The history of the pre-World War II Yakima Valley Japanese community is as rich and complex as the soil itself. The first immigrants, the Issei, came in the 1890s, bringing with them shared traditions and cultural values of harmony, respect, and collective identity. Any differences in status or birthright in Japan, by necessity, were forgotten in America. Over the course of several decades, they built a cohesive community of farms, businesses, and organizations that would withstand hardship and bigotry, and eventually gain them widespread respect for their contributions to the well-being of the broader population, both rural and urban.
Burning Horse
The Issei came to America seeking a good life. Many were escaping economic hardship, or at least lack of opportunity, while others were chasing adventure. Modernization, which began with the Meiji Restoration in 1868, had changed all aspects of life in Japan. After 250 years of feudal isolationist rule, the young Emperor Mutsuhito (1867-1912) abolished the social class system and pushed the country rapidly toward becoming a powerful Western-style nation, open to international trade. This swift transformation was built on longstanding dedication to the Confucian ideal of public service, aided by accumulated capital, a rich cultural environment, and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. But the main source of revenue was generated through increased land taxes paid directly or to landlords. Out of a total population of 35 million in the late 1870s, 28 million farmers provided Japan’s food and the bulk of its taxes. The opening of Japan made it possible to leave that burden behind.
The Issei translated Yakima, which means "beautiful land" to the indigenous Yakama people, as "yaki," "uma," or Burning Horse in Japanese. It seemed a fitting analogy for the endless slopes of sun-scorched, sage-covered scabland. It must have been a disheartening sight for the first recorded Japanese immigrants, a married couple, who arrived in the Valley in 1891 or 1892. Reported to be farmers, they settled near present-day Wapato, just south of what is now Yakima.
The soil in the valley is rich in volcanic and alluvial nutrients deposited by ancient Lake Missoula floods and eruptions of Mount Adams to the west – ideal for crops. But, before any could be planted, miles of tangled sage had to be cleared. Sakitaro Takei (1884-1976), who settled in Wapato in 1908, described the process of knocking the brush down one-by-one with a mattock and then using a long iron rail pulled by eight horses to mow the slash before burning. Hard work in the searing heat, but well worth it.
Anti-Japanese sentiments had been building across the West Coast as cross-country railroads were completed and resource extraction industries no longer needed the thousands of Chinese laborers who built them. As the Chinese were driven out, via passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Japanese laborers, many of whom were recruited to take their place, were racially targeted and villainized for their tie to a rising world power. A series of anti-Asian state and federal laws were enacted, preventing them from becoming citizens, owning or leasing land, and by 1924, specifically barring new immigration from Japan.
A Loophole for Land Acquisition
In this context, the Yakima Valley provided a unique opportunity for the Issei. Wapato was located on 12 million acres of land ceded by the Yakama Nation to the federal government by treaty in 1855. The sovereign Yakama Nation was not subject to Washington’s alien land laws. The Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887 allotted 160 acres to each tribal member in an effort to hasten their assimilation into white culture. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs held the allotments in trust for 25 years, after which they could be sold. All unallotted reservation land could be sold or leased by the federal government to anyone. And they wasted no time in doing so.
This made it possible for the Issei to lease 80 to 400 acres or more of undeveloped land at minimal fees – fifty cents to one dollar an acre for the first decade of the twentieth century. The Yakama welcomed the Issei famers as a reliable source of income. Opportunities also abounded for many single young men seeking their fortune. The stories were different, but the goal was the same: to settle and thrive in America.
Yasutaro Matsushita (1879-1950) and his younger brother Sho arrived in Seattle in 1904. With no opportunities as younger sons in Japan, they migrated toward the fertile valley east of the Cascades. Yasutaro quickly got a job with the Northwest Land Development Company and joined other single young men recruited to help put in the first apple orchard on the Reservation. Sho enrolled in Wapato High School.
The Motokichi Hirahara family also arrived in the Valley 1910, establishing a farm near Wapato. Their son George (1905-2000) and his wife, picture bride Koto, eventually managed the Pacific Hotel in Yakima. George and Koto worked hard and in two years bought the hotel in 1926.
Shukichi Inaba (1887-1962) emigrated in 1907 from Kumamoto, quite possibly recruited by the president of the Yakima Japanese Association, Kyoshi Morikawa, who was from the same village. Both had been Samurai famers. Inaba had earned a degree from the Imperial Agricultural College, destined to work in the royal gardens. Instead, he came to the Yakima Valley to teach farming techniques to other Issei. Morikawa arrived about 1905, after serving in the Russo-Japanese War. He left his eldest daughter, Shigeko, in Japan to learn the ways of the Samurai and manage her grandfather’s farm, lumber mill, and silk farm.
The Hide family were drawn to Wapato in the early 1920s to farm and raised a family of five. A decade later, they moved a few miles south and leased property in Toppenish, clearing and turning 60 acres of rich silt loam into bountiful crops of onions, potatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelons, and tomatoes, as well as alfalfa for their hardworking horses.
Putting Down Roots
As more and more Issei settled in the valley, there were more indications of their intent to stay. In 1903, three Issei men purchased and managed a Japanese section of the Tahoma Cemetery in Yakima. A year later, eight burials had taken place there. In 1906, the North Yakima Co-operative Association formed and quickly became recognized as the voice of the Japanese community. They incorporated under Washington law and joined the chamber of commerce in greeting President William Howard Taft (1857-1930) on a visit to Yakima in 1909. It eventually became the Yakima Valley Japanese Association, serving as a liaison with the non-Japanese community as well as coordinating business, education, and social events for Japanese residents.
Japanese businesses grew and prospered along with the growing yields of produce. This also benefitted non-Japanese businesses, especially banks and supply houses. With very little capital and a lot of hard work, farmers could reap huge rewards through the sale of their top-quality crops. They bought new equipment, moved from wall-tents in the field to more suitable self-built housing, and, if very successful, started hiring field hands.
The more acreage the Issei put into production, however, the more anti-Japanese sentiment flared. They were accused of being uncivilized and of usurping property from white farmers, despite hundreds of acres of vacant land available to anyone willing to clear and develop it.
During World War I, with Japan as an American ally, threats or actions against the valley’s Japanese were temporarily set aside. Farmers in the valley ramped up efforts to grow food for the war effort. This shaky alliance ended with the war, and Japanese farmers were accused of taking away opportunities from returning veterans.
Trying to Keep a Foothold
Washington followed California and passed an Alien Land Law in 1921, along with four other states. This limited Asians, specifically Japanese, from owning land or leasing it for more than three years. It also prevented their American-born children, the Nisei, from doing the same, based on the premise that they were holding the land in trust for noncitizen aliens.
Because the Yakama Reservation was not bound by state laws, the Issei felt hopeful. This was not to last. Heavily pressured by the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, ruled that reservation lands would be subject to state anti-alien laws. The Issei never gave up trying to prove they were not a threat and were good Americans. They contributed funds to the Wapato school for the opportunities they gave the Nisei. They invited women who spoke Japanese to come into their homes to demonstrate American customs and manners. They urged patronage of non-Japanese businesses to demonstrate goodwill.
Perhaps the most successful effort was when the Wapato Japanese Commercial Club, which had previously joined the Wapato Chamber of Commerce, appealed to the chamber for support and the Yakima Japanese Association organized a meeting with the mayor and other influential guests. This sparked a broad appeal to the community and press to provide support letters on behalf of the Japanese businesses. The campaign was effective in generating a large volume of mail and telegrams from local residents, businesses, and churches on behalf of the Japanese. Nevertheless, Secretary Fall ignored their pleas and stood by his decision. Not only that, but Don Carr, the superintendent of the Yakama Indian Reservation who managed the leases on behalf of the tribe, was relieved of his duties in 1923 when he contested the order to stop leasing to the Japanese based on the detrimental effects to the tribe’s income.
Earlier that year, the Japanese, who were no strangers to hate crimes such as arson, had more than a scare when mobs appeared, burning crosses and sporting pointed hats. Even through press accounts vary widely and there was no substantiated evidence that the Ku Klux Klan was specifically targeting the Japanese on the reservation, the multiple hostile public gatherings were excellent recruiting grounds for the KKK and served to bring to a boil the simmering anti-Japanese hostility of the Yakima American Legion, which sponsored the rallies, and the Grange. The Seattle Star’s eight-column headline blared "Yakima Valley in Jap War."
At a public meeting of 1,000 gathered in the IOOF Hall in Wapato on March 28, 1923, King County Deputy Prosecutor Ewing Colvin was identified as the first person to secure a conviction under the anti-alien land law. He said, "I hope Wapato will be a Lexington of 1923, that something will be started tonight that will be heard in Washington. The two races, white and yellow, cannot mix. They cannot live together on the same land without friction. This problem will be settled. Shall we take it in time now by peaceful and lawful means or leave it for those who follow to settle by more harsh and more tragic means?" (Heuterman, 62-63). It may have been somewhat of a comfort to the Japanese that half of the white business owners were sympathetic to them. But this was not enough to stop the hate.
A Seattle Star article published October 13, 1923, predicted that the only Japanese workers left in Wapato would be day laborers once they could not lease land: "The people in the district feel that they are protected from Jap invasion now, and that after March 1, 1924, the number of Nipponese in that section will hardly be noticeable" ("Japs Leaving ..."). Some Issei did choose to leave the valley and move to states that had not yet implemented land laws. Others stayed on land subleased from neighbors and friends. Ties with the Yakama Nation grew stronger as the Issei and Yakama land owners worked out labor agreements that circumvented the anti-leasing laws and yielded the equivalent of a lease. Total farm acreage began to decrease significantly, but income was sustained by switching to small-scale, more labor-intensive crops such as tomatoes, melons, corn, and onions.
Parade Floats and Poetry
Five years after the expulsion push, Japanese communities had solidified their presence.
According to the 1928 North American Times Yearbook and Directory, a Japanese publication, Wapato was home to 500 Japanese residents, the largest Japanese population in Yakima County. Most of them, as well as 150 others nearby, including Toppenish, which was also on the reservation, were farmers producing 3,000 acres of melons, tomatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, and more. The 150 Issei in Yakima City to the north were operating 43 businesses catering to the valley's Japanese population – hotels, stores, restaurants, bath houses, laundries, and other services. These were concentrated in a one-block area next to the Chinatown district, near the railroad station. Wapato had its own small cluster of Japanese-run businesses, including a garage and gas station. The Times directory, which included Spokane as well at the Yakima Valley, published every known valley Japanese resident’s name, occupation, and address; the number of children in schools; a business and government services directory; as well as listing the specific crops grown by each farmer and advertisements for Japanese-run enterprises.
The Issei were becoming deeply rooted in the valley. Single men married (often by arrangement) and started families. They organized Japanese-language schools for their children and urged them to do well in public school. In 1929, they built the Yakima Buddhist Church in Wapato, another in Toppenish, and rented a meeting site in Yakima. Three-fourths of the Valley’s Japanese residents were Buddhist. Erecting a building cemented their commitment to each other and the valley. Christian congregations also formed, including the Wapato Japanese Methodist Church. They celebrated and taught their traditional music, arts, and ceremonies. In time these started to blend with those of their new home. They gathered for picnics, baseball, sumo, and judo matches. They celebrated matsuri (festivals) and American holidays, even building floats for the Fourth of July parade.
Poetry was so deeply embedded in Japanese culture that it was one of the first means the Issei used to record their personal experiences in the Yakima Valley. They wrote senryũ, an unrhymed Japanese verse. Senryũ are similar to haiku in consisting of three lines of five, seven and five syllables, but they focus more on human experience than on observing nature. A poet named Ichiyo wrote:
Day of spacious dreams!
I sailed for America,
Overblown with hope.
("Land of Joy...")
The Yakima Ameikai or Yakima Croaking Society was the first reading circle for senryũ poets in the United States. It was started in 1921 by eight field hands looking for cultural entertainment. The circle met regularly under the leadership of member Sinjiro Honda (d. 1942). Each poem was read aloud and then a vote taken to select the best. This winning poem written by Shigetaka Kurokawa (1887-1957) demonstrated that senryũ could be humorous and after a long day working in the hot fields, was understandably a hit with other members:
Next morning,
All sobered up. Damn.
Sake brewed brawls.
(sono ashita/sake ga hitoride/tsumi wo seoi)
("Land of Joy...")
The Yakima Croaking Society’s poems appeared regularly in The North American Times and other Japanese-language newspapers and were published in the first collection of senryũ poems in the United States in 1935. They also entered competitions of the leading societies in Japan. Yakima’s poets became recognized as equal or superior to those in Japan and instrumental to the development of Japanese poetry in the United States.
In 1926, Issei organized the Yakima Valley Japanese Youth Club with the goal of promoting socializing and education. The Nisei, however, turned it into the perfect opportunity to play their favorite sport – baseball. In 1928, the Wapato Nippons baseball team was formed. Nippon means sun in Japanese - synonymous with Japan – Land of the Rising Sun. By 1930, the Nippons were accepted in the Mount Adams League, one of only two non-white teams. The other was the Yakama Reservation Athletic Club. Most Nippon players worked on family farms and family businesses. Practice was once a week on Thursdays, after school or work. They got up extra early on Sundays to complete chores in time for the game at 2:30 p.m. Businesses closed and the whole community turned out to watch. They crammed into cars for away games. Their coach, Sensei Frank Fukuda (1889-1941), led them to several trophies, topped by the Mount Adams League Championship in 1934. Prior to that, the local Wapato Independent had covered only the white city team. "Wapato Wins a Pennant!" led the Speed Yearout edition on August 2, 1934. Their success in winning the trophy the following year brought an invitation to move up to the Yakima Valley League. They had just lost by a run in a game against the professional Tokyo Giants team. The Wapato Yamatos formed to take their place in the Mount Adams League.
The home that the Yakima Valley Japanese created was good. Despite discrimination, racial prejudice, and hate crimes, they had continued to thrive. They had made good friends and allies on the reservation and off. They were proud to be Americans, proud of the next generation who were excelling in school and making their own way. They had practiced gaman, enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.
A Community Dismantled
But then, on December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. All the Issei had achieved started crumbling before their eyes. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering the forced military removal of all persons of Japanese ancestry, citizens or otherwise, from the Exclusion Zone on the West Coast. Yakima Valley was not included. He completely ignored a report he commissioned earlier, in which Curtis B. Munson (1892-1971), the investigator, stated that "there is no Japanese problem" among the Issei or Nisei. In fact, he found them to show a "remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty" to the United States (Land of Joy, 18).
In a memo to the Washington State Attorney General, dated the same day, John Edgar Hoover, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, warned that 150 Yakima law-enforcement officers planned to raid and search all Japanese residences on the Yakama Reservation. Hoover advised him that the Bureau would not participate in the raids, as there had been no indication that any laws had been violated, nor that any of these families were in possession of prohibited articles.
In March 1942, Inspector General John DeWitt (1880-1962), under pressure from valley anti-Japanese agitators, issued Exclusion Order 98, extending the Military Exclusion Zone east to the Columbia River. All 1,017 persons of Japanese descent, the largest population in the state east of Seattle, were forcibly removed beginning June 4 and eventually sent to Heart Mountain Incarceration Camp in Wyoming. Dewitt had urged them to continue cultivating their land as a demonstration of loyalty, with full assurance that they would receive their share of the proceeds.
Of that vibrant community, only 10 percent returned after the war.
