“FREE LAND”Masking Concentration

Ozawa born and raised in Japan lived a life of hardship and overcoming, he left his life in Japan for the betterment of his life and the fact that he stood up for his rights, as he was against the way that Japan was controlled by the government at the time. He parted ways with his native land of Japan, living in the time of tension in Japan and tension in the United States towards the Japanese. Although Ozawa did not himself live through the internment camps that were built for the Japanese people during WWII he was around in that time, although he was at an elder age. Ozawa saw the freestyle of the haiku poems as a better means of getting messages across and a better way of expression than the traditional forms of poetry, which is why he found fascination and interests in this type of poetry. Ozawa would go on to live in the Central Valley, organizing and taking part in the Valley Ginsha Haiku Kai, a group of poets who found themselves in the art of haiku poetry. They would proceed to right poems about their experiences in the United States as part of the Japanese community.

The poem that caught my attention was one written my Ozawa that reads:

“Sensing permanent separation

as you left me in extreme heat

on gravel road”

This poem can be connected to the way that the Japanese community of the United States felt when they were taken from their homes and put in internment camps by United States officials as well as being made inferior, not being allowed to go/reside in certain locations due to them being Asian. Imagery is used in this poem to paint the picture of what the people taken away lived through. Although they were literally “left” in “extreme heat,” the fact that it is mentioned in its own line helps emphasize and has the reader better understand that there was horrible discomfort in these camps, and although the government tried to mask the camps and claim that this was only for the safety of the American people, the Japanese weren’t treated humanely in these camps, not only living in cramped horrible conditions, but also having to face the extreme weather of the rural location of the camps. The imagery of the “gravel road” allows the reader to imagine the path that the people had to take. When paving a path gravel is commonly used, this path had gravel, but this path paved with gravel lead them to hell. This path lead them to a place of discomfort and deprive them of their freedom on this supposed “land of the free.” I left the first line of this haiku for last as it hits the reader very hard, the “sensing” of “permanent separation” the feeling that you will never have what you had once had again, the separation from that life that the Japanese had worked to hard so build. This line captivated the true feelings of the Japanese people and the feeling that they will never be set free from this cage that they have been put in. Their life and liberty stripped away from them. This short poem, in such few lines manages to captivate the lives of an entire community, who was shunned by a “free country.”

Guadalupe Lemus

The flowers amid the weeds

In December of 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese, which was a horrific event in history and caused Americans to have so much distrust in the Japanese Americans, fearing that they may attack as well. So the Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and put into internment camps. They took to writing Haikus to explain the horrible experience they had after they were taken from their homes and forced into these camps. The one haiku that stuck out to me was the one that was written “Trefoil flowers bloom daily- I shall live positively” This one stands out to me because it shows that the person who wrote this is trying to look for the positive even though there is minimal good to look for. Trefoil flowers are the tiny white ones found in the grass that are very common and seen almost everywhere. They aren’t strikingly beautiful or have many colors, yet the speaker emphasizes them as a reason to look at life positively. The image of a small meagre flower that is very common gives the impression that though there isn’t much to be positive about, the author is looking for anything that they can to spark happiness. By also stating that these flowers bloom daily gives the impression of perseverance, and that the fact that they come up everyday so should the speaker. This haiku provides the impression of working towards finding any possible joy in such a terrible situation.

Emily Mayo

Bland Life

Given the video, it saddens me that many Japanese-Amerians  had to deal with the criticism and backlash from others. Rather than realizing from the outside perspective, Americans immediately assumed that ALL Japanese-Americans were dangerous and not trustworthy.

The poet, Yotenshi Agari, really caught my attention because in the passage, it informs that he gre mums in Central California. Mums —which withhold different symbolisms across cultures— represents rebirth and enduring life. The haiku poem is, “Moonlit summer sky/ same black houses/ standing in rows.” The imagery invoked in the haiku poem captures the horrendous, daily life that these internees experience. They had no other freedom to go elsewhere. Referring to the video, they attempted to bring life and excitement by bringing education, religion and agriculture.

Line 1, “Moonlight summer sky” clearly tells the audience that the poem takes place at night. Like many other internees, Agari would most likely stay up during the night, probably reminiscing his life before being held at the camps. The lines that really stood out to me were lines 2 and 3; “Same black houses/standing in rows (Line 2 and 3),” Agari gives off a solemn, monotonous tone, clearly telling us, the audience, that there was nothing else. That there is nothing else but the moonlit summer sky, that casts it’s rays onto the “same” houses. The “same” harsh conditions. Again, referring to the video, the internees attempted to “build a community.” So, I believe that Agari was trying to build a “sense of community.” Much like in most neighborhoods, there are rows of homes, all build with similar structures.

Evelyn Hernandez