Seiki Kayamori
Encyclopedia
Seiki Kayamori was a Japan
ese photographer who lived in Yakutat, Alaska, before World War II
. His photographs captured the village's residents, mostly Tlingit Indians, at a time when the fish canning industry and other outside influences were beginning to change or eclipse traditional ways of life.
Kayamori lived in Yakutat for some 30 years and never returned to Japan. But even before Pearl Harbor
was bombed, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation suspected him and other Japanese immigrants on the West Coast of spying. Two days after the attack, awaiting his arrest, Kayamori committed suicide. No credible evidence has ever been produced to indicate that he was a spy. Today, about 700 of Kayamori's photographs are housed at the Alaska State Historical Library in Juneau.
in central Japan. He was the fifth of eight children; the second of four sons. The wealthy and prominent Kayamori family owned a paper mill
, farm lands and a small department store
.
Under Japan’s conscription
law, Kayamori likely served a three-year military term. The law also required an additional three-year term in the reserves. In 1903, Japan was on the brink of war with Russia
, and reservists like Kayamori waited to be called back to duty.
By 1910, Kayamori was living in a Seattle's Welcome Hotel and working as a “cleaner and passer” at a dye works, according to census records. Around 1912, he moved to Yakutat
, a small Tlingit village in southeast Alaska
, where he worked in the Libby, McNeil & Libby fish cannery. Racist attitudes and active unions at the time ensured that the jobs available to Japanese immigrants on the West Coast were largely limited to agricultural, railroad, laundry and cannery work. Today, Yakutat
is a large (9860 square mile), sparsly populated, consolidated city/borough.
After his father’s death, Kayamori’s mother went to live with her grandson’s family in Manchuria
, then a Japanese colony. According to family members, Kayamori sent letters, money, pictures, toys and once a whole salmon packed in salt.
In Yakutat, children just called Kayamori Picture Man. For thirty years, he photographed celebrations, ceremonies, remnants of traditional Tlingit culture, and the growing influences of white society. Kayamori had a box camera
with a hood, and a darkroom
in his small house near the cannery on Monti Bay.
Yakutat’s exposed Pacific coastline made it vulnerable and U.S. military forces began to fortify the area as World War II
escalated. Soldiers warned Yakutat residents to prepare for an attack.
In October 1940, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
sent a letter to the bureau’s Juneau
agent requesting the names of “persons who should be considered for custodial detention pending investigation in the event of a national emergency.” The reply included the name S. Kayamori and a description: “Is reported to be an enthusiastic photographer and to have panoramic views of the Alaskan coast line [sic] from Yakutat to Cape Spencer.”
A day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
, Hoover wrote to the War Department’s military intelligence
division requesting information on a number of individuals. Under Kayamori’s name the reply noted: “Reported on suspect list, Alaska.” After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, soldiers reportedly beat up the 64-year-old, 5-foot-3 (160 cm) photographer, according to a town resident. Locals say Kayamori knew he would soon be arrested and interned. On December 9, he committed suicide
in his home.
Under cause of death, his death certificate asks “Drug?” The doctor who responded to Kayamori’s death later wrote that he found evidence of an attempt to burn some documents. Locals say soldiers buried Kayamori across the bay, a site that was later paved for a naval ramp.
, in the attic of an abandoned church mission house scheduled for demolition. Yakutat residents eventually delivered the collection to the Alaska State Library
in Juneau.
In the late 70s, the city of Yakutat and the library shared expenses to develop two sets of prints from about seven hundred negatives, and to make copy negatives of about three hundred photographs. A group of Yakutat residents met with the state librarian to identify people and places in the pictures. One set of prints currently resides at the Yakutat City Hall, the other at the state library, which lists 694 photographs.
According to the library, ethnologists and historians from various universities have studied the photo collection, listed under the name Fhoki [sic] Kayamori. Kayamori family members have confirmed that the photographer’s first name
was actually Seiki, though Kayamori himself sometimes signed his name “Shoki.” The only x
known photograph of Kayamori] is part of the collection at the Alaska Historical Library. Kayamori, who raised and trained hunting dogs, is pictured with two dogs outside a large canvas tent in winter. (ASL-P55-140)
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese photographer who lived in Yakutat, Alaska, before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. His photographs captured the village's residents, mostly Tlingit Indians, at a time when the fish canning industry and other outside influences were beginning to change or eclipse traditional ways of life.
Kayamori lived in Yakutat for some 30 years and never returned to Japan. But even before Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
was bombed, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation suspected him and other Japanese immigrants on the West Coast of spying. Two days after the attack, awaiting his arrest, Kayamori committed suicide. No credible evidence has ever been produced to indicate that he was a spy. Today, about 700 of Kayamori's photographs are housed at the Alaska State Historical Library in Juneau.
Early life in Japan
Kayamori was born in 1877 in what was then the village of Dembo, today part of Fuji CityFuji, Shizuoka
is a city in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture. Fuji is the 3rd largest city in terms of population in Shizuoka Prefecture, trailing Hamamatsu and Shizuoka. As of February 2010, the city has an estimated population of 254,113 and a population density of 1040 persons per km²...
in central Japan. He was the fifth of eight children; the second of four sons. The wealthy and prominent Kayamori family owned a paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
, farm lands and a small department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
.
Under Japan’s conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
law, Kayamori likely served a three-year military term. The law also required an additional three-year term in the reserves. In 1903, Japan was on the brink of war with Russia
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, and reservists like Kayamori waited to be called back to duty.
Life and death in Alaska
In September of 1903, Kayamori turned 26 aboard the steamer Iyo Maru during the voyage from Yokohama to Seattle. He arrived with $87.10 and a steamer ticket for San Francisco, according to the ship’s manifest, which lists his last residence as Tokyo and his occupation as “laborer and farmer”. The ship's manifest lists his destination as the Japanese Methodist Mission on Pine Street.By 1910, Kayamori was living in a Seattle's Welcome Hotel and working as a “cleaner and passer” at a dye works, according to census records. Around 1912, he moved to Yakutat
Yakutat
Yakutat may refer to:Geography*Yakutat Airport, a state-owned public-use airport in Alaska in the United States*Yakutat Bay, a bay on the coast of Alaska*Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska, a unified city-borough in AlaskaGeology...
, a small Tlingit village in southeast Alaska
Alaska Panhandle
Southeast Alaska, sometimes referred to as the Alaska Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, which lies west of the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United...
, where he worked in the Libby, McNeil & Libby fish cannery. Racist attitudes and active unions at the time ensured that the jobs available to Japanese immigrants on the West Coast were largely limited to agricultural, railroad, laundry and cannery work. Today, Yakutat
Yakutat
Yakutat may refer to:Geography*Yakutat Airport, a state-owned public-use airport in Alaska in the United States*Yakutat Bay, a bay on the coast of Alaska*Yakutat City and Borough, Alaska, a unified city-borough in AlaskaGeology...
is a large (9860 square mile), sparsly populated, consolidated city/borough.
After his father’s death, Kayamori’s mother went to live with her grandson’s family in Manchuria
Manchukuo
Manchukuo or Manshū-koku was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia, governed under a form of constitutional monarchy. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Empire in China...
, then a Japanese colony. According to family members, Kayamori sent letters, money, pictures, toys and once a whole salmon packed in salt.
In Yakutat, children just called Kayamori Picture Man. For thirty years, he photographed celebrations, ceremonies, remnants of traditional Tlingit culture, and the growing influences of white society. Kayamori had a box camera
Box camera
The box camera is, with the exception of the pin hole camera, a camera in its simplest form. The form of the classic box camera is no more than a cardboard or plastic box with a lens in one end and film at the other. A simple box camera has only a single element meniscus fixed focus lens and...
with a hood, and a darkroom
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
in his small house near the cannery on Monti Bay.
Yakutat’s exposed Pacific coastline made it vulnerable and U.S. military forces began to fortify the area as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
escalated. Soldiers warned Yakutat residents to prepare for an attack.
In October 1940, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
sent a letter to the bureau’s Juneau
Juneau, Alaska
The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified municipality located on the Gastineau Channel in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It has been the capital of Alaska since 1906, when the government of the then-District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900...
agent requesting the names of “persons who should be considered for custodial detention pending investigation in the event of a national emergency.” The reply included the name S. Kayamori and a description: “Is reported to be an enthusiastic photographer and to have panoramic views of the Alaskan coast line [sic] from Yakutat to Cape Spencer.”
A day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Hoover wrote to the War Department’s military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
division requesting information on a number of individuals. Under Kayamori’s name the reply noted: “Reported on suspect list, Alaska.” After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, soldiers reportedly beat up the 64-year-old, 5-foot-3 (160 cm) photographer, according to a town resident. Locals say Kayamori knew he would soon be arrested and interned. On December 9, he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in his home.
Under cause of death, his death certificate asks “Drug?” The doctor who responded to Kayamori’s death later wrote that he found evidence of an attempt to burn some documents. Locals say soldiers buried Kayamori across the bay, a site that was later paved for a naval ramp.
Photograph collection
Twenty years later, a Yakutat couple found boxes of Kayamori’s negatives, mostly fragile 5×7 inch glass platesPhotographic plate
Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a means of photography. A light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was applied to a glass plate. This form of photographic material largely faded from the consumer market in the early years of the 20th century, as more convenient and less fragile...
, in the attic of an abandoned church mission house scheduled for demolition. Yakutat residents eventually delivered the collection to the Alaska State Library
Alaska State Library
The Alaska State Library and Historical Collections is located in Juneau, Alaska, with an office in Anchorage featuring the Talking Book Center.-External links:****...
in Juneau.
In the late 70s, the city of Yakutat and the library shared expenses to develop two sets of prints from about seven hundred negatives, and to make copy negatives of about three hundred photographs. A group of Yakutat residents met with the state librarian to identify people and places in the pictures. One set of prints currently resides at the Yakutat City Hall, the other at the state library, which lists 694 photographs.
According to the library, ethnologists and historians from various universities have studied the photo collection, listed under the name Fhoki [sic] Kayamori. Kayamori family members have confirmed that the photographer’s first name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
was actually Seiki, though Kayamori himself sometimes signed his name “Shoki.” The only x
known photograph of Kayamori] is part of the collection at the Alaska Historical Library. Kayamori, who raised and trained hunting dogs, is pictured with two dogs outside a large canvas tent in winter. (ASL-P55-140)
Sources and external links
- Guide to the Fhoki
[sic Kayamori Photograph Collection, [ASL-PCA-055] ca. 1912-1941], Finding aid prepared by Alaska State Library, 1976. - Spartz, India, and Ron Inouye, "Fhoki [sic] Kayamori: Amateur Photographer of Yakutat, 1912-41". Alaska History 6, no. 2, Fall 1991.
- Thomas, Margaret. “Was Kayamori a spy?” Alaska magazine, Nov. 1995, pp. 48+.
- http://vilda.alaska.edu/cgi-bin/queryresults.exe?fg=&CISOOP1=all&CISOBOX1=Kayamori&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOOP2=exact&CISOBOX2=&CISOFIELD2=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOOP3=any&CISOBOX3=&CISOFIELD3=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOOP4=none&CISOBOX4=&CISOFIELD4=CISOSEARCHALL&cisobox1=Kayamori&cisobox2=&cisobox3=&cisobox4=&CISOROOT1=%2Fcdmg21&CISOROOT2=%2Fcdmg30&CISOROOT3=%2Fcdmg31&CISOROOT4=%2Fcdmg2&CISOROOT5=%2Fcdmg10&CISOROOT6=%2Fcdmg13&CISOROOT7=%2Fcdmg11&CISOROOT8=%2Fcdmg3&CISOROOT9=%2Fcdmg12&CISOROOT10=%2Fcdmg25"Kayamori" at Alaska's Digital Archive] (photographs)
- Kayamori Photograph Collection at the University of Alaska Fairbanks