventor. He was also an avid writer and worked as editor to a coterie poetry magazine titled
Remoncho. The collection consists of his biographical sketches, correspondence, diaries, writing manuscripts, notes, and clippings
of poems. Materials are mostly in Japanese, with some in English.
Physical location: Stored off-site at SRLF. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic
paging system using the request button located on this page.
Creator:
Jikihara, Toshihei
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance through our electronic paging system using the request button located on this page.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Toshihei Jikihara Papers, Japanese American Research Project Collection (Collection 2010). UCLA
Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Biography
Jikihara was born 1869 and a native of Okayama Prefecture, Japan. In 1903, at the age of 34, he immigrated to the United Stated
and settled in Upland, California. There, he worked as a labor camp operator, farmer, and inventor. He managed to receive
patents for some of the agricultural equipments he had invented. He also edited and published for
Remoncho, a magazine of Japanese poetry written by a group of agricultural laborers and housewives living in Southern California in
the early twentieth century. He himself was an avid writer and became later known as a hermit poet. He died in 1929.
Scope and Content
Collection consists of Jikihara’s personal correspondence, diaries, manuscripts of writings, draft notes, business and financial
records, and clippings of poems. Materials are mostly in Japanese, with some in English.
Organization and Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- Biographical sketches
- Personal correspondence
- Documents relating to Jikihara’s inventions
- Legal papers
- Financial records
- Scrapbook of poems
- Address book
- Diaries
- Manuscripts of essays, memoirs, poems, short stories, and haiku
- Notes and memos
- Poems by Flora E. Hill
Related Material
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Japanese American Research Project (University of California, Los Angeles).
Jikihara, Toshihei--Archives.
Diaries.
Inventors--California, Southern--Archives.
Japanese American farmers--California--Upland--Archives.
Poets, Japanese--California, Southern--Archives.
Biographical sketches
Physical Description: (3 items)
Scope and Content Note
- Handwritten biographical sketch of Jikihara written by his friend.
- Manuscripts, n.d.
- Newspaper article on Jikihara.
Box 86, Folder 1
Biographical sketches.
ca. 1930.
Scope and Content
Includes a handwritten biographical sketch of Jikihara drafted by a friend (undated) as well as a newspaper article written
about Jikihara by his friend Shigeki Oka in The America Shimbun to mark the first anniversary of his death (1930 December
20).
Box 86, Folder 2
Personal correspondence.
ca.1916-1929.
Box 86, Folder 3
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
1909 October 27 – 1910 October 12.
Box 86, Folder 4
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notepad.
1911 February 20 – July 22.
Box 86, Folder 5
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notepad.
1911 September 19 – 1912 June 15.
Box 86, Folder 6
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1913 August 14 – 1914 September 24.
Box 86, Folder 7
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
1915 January 28 – August 12.
Box 86, Folder 8
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
1916 February 5 – June 22.
Box 86, Folder 9
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
ca. 1916 April 21 – September 7.
Box 86, Folder 10
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notepad.
[1916?] June 23 – December 26.
Box 86, Folder 11
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[1917?] February 9 – October 26.
Box 86, Folder 12
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1918 July 31 – September 20 .
Box 86, Folder 13
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notepads (3 vols.).
1918 September 8 – November 16.
Box 86, Folder 14
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1920 January 1 – February 19.
Box 86, Folder 15
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
1920 February 6 – March 2.
Box 86, Folder 16
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
1920 February 20 – April 22.
Box 86, Folder 17
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
ca. 1920 April 14.
Box 87, Folder 1
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, 1 diary and 1 notepad.
1920 September 21 – December 31.
Box 87, Folder 2
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1925 December 1 – 1926 August 24.
Box 87, Folder 3
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1926 August 26 – 1927 August 10.
Box 87, Folder 4
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, diary.
1926 August 11 – 1929 March 12.
Box 87, Folder 5
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[year unknown] January 16 – March 14.
Box 87, Folder 6
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[year unknown] February 5 – June 28.
Box 87, Folder 7
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[year unknown] February 9 – July 10 .
Box 87, Folder 8
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[year unknown] ca. March 20 .
Box 87, Folder 9
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[year unknown] ca. March – May.
Box 87, Folder 10
Daily entries of personal poems and other writings, notebook.
[years unknown] December 1-25, November 28-December 8, May 31-July 7.
Manuscripts of essays, memoirs, poems, short stories, and haiku
Box 87, Folder 11
Collection of short essays, Vol.1, diary.
undated.
Box 87, Folder 12
Collection of short essays, Vol.2, diary.
undated.
Box 87, Folder 13
Collection of short essays, Vol.3, diary.
undated.
Box 87, Folder 14
Memoir: Daijijitsu 大事実 [Great truth], Vol.1, diary.
undated.
Box 87, Folder 15
Memoir: Daijijitsu 大事実 [Great truth], Vol.2, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 1
Memoir: Daijijitsu 大事実 [Great truth], Vol.3, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 2
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 1, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 3
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 2, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 4
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 3, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 5
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 4, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 6
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 5, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 7
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 6, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 8
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 7, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 9
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 8, diary.
undated.
Box 88, Folder 10
Memoir: Daijijitsu no kokuhaku 大事実の告白 [Confessions of great truth], Vol. 9/Diary:
Nagahara-san no danjiki 攸原さんの断食 [Mr.Nagahara’s fasting], diary.
undated and 1925 July 13 – August 17.
Box 89, Folder 1
Memoir: Danjiki 断食 [Fasting], Vol.1, diary.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 2
Memoir: Danjiki 断食 [Fasting], Vol.2, diary.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 3
Memoir: Danjiki 断食 [Fasting], Vol.3, diary.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 4
Memoir: Aisho 相性 [Compatibility].
undated.
Box 89, Folder 5
Memoir: Kosei 個性 [Personality], Vol. 1, diary.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 6
Memoir: Kosei 個性 [Personality], Vol. 2, diary.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 7
Kosei to aisho 個性と相性 [Personality and compatibility], notebook.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Contains drafts for his memoirs Kosei??[ Personality] and Aisho??[Compatibility].
Box 89, Folder 8
Te 手 [Hands], diaries (2 vols.).
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Contains drafts for his memoirs. Both volumes are labeled with the same volume number (2).
Box 89, Folder 9
Jibun 自分 [Self], notebook.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Contains drafts for his memoirs.
Box 89, Folder 10
Chijou ritsugen 地上立言 [Expressions from above ground], notebook.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Primarily includes his thoughts on humanity, the human condition, and fasting.
Box 89, Folder 12
Zesshoku no uta 絶食の歌 [Song of fasting]/Jinmei bo 人名瀿 [Name list], notepad.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Includes drafts of poems and list of names of historical figures.
Box 89, Folder 13
Kyuseicho 九星調 [Astrological tune], notepad.
undated.
Box 89, Folder 14
Insatsubutsuhaifuko 印刷物配布扣 [Distribution of printed materials], notebook.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Contains drafts of his essays.
Box 90, Folder 1
Toiawaseko 問合扣 [Contact], notebook.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Includes contacts for various locations and drafts of essays.
Box 90, Folder 2
Techosairoku 手帳採録 [Record of notebooks], diary.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Contains drafts of his writings.
Box 90, Folder 3
Untitled notebooks of essays (3 vols.).
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Includes drafts of various essays and other writings. One is missing its cover, which may have had a title on it.
Box 90, Folder 4
Untitled short story, diary.
undated.
Box 90, Folder 5
Untitled short story, diary.
undated.
Box 90, Folder 6
Small notebook containing poems.
undated.
Box 90, Folder 7
Haiku manuscripts.
undated.
Box 90, Folder 8
Jinmei 人名 [Name list], diary.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Lists names of various historical figures with notes.
Box 90, Folder 9
7 small notebooks and notepads containing draft notes and memos (1 of 2).
ca.1918-1929.
Scope and Content Note
Folder contains 3 of the 7 volumes.
Box 90, Folder 10
7 small notebooks and notepads containing draft notes and memos (2 of 2).
ca.1918-1929.
Scope and Content Note
Folder contains 4 of the 7 volumes.
Box 90, Folder 11
2 small notepads containing draft notes and memos.
undated.
Scope and Content Note
Folder contains 4 of the 7 volumes.
Documents relating to Jikihara’s inventions
Box 90, Folder 12
Documents regarding the patent of Jikihara’s inventions.
1912-1917.
Scope and Content
Inventions include Hydrants (filed for patent June 24, 1912), Ground-Breakers (patented 1913 January 18), and Wind-Power (patented
1917 Jan 2).
Box 90, Folder 13
Land leases, labor contracts, and bill of sales.
1908-1913.
Scope and Content Note
Materials are in English and Japanese.
Box 90, Folder 14
Court papers.
1907-1915.
Scope and Content Note
Relates to complaints and claims on the nonfulfillment of a contract, payment arrears and other financial matters, filed by
and against Jikihara.
Box 90, Folder 15
Loan agreements, cancelled checks, accounting records, and receipts.
1906-1917.
Box 91, Folder 1
Scrapbook containing clippings mostly from
Remoncho?????.
1915-1917.
Scope and Content Note
Remoncho was a litererary magazine of poems submitted by a group of agricultural laborers and housewives living in Southern
California in the early decades of the twentieth century. Jikihara was its editor.
Box 91, Folder 2
List of addresses in Japan.
undated.
Box 91, Folder 3
Poems by Flora E. Hill collected by Jikihara.
1925.
