Kiyo’s story (1913-1924)

My aunt Kiyo was 29 years old when her family was interned in Topaz, Utah during the war. In those days, 29 was an age at which most Nisei women were expected to be married. Kiyo, despite having had a number of admirers through the years, had steadfastly resisted, perhaps influenced by the tales of woe overheard in the kitchen at Pine (the Takahashis’ Pine Street home), where the occasional runaway picture bride took refuge and confided in Bachan, my grandmother.

Then, too, Kiyo was among the “older” generation of Nisei, having been born in 1913. I read somewhere that the average age of Nisei in 1930 was ten, meaning that Kiyo was seven years older than the average Nisei. In those days, she used to tell me, “we wouldn’t even THINK of marrying a younger man.”

Takahashi family, circa 1916: Bachan and Jichan (seated), with baby Shigeo (who died before his first birthday) and Kiyo. Yonezo (Jichan’s younger brother) is standing.


During Kiyo’s early childhood, Jichan (my grandfather) operated the Kisen Company on Geary Street across from Union Square with two Japanese partners. The Kisen Company was a showcase of Oriental art goods and was featured along with Gump’s in the 1910 book San Francisco: The Metropolis of the West.

Raised in relative comfort, Kiyo was an “o-jōsan,” a ladylike and somewhat spoiled daughter of a well-to-do family. She was also a city girl. When the Takahashis visited country friends in Winters in the 1920s, Kiyo refused to use pit toilets, ride in a horse-drawn wagon, and would not even take an ofuro.

Kiyo in kimono, Lafayette Park, San Francisco, circa 1919. My grandfather is on the far left, back row; my grandmother is second from the right in the back row.

This sense of propriety and dignity never deserted her throughout her life, even in periods of adversity. Recently, when my mom and Kiyo’s cousin’s daughter told my sister that she and her husband liked to go to Reno to gamble, she admitted that they had never told Kiyo or Tomi (my mom) because they would have disapproved. “Yup,” I replied, “we were raised by the nuns.”

Kiyo’s Story, part 3: Hardship

This post was originally published on June 17, 2018.
Kisen Company image: Public domain. First appeared in San Francisco: Metropolis of the West. Western Press Association, San Francisco. 1910. Other images: © R. A. Sasaki. All rights reserved.