[Imamoto Zemichi, 52 sai]

Hoshida, George [ bio ]

Description

2 drawings on paper, laminated (1 sheet) : ink ; left image 3.875 x 3.125 x in., right image 4 x 2.75 in., on sheet 6 x 9.5 in.

Ink portraits of two men, Zemichi Imamoto and Shoyo Kadota, at Lordsburg Justice Department Camp, New Mexico. Both drawings have pencil line borders.
Left portrait of Zemichi Imamoto, 52 year-old school teacher at Norwalk Gakuen in California, originally from Yamaguchi, Japan. Imamoto faces the viewer in a dark three-piece suit with a diamond patterned tie. He gazes a viewer through hexagonal rimmed glasses. He has a mustache. Visible from shoulders up.
Right portrait of Shoyo Kadota, 37 year-old Portland, Oregon resident, originally from Okayama, Japan. Kadota is turned to the left with head slightly inclined. He is dressed in a dark jacket over a button-down shirt. His full hair is parted on the proper left above his narrow face. Visible from shoulders up.

Caption
Hoshida was one of the seven to nine hundred Japanese Americans in Hawaii who were incarcerated in Justice Department internment camps. He was acutely aware of the importance of recording his experiences through the pen and ink drawings and watercolors he made during his incarceration in five different locations. While Hoshida did not attempt to make any overt commentary on the interment, his drawings and sketches provide a continuous and detailed account of daily activities and his long journey from Hilo, Hawaii, to the desert of Arizona.

Inscription
Written in black ink to left of left image (In Japanese and English): Yamaguchiken Isumogun Yaichimura Iwamasa Hideyakikata / Imamoto Zemichi (52 sai) / Nouaku Gakuen kyoshi / 765 N [unreadable] Rd, Norwalk, CAlif. / U.S.A. Written in black ink to left of right image (In Japanese and English): Okayamaken Kibigun Soshiamachi Oguroke Kadota Shoyo (37) / 715 S.E. [Anbeny] / Portland / Oregon. Written in pencil, top left corner: 159.

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management & Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).