[Navy blue striped Okinawan kimono, Okinawan, Japan, 1914]

Kaneshiro, Ushi [ bio ]

Description

1 kimono : silk, wool ; (center back) in., sleeves x in.

Navy blue silk kimono with off-white bojima (stripe) design. Lined with wool (mosu) fabric.

History
Ushiyo Kaneshiro was born in Aza Sunza, Okinawa on March 6, 1897. She came to Kekaha Sugar Plantation on Kauai as a picture bide of Kame Oshiro, and wore this silk, striped-black (bo-jima) kimono for her wedding on December 28, 1914. She was 17 years old, her husband was 10 years older. Since she began her research in 1979 this is the only kimono Barbara Kawakami has been able to collect from an Okinawan picture bride. According to the Okinawan people with whom she spoke, most natives lost all their belongings when Okinawa was devastated by the Battle of Okinawa in April 1945, so the Okinawa people in Hawaii sent whatever clothing they had to relatives back home.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Hirasaki National Resource Center at the Japanese American National Museum (hnrc@janm.org).