HAWAI'I WAYS, HAWAI'I DAYS
Enjoying a simple life on a Maui plantation
Submitted by Kay Kiyoko Kauhini
Growing up in a Maui plantation camp in the 1930s was carefree and fun. Without the modern conveniences we now have, we improvised our play activities in the safe environment we lived then.
We played mamangoto (house) in the cane fields, played cops and robbers with homemade guns and climbed trees to pick guavas. Dad would pick a bagful for Mom to make jars and jars of jelly. Guava jelly on crackers served as our dessert.
We also pulled sugar cane off the train cars. Chewing the succulent juice of the cane was a child's heavenly joy.
We swam in the river ponds after a heavy rain wearing just our "rice bag panties."
Automobiles were rarely seen on Mill Street, where we lived. Our legs carried us to stores on Market Street in Wailuku, where we purchased "goody-goody" (sherbet), cracked seed and incidentals.
You could buy a whole fish for 25 cents. I learned how to dissect it and cut it up for sashimi and for frying. It fed all eight of us.
Mom tended a vegetable garden and, when harvested, all the vegetables would be cooked for our meals. Papaya, avocado and bananas grew abundantly. We even had a cotton tree, which Mom used to fill futons (Japanese for comforters) and zabutons (cushions) that she sewed with proficiency.
Mom also raised chickens. A grapevine covered the roof of the chicken pen, providing luscious grapes. A chicken dinner awaited us every Sunday.
I remember the ritual my dad went through. He chopped off the chicken's head, drained the blood and cut up the chicken in pieces for the hekka dinner Mom prepared. Before the chicken met its fate, I remember seeing it running in the yard without its head.
Chores needed to be done daily. Laundry duty was my assignment on Saturdays. I scrubbed them, boiled the clothes with hard, nonfragrant soap and hung them to dry in the sun. I abhorred the task, but prided myself in seeing the clothes hung to dry in the warm sunshine.
Other recreation for us was seeing a samurai movie and a stage play, usually narrated by a person who spoke with a nasal intonation. Mom enjoyed re-enacting the stories, relishing and describing the details of the movie or the stage play. My younger sister would mimic the dramatic characterization of the actors, entertaining us with her humor.
Attending Japanese language school was a strict requirement of all Japanese children. Reading, writing and character-building were emphasized. I would also religiously memorize the catechism (I attended St. Anthony's in Wailuku), then read the Japanese textbook. It was a daily ritual I never neglected, even under a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
We retired for the night at 8 p.m. Mom would always say before retiring, "Hawai'i yori e toko wa nai" (there's no place like Hawai'i.) She was so grateful she lived in a warm climate. This was her nightly prayer.
Kay Kiyoko Kauhini lives in Liliha.
Hawai'i Ways, Hawai'i Days is a column of essays by readers on what makes Hawai'i unique. Send your article of 500-600 words with your address and daytime phone number, and address it to Hawai'i Ways, Hawai'i Days. You may e-mail islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com; fax 525-8055; or mail to The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Sending a headshot of yourself is optional. Articles and photos submitted to The Advertiser may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
