Arts Culture & Entertainment
October 20, 2014
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 11
“Art Behind Barbed Wire” highlights
a hidden legacy of World War II
By Kate Hubbard
The Asian Reporter
he hyottoko mask has the patina of
age now, but its rich color and
expression are still vivid. Like
every item contained within “Art Behind
Barbed Wire: A Pacific Northwest
Exploration of Japanese American Arts
and Crafts Created in World War II
Incarceration Camps,” a travelling exhibit
currently on view at the Oregon Nikkei
Legacy Center, the mask has an incredible
history as well as a heartbreaking story
behind it. Many of the more than 120,000
persons of Japanese ancestry who were
forcibly removed from their homes,
allowed to bring with them only the
possessions they could carry, and
incarcerated in internment camps during
World War II share this history.
The precious items — now family heir-
looms — are on display through November
16. Two lenders of items were kind enough
to elaborate about the artwork and provide
some history.
Loen Dozono lent a jubako box to the
exhibit. Dozono’s grandfather used wood
found at the camp to create the simple and
beautiful box as a wedding gift for her
parents. Her father and grandfather were
both incarcerated during the war. Her
father was discharged from the military
because of his Japanese heritage and the
day he returned home was the same day
his father was arrested and taken away by
FBI agents. They went from citizens to
“enemy aliens” within two months of the
bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Life in the camps required immediate
adaptation. “While fences were being built
around them, they were running outside to
the wood piles at night to grab whatever
wood they could,” Dozono said.
Shells, rocks, and wood around camp
found new life as art because internees
utilized
whatever
materials
were
available. They had no freedom, but
suddenly had a lot of free time, so many
expressed themselves artistically.
Despite the challenging conditions,
Japanese traditional arts and culture were
kept alive. Photos of the camps reveal the
grim and barren landscape internees had
T
ART BEHIND BARBED WIRE. “Art Behind
Barbed Wire: A Pacific Northwest Exploration of Japa-
nese American Arts and Crafts Created in World War II
Incarceration Camps,” a travelling exhibit currently on
display at the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center, features
arts and crafts from the Pacific Northwest community
created by Japanese Americans in internment camps.
Pictured at left is Sahomi Tachibana, who was sent to
internment camps at Tule Lake in California and in To-
paz, Utah, holding a hyottoko mask made by Enjiro
Kodani while they were incarcerated. The display also
features drawings (right photo), dolls, jewelry, furni-
ture, and more. (AR Photos/Kate Hubbard)
to endure, but “Art Behind Barbed Wire” is
full of life and color. It features stunning
pieces of art: marquetry, wood carvings,
dolls, jewelry, furniture, paintings,
drawings, and more.
When asked how she feels about the
camps, Dozono said there “is a lot of
sadness that so many stories about that
time were lost — so much that could have
enriched new generations.” She is
justifiably proud of her parents and
grandparents and all they went through —
all they lived through. Pushing aside
anger, bitterness, and resentment, they
accepted the situation and adapted to it
with courage and strength. Creating art
gave some internees a meaningful pastime
and helped them gracefully bear the
burden of their ordeal.
Sahomi Tachibana was in her early
teens when she and her family were sent to
internment camps at Tule Lake in
California and in Topaz, Utah. Having
spent time studying traditional dance in
Japan, Tachibana was already recognized
as a talented performer. In the camps, she
taught dance classes and also performed.
One of Tachibana’s dances required
three masks: One mask showed a happy
but homely woman, one was of the devil,
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continued long after the war. Her dance
group, the Sahomi Tachibana Dancers,
will be featured at a special event to be
held next month.
The performance, which is scheduled to
take place at 2:00pm on Sunday,
November 30, precedes a screening of
Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional
Performing Arts in the WWII Internment
Camps, a documentary highlighting the
traditional music, dance, and drama kept
alive in Japanese-American internment
camps. Also participating at the event,
which is held at the Hollywood Theatre
located at 4122 N.E. Sandy Boulevard in
Portland, are koto players Shirley Kazuyo
Muramoto-Wong and Lita Kazuho
Buttolph. To purchase tickets, visit <www.
hollywoodtheatre.org>.
The “Art Behind Barbed Wire” is on view
through November 16. The Oregon Nikkei
Legacy Center is located at 121 N.W.
Second Avenue in Portland. To learn more
about the exhibit or the film, call (503)
224-1458 or visit <www.oregonnikkei.
org>.
and one was of an ugly man who was
supposed to be a blacksmith. Because she
had only two of the masks, an artist in the
camp — Enjiro Kodani — offered to make
the third one for her: the hyottoko mask
which is featured in the exhibit. He carved
the face of a blacksmith on a sugar beet,
layered it with papier-mâché, and painted
it.
Tachibana is charming and majestic at
90 years of age. Accompanied by Frank,
her husband of 67 years, she spoke about
her experiences in camp: “Camp itself
wasn’t that difficult. We were fed well, we
just didn’t have any freedom.”
Items could be ordered from the
Montgomery Ward catalog, Tachibana
said, and hardworking women suddenly
had leisure time, if nothing else. They
made the best of it, taking classes in flower
arranging, sewing, dance, and even
lapidary. It was up to the internees to keep
their culture and arts alive during the
incarceration, so they shared it with each
other. Tachibana taught traditional
Japanese dances, a career she has
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