INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-1700 800/521-0600 Creating and Recreating Community: Hiroshima and Canada 1891-1941 by Michiko Midge Ayukawa B.Sc. (Honours), McMaster University, 1952 M.Sc., McMaster University, 1953 B.A. (Honours), University of Victoria, 1988 M.A., University of Victoria, 1990 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of History We accept this dissertation as conforming to the required standard __________ ______________________________________ Dr. E. P. Tsurumi, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. P. M. Senese, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Y. F. WoofC Outside Member (Pacific and Asian Studies) L.___________________ Dr. T. K. Shoyam3,-0déî3e Member (Public Administration) Dr. Isao Soranaka, External Examiner (Department of History, University of Western Ontario) ® Michiko Midge Ayukawa, 1996 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopying or other means, without the permission of the author. 11 Supervisor: Dr. E. Patricia Tsurumi ABSTRACT This dissertation covers the political, economic, and social circumstances in Japan that led to the emigration from Hiroshima prefecture, and the lives and communities of these emigrants in Canada. It traces the gradual conversion of a sojourner society to family-centred communities with social relationships modelled upon the Hiroshima village societies the immigrants came from. Ostracized by white workers, exploited by the British Columbia entrepreneurs in a "split labour market," and denigrated to second class citizenship by institutional racism, the pioneers nevertheless persevered and reared their Canadian-bom nisei children to be Japanese Canadians. That is, they "acculturated" their offspring with Japanese language and traditions so that the nisei would be able both to function within the Japanese communities in Canada and would be proud of their heritage. The degree of acculturation of the nisei varied and was dependent on many factors: family goals, environments, time periods, as well as individual inclinations. This study employed both English and Japanese language sources including oral interviews of over fifty Hiroshima settlers and their descendants residing in Japan and in Canada. Examiners; ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dr. E. P. Tsurumi, Supervisor (Department of History) Dr. P. M. Senese, Departmental Member (Department of History) Dr. Y. Ÿ7Wooi^OutsiBe Member (Pacific and Asian Studies) ShoyamarG%#kW Member (Public Administration) Dr. Isao Soranaka, External Examiner (Ï5èpartment of History, University of Western Ontario) m TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................ ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... üi LIST OF M APS ..................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..........................................................................................v Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................1 2. THE HIROSHIMA HOMELAND .................................................. 25 3. THE FIRST O N ES............................................................................. 47 4. SOJOURNING AND BEYOND.......................................................75 5. THE WOMEN COME .................................................................. 104 6. THE FARMERS ........................................................................... 142 7. THE URBAN COMMUNITY; LABOUR VERSUS CAPITAL 194 8. NISEI, THE SECOND GENERATION ..........................................236 9. CONCLUSION ................................................................................270 BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................279 IV LIST OF MAPS Map 1. JAPAN ...............................................................................................10 2. HIROSHIMA PREFECTURE ........................................................ 14 3. BRITISH COLUMBIA......................................................................46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The generous financial support from fellowships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of Victoria helped defray the costs of research trips and expensive documents. During the years spent in researching and writing this dissertation I received the assistance of many friends, colleagues, and relatives in Japan and Canada, some who provided scholarly aid, and others who patiently encouraged me and lent their ears. Many people across Canada and Japan welcomed me into their homes and shared their stories with me. At the University of British Columbia, Tsuneharu Gonnami of the Asian library, George Brandak of Special Collections were invaluable. At the University of Victoria, the office staff, fellow students eind the academic members of the Department of History must be thanked for their friendship and support. I am indebted to Tim de Lange Boom for the maps which he painstakingly drew and patiently altered many times. My ninety-six-year-old mother, Ishii Misayo, unfailingly encouraged my academic endeavours, while my five children and seven grandchildren patiently and happily stood by while I "neglected" them. All this could never have been brought to finition without the wholehearted efforts and enthusiasm of my supervisor. Dr. E. Patricia Tsurumi. As the Japanese say: "osewaninarimashita.” Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Canada is, with the exception of the First Nations people, a land populated with immigrants. It is a nation with a variety of ethnic, racial, religious, and political identities.^ Yet, as Jean Burnet and Howard Palmer wrote: Professional Canadian historians have in the past emphasized political and economic history, and since the country’s economic and political institutions have been controlled largely by people of British and French origin, the role of those of other origins in the development of Canada has been neglected. Also, Canadian historians in the past have been almost exclusively of British and French origin, and have lacked the interest and the linguistic skills necessary to explore the history of other ethnic groups.^ This neglect of the stories of peoples from other areas of Europe, from Asia, and from elsewhere, began to be remedied just prior to the celebration of Canada’s centennial when a few ethnic histories were published.^ Then the Citizenship Branch of the Department of the Secretary of State of the Canadian government commissioned the series, "History of Canada’s Peoples" with Burnet ‘Leo Driedger, The Ethnic Factor: Identity in Diversity (Toronto: McGraw- Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1989), p.3. F. Dreisziger, et al.. Struggle and Hope: The Hungarian-Canadian Experience (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1982), p. vii. ^An excellent one is Joseph M. Kirschbaum, Slovaks in Canada (Toronto: Ukrainian Echo Publishing Co., Ltd., 1967). and Palmer as editors—"an indication of growing interest in Canadian social history, which includes immigration and ethnic history."^ Many ethnic groups also sponsored the writing of their stories inspired by this development/ While various ethnic social historians and sociologists have been telling their stories, many historians who have concentrated on British Columbia have continued as before. Peter Ward and Patricia Roy have focussed on the hostility of the whites in the province towards Asian immigrants, the notions of white supremacy, Anglo-Saxon race hatred and xenophobia.*^ According to Roy, political leaders seized upon the anti-Asian atmosphere prevalent in British Columbia since the mid-1800s, the "real or anticipated economic conflicts [and] ^Dreisziger, Struggle, p. vii. ^A few of the more notable ethnic