MY FAMILY: Part 2--Roots Search for Kenjiro

 I yesterday began this series with a posting on my family.  For completeness, I'll be going back in time through some of my roots searches in Japan.  The featured individual is Kenjiro Takahashi, my father's father.  For those new to this blog site, start with Part 1, with a key posting being on 31March2009, providing the background.

So anyway, as I said, Kenjiro is from Utashinai, Hokkaido, a place I have now visited twice.

• So coal was found in Utashinai when the town had 500 people.
• Kenjiro was sent to the U.S., but there is no info on where or when.
• He first came to Kauai in 1900 and had an important role in the building of that first hydro plant at Wainiha on Kauai.
• In the 1920s, Utashinai's population had grown to 30,000.

• 
  Coal became depleted, and population today around 5000.  Famous to now be the smallest city in Japan.
• The town has become a boutique village with a winery and ski resorts.

To quote:

The most exciting part about the potential search is that it is remotely possible that one of Kenjiro's grandmothers was a female samurai.  This would have occurred in the Northern Honshu area, for Kenjiro's parents came from Akita.  He was born in Otaru on Hokkaido.  This grandmother might have looked like this photo in the mid-1800's.

I featured female samurais in this posting.  To quote:

For Japan, I start with women samurai.  There is a vague family rumor that one grandmother of my father's father, Kenjiro Takahashi, might have been a female samurai.  Here is a two-part search I made on Hokkaido in 2009:  Part 1 and Part 2.  That led to another roots journey the following year, for it turned out that that Kenjiro's parents had left Akita, and he was born in Otaru.  In Akita I found the gravestone of a kin.  Would like to return someday for a more serious search.

So anyway, here are the Top 10 Women Samurai and Ninjas.  Some are anime characters, so this can't be a serious list.

• Tsukikage Ran
• Miho
• Tomoe Gozen
• There are seven more

Then there is the last great female samurai, Nakano Takeko. who was described as especially beautiful and quite a warrior.  This is a recreation of her photo.

10 facts about Japan's female samurai warriors.

• 
  One of the first was Empress Jingu in the years around the year 200.  She led the invasion of Silla, the present-day Korea.
• Their main weapon was a naginata, a pole with a curved blade.
• Almost a millennium ago, Tomie Gozen was a noted warrior.  She might have been the first true general of Japan.

Anyway, about all this female samurai stuff, these fleeting rumors could well have been made-up, for in all my searches, I couldn't find any link at all.  I did find some references to one of Kenjiro's grandmother, but no one I talked to knew much about the subject at all.  But then, I never did personally meet with any relative of Kenjiro.  Here is a video on The Truth About Female Samurai.

More on Kenjiro's background:

• Father:  Gencho, grew up in Otaru, which is on Hokkaido.  This was a departure from other links, for all the previous information I gathered showed that Gencho did not leave Akita until he was married.  In any case, Gencho's father's first name only had an initial, F.  No mention of  grandmother's name.  
• Akita and Otaru are on this ship's itinerary.  In one of my roots searches, I traced the path of Kenjiro's parents, including boarding a cruise between these two cities.
• Here is where the misinformation could have been occurred, for Gencho's wife's name was Fuka, and her maiden name was Nakayama.  The family all in Akita.  Her father's name was Ichiro, but again no name for Ichiro's wife, that second grandmother.
• 
  In any case, both grandmothers must have been born between 1820 and 1830, and if either one was a female samurai, she would have been active between 1840 and 1860.  The Meiji Revolution occurred in1868 and dismantled the samurai class.
• I have a notation that to follow my SIMPLE SOLUTIONS Essays book, my next would be a biofiction on this search for a female samurai great-great grandmother of mine.

I'll close Part 2 with some communications I had in 2006, setting the stage for a future visit to the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

• During the 1990's I became close friends with the Counsel General of Japan in Honolulu, Mitsuro Donowaki.  He became one of the original board members of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, an organization I helped create.

• 
  I sent him an e-mail on 18May2006 about a meeting I had at the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu with Kazuo Mochizuki, who told me that the Japanese government had a part in sending Kenjiro for schooling in the U.S., and that I should check the Gaiko-shiryo-kan of Gaimusho in Tokyo.
• I asked him if he could help me enter that facility.
• He said he could.  Went to Tokyo, and he did.  Took some photos and videos, and they are somewhere in my files.

In Part 3 I will report on my various roots searches in Japan.

Know what Grenache is?  

• It is a type of grape from Aragon in north Spain, known there as Garnacha.   
• A touch of spiciness that some like.  
• Because it tends to lack acid, tannin and color, it is often blended with other wines.
• Once known as the Red of Aragon.  
• The standard Grenache makes a bold red wine.
• A green-skinned mutation produces crisp white wines.

• 
  A rare pink-skin version makes rose.
• Widely used in Chateauneuf-du-Pape and other Rhone wines.  Usually over 80%.  France now is the largest source of Grenache, ranking third in the country to Merlot and Carignan.
• One of first varieties introduced to Australia, and was the most popular red grape until surpassed by Shiraz.
• In California, the hot central San Joaquin Valley was the first source.
• Today is International Grenache Day, the third Friday in September.

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