Famico's Legacy

“Beginning is easy - continuing hard”
~Japanese proverb

" Uematsu"

(I made this piece in 2005 for my mother it holds a family photo from 1912 of her grandmothers family, the ruler, buttons and snaps came from my grandmothers sewing box)

my sister brought over a box of photos last week for me.
Last night I sorted through these family photos that I have never seen before...
but what was stunning was the journey that these photos have made...

My Great Grandmother Famico ( we called her o-baa-chan) came to the united states from Tattori, Japan when she was just 15 to wed in 1912 these photos were never shared with us and only discovered after her death (she lived to be 98, so she was in my life well into my 30's and my children were blessed to have 5 generations around them)

In 1942 Famico and Aisso packed up there family (3 boys and 1 girl) only taking what they could carry and were were imprisoned during World War II at Manzanar
In 1945 they were released, but the price my grandmother paid was that she lost her husband
(he died in camp from the results of a appendicitis),
Her home all there money and the family business that she and her husband had created. once released her family in Japan begged her to return but she choose not to stay in California to raise her family... She Kept so much of her self hidden from all of us, looking back is never a choice in a Japanese household, we must only move forward: a good way to lives one's life for the most part but it would have been nice if she has shared a little more of her personal legacy with us.
(these photos were taken before Famico left japan in 1912)

so with these photos in hand I will try to piece together a story of her life and her journey and her legacy will not be forgotten.

When the time comes, even a rat becomes a tiger.
~Japanese proverb