Since the first immigrants journeyed here from their island
nation in 1895, Japan’s cultural impact has been strongly felt
throughout this area – especially in the region’s agricultural
heritage.
Since the first immigrants journeyed here from their island nation in 1895, Japan’s cultural impact has been strongly felt throughout this area – especially in the region’s agricultural heritage.
“At the turn of the century, many Japanese came from Japan to work in the fields here,” said Brian Shiroyama, a third-generation Japanese-American actively involved as a historian with the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center.
“In Morgan Hill, they worked in the strawberry business such as the Driscoll (brothers) farm,” he said.
And Gilroy’s famous Garlic Festival might never have been if not for Japanese-American farmer Jimmy Hirasaki, the “Garlic King” who pioneered the odorous bulb in this area. Many of the South Valley’s flower and garden nurseries were also established by early Japanese-Americans, Shiroyama said.
“The gardening traditions of Japan – they were experienced at it and were good at it and exploited the gardening skills they had,” he said.
For the last half century, the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center has been helping to preserve the Japanese-American culture and history in the South Valley area.
And on April 3, it will hold its annual Haru Matsuri Festival (the 45th). This popular celebration of the approaching spring will include traditional Japanese cuisine, arts and crafts and entertainment such as Taiko drum performances. The festival was originally held as a fund raiser 45 years ago to help purchase a “Butsudan” alter for the local Buddhist population. It has since evolved into a well-attended event that draws people interested in sampling Japanese culture. This year, 12 drum groups performing on Taiko will entertain crowds throughout the day, said Judy Little, an event organizer.
“The drums are very, very large,” she said. “The music is so different compared with anything you might consider drum music.”
Performers often take years to learn to play Taiko. The more accomplished perform graceful acrobatics movements that delight the eyes as well as the ears.
Besides Taiko drums, the Haru Matsuri festival will provide vendor booths featuring Northern California Japanese arts and crafts as well as various samples of Japanese cuisine.
“There’ll be plenty of good food,” Little promised. “Our specialty is the teriyaki chicken. It’s a boxed lunch.”
Besides its popular spring festival, the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center also holds an annual Keiro Kai/New Year celebration in January.
And it also provides various classes and social groups to share Japanese culture with the South Valley. Classes include a Japanese language school and Tai-chi instruction.
“Tai chi is a form of martial arts,” said Murv Little, an active member of the Buddhist Community Center who has been taking the class for three years. “It’s an exercise for the body, mind and spirit…. It took over a year for me to learn the forms.”
The practice of martial arts has made his body more balanced, he said. Religious classes held inside the temple include a Dharma School providing instructions in the basics of Buddhist belief.
Members of the Buddhist Community Center have recently started an effort to tie Morgan Hill internationally to a Japanese community through a cultural “sister city” program.
Shiroyama has been working with Mayor Dennis Kennedy and other civic leaders to find a suitable Japanese city willing to culturally connect across the Pacific Ocean. Based on several recommendations, one possible sister city candidate is Nakano City in the Nagano Prefecture.
“It’s a slow process,” Shiroyama said. “We know that Japanese cities are having budget problems too, and forming a sister might not be to their best interest right now.”
Shiroyama has played an extensive role in preserving the Japanese-American history of South Valley.
“Part of the project I’m personally involved in is the veteran aspect of the Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans),” he said. “That’s an on-going project to honor local veterans.”
In the Annex Building of the Buddhist Community Center, Shiroyama has put together a large display highlighting the role the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team played in World War II. All the infantry members of this U.S. regiment were Japanese-American. They suffered a high casualty rate and became the most decorated soldiers of the U.S. Army. Many of these combat veterans made their homes in the South Valley region after the war.
The Buddhist Community Center is also working with the Morgan Hill Historical Society to develop exhibits and provide information about the history of Japanese-Americans in the South Valley. And it recently helped producers of a PBS television documentary called “Return to the Valley” find several families who returned to the South Valley after years of internment in an American concentration camp during World War II.
Honoring senior citizens and preserving their stories is a major part of Japanese culture. The Buddhist Community Center holds events every month to show respect to the elderly and to provide them with comradeship. The South County Japanese-American Senior Group meets the first Saturday of each month in the center’s Annex Building – and members don’t necessarily have to be Japanese-American to join.
For an annual membership of $10, they enjoy free bento (boxed) lunches, bingo, karaoke and other entertainment. Monthly birthdays are celebrated and occasional trips – such as overnight bus junkets to Reno – are scheduled for the seniors.
The center’s South County Service Group also keeps occupied with various events and fund-raising activities. This organization helps arrange funerals for the South Valley’s Japanese-American citizens. It also raises money for high school and college scholarships. Annual fund-raising events include fishing trips, golf tournaments, raffles and bento sales.
Alongside the temple at the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center is a traditional Japanese garden. It was built in part by funds from the center as well as the local Rotary Club, said Murv Little.
A stone pagoda and lantern decorating the garden were donated by Gilroy resident Paul Teruya who had imported them from Japan.
The garden is a small way to culturally connect the Morgan Hill Buddhist Community Center to the spirit of the Japanese homeland.
But over the last century or so, the Japanese who have made their homes in the South Valley have created their own unique culture with an American flavor.
“We try to put Japanese-Americans on the map here,” Shiroyama said of the center’s focus. “There’s such a rich history of our accomplishments, but not that much is known about it (by the general public). The more we know about it, the better.”
