Hawaii Books

In "The Japanese Conspiracy," Berkeley historian Masayo Duus has rescued the record of a pivotal event in Hawaii's labor history, one whose significance has been misinterpreted.
It usually is presented as a black and white drama -- or perhaps a brown and white one -- but Duus says, "Many writers on Hawaiian history have concluded that the Oahu strike of 1920 was a revolutionary labor struggle that transcended the bounds of race. But this interpretation is simply wishful thinking, based on a current perspective."
Nor is it true that the Big Five simply ordered, "Jump," and everyone else asked, "How high?"
"Many among the haole elite," Duus finds, " . . . still believed strongly in Christian charity and the aloha spirit. They did not want Hawaii to become like California . . . ."
In 1920, Japanese sugar workers on Oahu struck the plantations. This had happened before, without much success, so a new strategy was devised. Only Oahu workers would walk out; they would rely on money and support from Japanese workers on other islands, who would keep working.
During the strike, the house of Juzaburo Sakimaki, a translator and labor contractor at Olaa Plantation on the Big Island, was dynamited. At the time, newspapers did not treat the crime as either important or as directly linked to the strike.
Sometime later, 21 Japanese strike leaders were indicted for conspiracy in the bombing. Fifteen of them came to trial in the Territorial court.
Duus used the trial transcript, Japanese language newspapers and interviews with descendants of the strike leaders to reconstruct the story.
It is a complicate one, and in Duus's telling the well-know struggle between labor and capital in Hawaii becomes a richer and more ironic drama that we have been used to.
The bulk of the book concerns the planning and direction of the strike, and the movements of the 21 leaders, followed by detailed accounts of the testimony. It takes many pages just to introduce the alleged conspirators, and many more to follow them.
But the effort is worth it, as in the final chapter Duus assigns a cascade of results, good and bad, to the episode.
She interprets the indictments as one phase of a plan of the Hawaii Sugar Planters' Association to reopen Hawaii to Chinese labor. The plantations pursued a policy of preventing any non-white ethnic group from dominating the islands.
In order to gain support in Washington to overturn the Chinese Exclusion Act, the HSPA portrayed the strike as a conspiracy of Japan to gain control of the Hawaiian islands.
There seems to be no evidence that the Japanese government had any such intention, but the claim played into the hands of white racists on the West Coast who were trying to get a Japanese Exclusion Act passed.
The strike was lengthy and eventually unsuccessful. Koreans, resentful of the behavior of Japan's colonial occupiers, were happy to cross picket lines. The Japanese were badly split, with Christians tending to back meliorist solutions, as advocated by the prominent Americanizer, the Rev. Takie Okumura; while Buddhists supported the strikers, putting them up in temples when they were evicted from plantation houses.
Though the plantations succeeded in one of their permanent goals -- to avoid having to engage in collective bargaining -- they were defeated by the California racists, who got new laws in 1924 that made cheap labor harder, not easier, to import.
Among the many ironies of this tale is the fact that sugar prices were spiking in 1920. Hawaii cane workers had profit-sharing contracts.
Many, perhaps most, Japanese immigrants to the islands had dreams of acquiring a stake and returning to Japan as comfortable owners of farms. Few managed it, but with their enormous bonuses in 1920, something like 6,000 left the islands.
The Oahu workers, who missed out on this bonanza because of their hardy solidarity, quickly forgot their leaders, who ended up in prison for three years or so.
Duus leaves little doubt that the trial, superficially fair, was deficient in many ways. For one, the translation from Japanese to English was inaccurate.
She also concludes that attitudes, alliances and policies were influenced more by the strike than we have realized before. She links the strike to freedom of education, Japanese militarism, party politics, the ultimately successful labor movement of the late 1940s and the Depression.
"The Japanese Conspiracy" is an impressive example of how a multifaceted historian can find gold where everyone else saw only iron pyrites, and Duus's history will rank as a basic text in the social, economic and political history of modern Hawaii.

I have long used a 1965 reprinting (Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., London) of this little volume -- 110 pages, including a glossary of the romanized texts which accompany the translations of mostly early Japanese poems (about two to a page, for eighty-odd pages). They are overwhelmingly -- to accept the assigned dates -- from the Nara and Heian periods, before the Japan of the samurai and Shoguns, but with a few examples from as late as the seventeenth century. (I don't recall any which are clearly dated more recently, but I may have missed one or two.) I've enjoyed them for years, although mostly by reading them in small quantities.

Originally published in 1919, and reprinted without change at long intervals, "Japanese Poetry: The 'Uta'" is one of the earliest examples of Arthur Waley's translations from the literatures of China and Japan (and, on a much smaller scale, from other languages). His translation of selected *No* plays would appear in 1921, and his version of the staggering novel, "The Tale of Genji," in six volumes, would begin publication in the mid-1920s; sudden demonstrations to the English-reading world that Japan had an astonishing literature. He does not seem to have published later translations of Japanese poetry, although he prepared some for a BBC broadcast in the early 1950s, which were printed posthumously. (See the memorial volume edited by Ivan Morris, "Madly Singing in the Mountains.")

I mention how early the work is in Waley's career in part to make potential readers aware that the scholarship is essentially early twentieth century, and so to be treated with respect, but not complete confidence. (Even the text editions Waley worked from are mostly historical documents in themselves.) Also, however, to emphasize Waley's boldness. He had already annoyed established Sinologists by translating Chinese poems into daringly "modern" English forms, instead of Victorian rhyming stanzas. (As Waley pointed out, the Chinese poems did rhyme, but in tones, which could hardly be imitated anyway.)

Now, a complete amateur in this field as well as in Chinese studies, he was insisting on treating a genre of early Japanese poems (the five-line "uta" of the title) as little works of art, not linguistic and cultural data. Not the "done thing" -- even for some Japanese scholars, who preferred to scold their ancestors for poems showing excessive reverence for Chinese learning, and awarded extra points if they could read a text as "pure" Japanese.

(To judge from accounts by Robert Graves and others, many late- and post-Victorian English academics and other scholars seem to have been vulgar Kantians; saying they were studying something only out of Duty, and never admitting to enjoying it, especially not if it was something as trivial as Literature.)

Waley took the added step -- still not standard, I am sorry to say -- of providing each translation with a parallel romanized (transliterated) Japanese text, in order to call attention to the syllabic structure, and the word-plays and other sounds and devices of the poems. In his words: "The translations in this book are chiefly intended to facilitate the study of the Japanese text; for Japanese poetry can only be rightly enjoyed in the original."

(This practice is found in, for example, some sections of the recent Columbia anthology of "Early Modern Japanese Literature," edited by Haruo Shirane. Understandably, it is most often used with short forms, especially Haiku.)

This was undoubtedly an excellent idea. Although his translations are in many cases quite charming, they soon seem repetitious, for reasons beyond Waley's control. It helps to see how different poets actually expressed much the same thought in different ways -- and in similar ones, but with ingenious variations.

The body of poetry he had to work with came, overwhelmingly, from official anthologies (identified for each poem, with its number in the edition used). These collections were sponsored by Emperors (at least in name), and the contents represented approved examples of court poetry. (Waley does include some possible folk songs.) With the romanizations, the reader can have some inkling of sound patterns, and how they relate to the meaning -- an inkling, because (a) a transliteration is no substitute for the written, let alone the spoken language, and (b) the "classical" Japanese he offers is in any case the merest approximation of the tenth century court language (or the eighth or eleventh century, and so forth).

The poems had identifiable functions in an aristocratic milieu, and those found worthy of such preservation used a small variety of forms, and addressed a larger, but still limited, number of standard themes. They were offered at regularly occurring events (such as spring and autumn festivals), or in response to predictable passages of life. Readers of "Genji," in Waley's translation or the two more recent ones, will remember the poetry contests, often on set subjects; those who have read translations of the diaries of Heian ladies of the court have encountered the seeming obsession with whose poems met with approval, and from whom. For the whole court, this was an important way of demonstrating sophistication, and acquiring prestige; for women, one of the few ways. In some instances, poetry and art contests were ways of redistributing wealth, keeping the participants dependent on the court. (In a similar environment, Louis XIV encouraged conspicuous consumption by the nobility, and left contests of wit to unofficial gatherings. The Japanese approach seems better -- but, in the end, the warriors came down from the provinces to sweep the courtiers aside, just as the Paris mob descended on Versailles, making way for a successful general.)

Waley's choice was further restricted by elimination from consideration of a substantial body of verse composed by courtiers in Chinese. Under the influences of the Confucian classics, Chinese Buddhism, and the T'ang Dynasty, it had the combined functions of a classical language, a sacred tongue, and a power-prestige speech, like Latin and / or Greek and French in eighteenth-century Europe. Thomas Lamarre has recently (2000) argued that the two linguistic options existed in productive contrast (see "Uncovering Heian Japan: An Archaeology of Sensation and Inscription"), and that Japanese verse should no longer be regarded as emerging from cultural repression. Another shift in approach after another century of scholarship, and not something Waley set out to explore.

As Lamarre has also emphasized, modern Japanese editions, like Waley's English version, obscure, with their typographic conventions and clear paper (as well as reduction to a theoretical linguistic norm), the calligraphic and decorative details of the original manuscript versions; but that, too is another issue.

The book provides detailed and profound information on the development of the Joudo Shinshuu sect of Japanese buddhism, which is the biggest of Japan's buddhist sects today and also the one whose beliefs arguably bear the most resemblance to those of Christianity. The orthodox view of Joudo history held by the members of the sect itself is covered as well as the "historical" view through the eyes of the scholar. The important - that is to say unique - parts of the Joudo belief are covered in detail, especially the process of the establishment of Amida as a kind of saviour whose mercy paves those who rely upon him the way to rebirth in the Pure Land - in sharp contrast to other sects of buddhism, which focus upon satori (enlightenment) through one's own efforts - mainly meditation (jou), study (e) and the strict observance of the rules for buddhist monks (kai). The evolution of Joudo belief and organization from the time of its founders Hounen and Shinran through the middle ages is also looked at in detail.

Overall a convincing analysis of this interesting Japanese sect by a renowned scholar, aiming at an audience of scholars and people interested in facts and solid argumentation instead of mainstream esoteric ballyhoo.

Susan Yim captures the essence of an artist whose life spanned the 20th century and left his mark on the world with big, broad and bold strokes. Spontaneous and vivacious, Young was the life of the party for some 80 years. His art showed how simple it was to present a story in just a few strokes of his pen. Yim presents us with some of the sketches that Young created while traveling the world. This is a great book to peruse when it seems life is too complicated. See things as Young saw them and get a sense of the purity of form. It has a cleansing effect.

This book is an essential reference for folks interested in how native Hawaiians interacted with their primary protein source: fish. I've checked this book out at least once every year for the past 9 years. I really ought to buy my own copy!

The book primarily focuses on a overview of each species utilized in Hawaiian waters: the various names used (Hawaiians often had different names for different sizes/ages of fish), a description and usually a line drawing, fishing methods, and preparation methods. The first third of the book reviews the use of fish in all phases of Hawaiian life.

Here are some favorite snippets (from the hardback 1972 edition:

* A 1923 letter writer in a Hawaiian language newspaper said "This [matter of fish supply] is going to be an important question for several generations, to understand why there was so much fish in the days of our ancestors and so little in our time although meat and fish is now imported to help supply the people with food" (p. 12).

* "Many factors influenced the problem of getting an abundance of fish food for Hawaiians in 'haole' (literally foreigners -- post discovery) times, the let-down of the strict discipline of the tabu system, with which the replacing 'haole' forms of laws and government control did not coincide perfectly, the bringing in of other racial elements, as the Chinese and Japanese, who had strong commercial instincts, even to holding the price by limiting the supply in the markets, a scheme completely foreign to Hawaiian concepts, and the changed condition that took many Hawaiians away from shores and into a more urban way of living" (p. 17).

* "It is evident that the principle of conservation was a strong factor in the Hawaiian sea-food economy" (p. 17).

* "Many Hawaiians would think the fish lacked flavour [sic] if the viscera were removed. This fondness for all parts of a fish is general to all Polynesia. Anyone who picks at fish served, discarding the dark flesh near the bones, or the skin of any except a very tough-skinned fish, or one strongly malodorous, as the 'palani', was pitied as one who does not know how to eat fish -- an uncultivated person" (p. 19).

* "A cut crosswise of the fish was called 'poke'. ... The pieces were chunks, not thin steaks" (p. 20). [I always wondered about the etiology of 'poke'.]

* "At modern feasts, the menu is hardly complete without a dish of salmon 'lomi', salmon ('kamano') being imported from the Northwest Coast of America. This importation started in very early times. Soon after discovery (1778), Hawaiians began shipping on as crew aboard vessels in the fur trade of the Northwest Coast. They took a liking to salmon at once, and brought it back salted. This trade became a steady one. A keg of salt salmon was always on hand in well provided households, those who could afford it getting the choice bellies ('alo piko'). The tail part, not so easy to 'lomi', was saved for cooking with greens. The missionary families found in salt salmon a substitute for salt cod -- the New England standby. Salt salmon, lomied with raw onion and raw tomato, as a fish for a feast ('aha'aina'; modern term is 'lu'au') did not appear until late years..." (p. 22).

* "For fisherman in ancient days, the 'ulu' [parrotfish] was the most telltale of all fish, they revealed what sort of behaviour [sic] was going on at the fisherman's home. If the 'ulu' capered and frolicked in the water it was a sure sign of too much levity at home, instead of the sober conduct a fisherman's wife should display when her husband was at sea. If two 'ulu' seemed to be rubbing noses, it was a sure sign that there was flirting going on at home. The only course open to the fisherman was to quit fishing and go home and punish his wife..." (p. 148-9).

All in all, an interesting book.

A terrific book you can't put down! An unexpectedly heart - pounding exciting and heartwarming story of a beautiful young couple who valiantly fought for a better life by working hard in a frightening tropical existence and then moving to the US only to have even more frightening bridges to cross before they finally reached the success they deserved. Their story should become a movie, a great book!

As a Native Hawaiian, I always wondered why I did the things I did, acted the way I do and had dreams with subjects I do. This book is eloquently written and is a must read for those Hawaiians wondering...WHY? Dr. Rezentes examines the Hawaiian psyche through his patients, his knowledge of Hawaiian culture...being he is Native Hawaiian, and his Psychological background. Dr. Rezentes offers reasons why some Hawaiians may have issues with assimilation, even after more than 100 years since Hawaiians feel we've lost our cultural identity and that culture being branded, marketed, exploited and bastardized. Dr. Rezentes offers hope to those who may not "fit" into any one category but offers a peace of mind, heart and soul to those reaching out.

Marie McDonald has not only created a book of beauty, but it is useful as well. Her photographs of lei are outstanding, and she takes it to the next level with detailed instructions on how to make many of the lei. I enjoy looking at the beautiful lei and daydreaming of returning home someday to Hawai`i nei.

This book (written by a Univeristy of Hawaii theater professor) is absolutely brilliant. It's a great, basic primer on the history and world of Kabuki, with fun facts and clever writing to keep it's audience interested. If you're just looking for pictures of the theater, try and pick up the amazingly pricey (but worth it) Kabuki no Sekai (World of Kabuki, with photos of actor Tamasaburo Bando). If you have any interest in learning about Kabuki, pick this up!

An excellent book and a first class and lively description of an important period in Japan's history. A pleasure to read and a must for any visitor to Japan.