A family’s experience with internment during World War II and how traditional Japanese poetry helped them through it will be presented later this month in Oak Park.
Writer and editor Nancy Matsumoto will share the story of her grandparents, Tomiko and Ryokuyo Matsumoto, before and after their World War II internment, when she presents, “Japanese Tanka Poetry and its Key Role in One Chicago Family,” at 1:15 p.m. on April 27 at the Nineteenth Century Charitable Association, 178 Forest Ave.
“My grandparents were incarcerated during World War II at a prison camp in Wyoming,” Matsumoto said. “They started writing tanka poetry.”
Matsumoto said tanka is the oldest form of traditional Japanese poetry. It was written by members of all social classes. It differs from haiku by being two lines longer. The format is five lines of five, seven, five, seven, seven syllables, for a total of 31 syllables.
After the war, her grandparents relocated to Chicago. A government directive cautioned them not to go back to the West Coast because it was too racist, Matsumoto said.
They chose to come to Chicago because there was a huge population of resettled Japanese after the war, Matsumoto said.
In 1955, one of Matsumoto’s grandmother’s poems was selected to be read at an annual poetry ceremony conducted by the emperor in Japan.
“It’s a very big deal,” Matsumoto noted. “This year, something like one million poems were submitted and only a handful were selected.”
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As a result of her grandmother’s growing reputation, she was invited to contribute an anthology of her poems to a series. Her grandfather also wrote some poetry for the volume, which was published in 1960 as “By the Shore of Lake Michigan.”
This came as a surprise to Matsumoto’s family who did not realize there was a history behind her grandparents’ book.
Matsumoto worked with collaborators to translate the book of tanka poems so everyone in her family could read them.
“This is a very historical part of Japanese-American history,” Matsumoto explained. “The whole incarceration was a very serious and notable breach of civil rights of American citizens. Two-thirds of the people in the camps were American-born.”
Prior to being incarcerated, Matsumoto’s grandparents owned a grocery store in downtown Los Angeles. They lost the store during their incarceration.
Matsumoto said when the Japanese people were released from the prison camps, they were labeled enemy aliens. “It’s very, very difficult to start over,” she said.
A few businesses in Chicago were open to hiring them. Matsumoto’s grandfather was hired by one of these companies to work in the shipping department. Her grandmother worked in a sewing factory. “She was the only Japanese person in the whole factory and she was quite scared about being the lone Japanese,” Matsumoto said.
During her presentation, Matsumoto will talk about her family history. One of her collaborators on the book project, translator Mariko Aratani, will discuss the tanka format, the history of it, and why it is a part of Japanese culture.
Another colleague, Eri F. Yasuhara, who wrote an introductory essay for the book, will talk about the evolution of this generation of immigrants.
A third colleague, translator Kyoko Miyabe, will do a reading of the poems.
Matsumoto said what happened to her grandparents “is very similar to what’s happening today, which is part of why I think there’s a lot of interest in this book. History is repeating itself and we need to talk about it.”
Nancy Matsumoto’s presentation is open to the public. There is no charge but donations are accepted. An optional 3-course lunch before the presentation at noon costs $25 for members, $30 for nonmembers. Information and reservations are at 708-386-2729 or ncca.memberclicks.net.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.