Reading about Reiki &
Mrs Takata I always wondered how she and her parents - being ethnic Japanese - came to live on Hawaii and why and how Japanese immigration in Hawaii happened.
It all starts with the famous captain Cook.
The Hawaï islands are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and have been very isolated. The inhabitants were decendants of seafaring people from the australonesian islands. The first habitation is probably from around 600 AD.
At the end of the 18th century Captain Cook was probably (one of) the first Europeans to set foot on Hawaiian ground. This event changed everything for the Hawaiians: Not only did Cook meddle with the local political situation, but he also put the Islands on the map for the western world. More ships landed soon......
European and American entrepreneurs came and saw new opportunities in farming, processing and trading cane sugar.
Because of its isolation the indigenous people of Hawaii had never come in to contact with diseases that we simply call "childrens disease". They did have no resistance at all. The Europeans and Americans, did not only bring their entrepreneurship, they also brought disease. This prooved to be catastrophic: When captain Cook landed the indigenous Hawaiian people counted about 300 000, around 1850 there were only 60 000 left. A 1924 count shows a shocking figure of 24 000!!!!
The plantation owners imported contract labourers to work for them. The Hawaiian government (Hawaii was an independent kingdom at the time) decided that it was best to get people from Asia, since they would have the least impact on the indigenous Hawaiians. A first wave of labourers and crafts men came from China.
Mid 18th century a Dutch American negotiated in Japan about the possibilities to bring contract labourers from Japan to Hawaii. This year the Japanese community in Hawaii celebrates that its 150 years since the Gannenmono (元年者), “people of the first year" set foot on Hawaiian ground. This was a group of about 150 labourers. In 1885 about 900 follow, mostly men, but also women and children. Around 1900 Hawaii counts 61.000
Japanse Immigrants. Between 1900 - 1924 about 25000 Okinawans arrive in search of a better future. In
1920 Hawaï has 255 881 inhabitants. 43% is Japanese or of Japanese descent.
Reality is a bit harsher. Around 1900 - Hawaii had just been annexed as an American territory - a Japanse labourer would get $
25,-- monthly for a 12 hour day of work with a half hour break every now and again. Montlhy $ 2,50 was held back to save for a boat ticket in case the labourer wanted to return to Japan at the end of his 2 year contract. Many stayed. Some brought wife and kids from Japan, others married locally and some married a "Photo Bride".
This is the environment where december 24th 1900 Hawayo Hiromi Kawamura is born in Hanama’ulu on the island Kauai, daughter to Otoguro Kawamura
& Hatsu Tamashima. Otoguro &
Hatsu are about ca 26 and 25 y.o. at the time. From where in Japan they left I dont know. Some reiki books mention Hawayo has an older sister. I could not find information on that in the records available to me. I found two younger sisters though: Fumiko born 1906 & Fusae born 1909.
According to 1940 American census records both parents of Hawayo - now mrs Takata - are still living on Kauai at the time. They are not working anymore and they still have no citizenship.
So far a bit of back ground information on Mrs Takata's early years. On you-tube there is a very good documentary on Japanese/Hawaiian plantation song. It does not only tell about the music but also a lot about the people. I hope you find some time to watch:
Holehole Bushi
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