[Seki Shosaburo, 65 sai, 10-10-42]

Hoshida, George [ bio ]

Description

2 drawings on paper, laminated (1 sheet) : ink ; left image 3.875 x 3 in., right image 3.875 x 3 in., on sheet 6 x 9.5 in.

Ink portraits of two men, Shosaburo Seki and Keiichi Hinokawa, at Lordsburg Justice Department Camp, New Mexico on October 10, 1942. Both have pencil line borders.
Left portrait of Shosaburo Seki, 65 year-old merchant on Maui, Hawaii, originally from Niigata, Japan. Seki is turned slightly to the left and looks thorough glasses to left of viewer. He has a lined and jowled face. His hair is short and combed forward. His shoulders are bowed in a dark button-down shirt buttoned at top.
Right portrait of Keiichi Hinokawa, 53 year-old carpenter of Kohala, Hawaii, originally from Hiroshima, Japan. Hinokawa is turned slightly to the left and looks to left of viewer. He is clean shaven and has a lined forehead below short hair. He wears a dark button-down shirt with pockets and buttoned at top.

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 on left image, bottom left corner: 10-10-42. Written in black ink to left of left image (In Japanese): Niigataken Kitakambaragun Kajumura aza Mikkaichi / Maui to Honorua Sho Seki Shosaburo / 65 sai. Written in black ink on right image, bottom left corner: 10-10-42. Written in black ink to left of right image (In Japanese): Hiroshimaken Futamigun Yawatamura Hinoki / Hawai to Kohra Dechi (Daiku) 53 sai / Hinokawa Keiichi. Written in pencil, top left corner: 156.

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).