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Kohide Nakamura's yosai bako
1920
Mission, BC

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In that immediate post-war period, the years of training required to learn Yosai made it impractical, and its popularity waned. Instead, even young teenagers learned to use McCall, Butterick and Simplicity patterns to sew their own clothes. Issei mothers who had sewing skills were most helpful in making sure that the clothes fit! As these girls became wives and mothers, driven by economic necessity and creative impulses, they continued to sew shirts, trousers, dresses, and even coats and jackets for their family members. I recall buying years of material at the $1.00 per yard fabric sales at O'Gilvy's in Ottawa and sewing identical dresses for myself and my three daughters, and even matching shirts and shorts for all my children. (Some of my children have since then dared to tell me that those identical outfits were not really appreciated!) I am sure that many Sansei and Yonsei also sew using commercial patterns, but I wonder how many can draft their own?

Midge Ayukawa

Michiko (Midge) Ayukawa is a Nisei who experienced the Internment. After a career as a chemist, she returned to university and completed her doctorate in history at the University of Victoria. She has written several articles about Japanese Canadian history, particularly on women.

This article appeared in Nikkei Images, newsletter of the Japanese Canadian National Museum & Archives Society, July 1996, vol. 1 no. 3.