Soon after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the US government began rounding up people of Japanese descent along the West Coast. The first ones incarcerated were the Issei, men who immigrated from Japan before 1907 and by law could not become American citizens. The dragnet expanded over the next year, and thousands of American-born citizens were sent to facilities such as racetracks to live until the inland internment camps were built and ready to receive them. Two-thirds of the population of the camps were American, and the immigrant Issei not only suffered from the disruption of their lives, but also found themselves surrounded by young second-generation Nissei who barely knew the Japanese language. But they got to work, first building all the things the internees needed but couldn't bring with them, then by producing art to restore the soul, decorate the camps, and pass the time. Some of these long-forgotten art objects were eventually sought out and enshrined in the book The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946 by Delphine Hirasuna, who tells us what she learned while researching the art of the camps.
What’s impressive when you look through The Art of Gaman is not just how beautiful these objects are, but also the ingenious use of found materials, putting todays’ upcyclers to shame. Because the camps were built so hastily, the Corps of Engineers and WRA contractors left piles of scrap wood lying within reach.
“I have pictures of the scrap piles,” Hirasuna says. “There was so much lumber around that people were grabbing it and using it to build chairs and other furniture. Because the Army was still building the camps when the Japanese Americans were moved in, the workmen would discover that their hammers and saws were disappearing. When I’d ask Nisei about it, I’d say, ‘Did your father steal a hammer or saw?’ One woman told me, ‘No. Nobody admits to stealing, but everybody admits to knowing somebody who did.'”
Butter knives from the kitchen, with the help of the furnaces, were turned into scissors, pliers, carving knives, and chisels. To me, a Gen Xer, it’s amazing to see all these things that were made from hand with very little resources. But I have to remind myself that in the time between the Civil War and World War II, Americans were still making many things by hand, building furniture and barns, sewing their own clothes, some even doing their own blacksmithing. Issei men who were born in Japan were likely trained in the art of joinery, which is helpful when you need to make furniture and can’t buy nails.
“Certainly, the first generation of Japanese men came to America as itinerant workers around the turn of the century,” says Hirasuna, who is a Baby Boomer. “They learned to make-do and be ingenious in solving problems. At camp, probably some of them said, ‘Hey, I helped build the railroads, so I know how they use those furnaces to throw coal and forge railroad ties.’ I don’t think our generation could do that. Those were the times when housewives were canning and men repaired their own farm equipment. Everybody knew how to sew their own clothes. If my generation were incarcerated today, I’d be completely lost. I’d have to order from Amazon.”
The story of the art created in the Japanese internment camps follows the story of the mass internment itself. Read the experiences of some of those artists at Collectors Weekly.