Sewing together the stories of Colorado’s Japanese American history
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GOLDEN, Colo. — Patrons could hear a sewing needle drop in the calm, quiet galleries of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, yet the poignant Japanese-American histories stitched into the 72 quilt squares of the Colorado Japanese Women’s Quilt Project evoke much louder emotions.
One quilt patch reads “Good fortune is ours / Our foremothers gave to us / A part of themselves,” in pink and white polka-dotted lettering above two folded cranes trailing a butterfly.
Another features the word “Amache” stitched in bold, black letters between a black watchtower and sharp barbed wire. This quilt patch, a reference to the Japanese American incarceration camp near Granada, Colorado, is titled, “Betrayal and Tears, Faith, Hope and Reconciliation.”
The Colorado Japanese Women’s Quilt Project, which is currently exhibited at the museum in Golden, patches together the stories of 84 different Japanese-American families from Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming onto a collection of nine, 2 feet by 3 feet rectangular quilts.
The exhibit premiered for the public in 1995. Thirty years later, the Japanese American Resource Center of Colorado (JARCC) is reviving and revamping the project with modern multimedia components designed to spotlight the Japanese-American stories stitching together the state.
“Stories about their ancestors coming to Colorado, principles that they brought with them, tradition within the family… these are expressed in a lot of the quilts,” said Pat Fujisaki Sauter, the co-vice president of the JARCC.
Quilting is deeply woven in Japanese history. The patchwork-style “Yosegire,” practice, which translates to “to collect/gather” or “to sew together,” dates back to the 1500s, and evolved into highly intricate kimonos.
During the Edo period, starting in the early 1600s, as Japan entered an era of isolationism, strict laws regulating fabric consumption, production and adornment required lower-income families to reuse fabric when possible, leading to the sashiko stitching technique.
“Sashiko” roughly translates to “little stabs” and gradually transformed from a means of mending and insulating outerwear to a decorative art that followed intricate diamond, fish scale and check patterns, among others.
Modern Japanese quilt-making is more heavily inspired by American practices, though while many in the U.S. learn informally from friends and family. Japanese quilters frequently study in major needlework schools.
The Colorado Japanese Women’s Quilt Project began around 1994 after three women — Carolyn Takeshita, Tomoye Kumugai and June Mochizuki — visited a Smithsonian exhibit titled, “Strength and Diversity: Japanese American Women 1885-1990.”
Impressed by the Washington, D.C. collection, the three Colorado women returned home inspired to undertake their own cultural project through their preferred method: quilting.
Relying largely on word-of-mouth, the three women contacted family, friends and members of the Japanese community for quilt squares that could be added to their larger quilt project.
“It’s amazing they were able to get so many communities involved,” said Fujisaki Sauter.
Charlotte Namba learned about the project through her church.
“I’m not a quilter, and a lot of people weren’t, but we found ways to tell our stories,” said Namba.
Instead, Namba used the traditional sashiko Japanese stitching technique.
Namba’s square depicts her mother, whose face is concealed by a white bonnet, kneeling in their Rocky Ford, Colorado, farm fields “topping” (cutting) onions. The outline of two children watch her work.
“This square is in memory of my mother, Hamako Udo Miyoshi, who worked hard and sacrificed much for her family,” writes Namba in the accompanying quilt project book.
“I hope I have instilled the same values in my children as this would be the greatest way to honor my mother.”
Namba said that coming up with the ideas for her square were not as challenging as illustrating them. But she is proud of how the piece turned out and honors her mother’s memory.
“Everybody had a story, and we would stand in front of everyone and read about their experiences and things that they had learned, like those who [were] in internment camps,” said Namba.
“It was just amazing.”
Ruth Shinto contributed multiple squares to the quilt, including one for herself and one for her daughter, Pam.
Shinto was also not a very experienced quilter. But she knew the three original project coordinators, and when they asked her to contribute, she agreed.
“And I’ve been quilting ever since,” said Shinto, who is now in her early 90s.
Her square includes a bowl of noodles with bright red chopsticks, a collection of arranged flowers and a religious cross.
Both of Shinto’s parents were deeply religious Japanese immigrants. They spent several years as farmers before moving to Denver, where Shinto’s father opened a noodle factory.
Thanks in part to then-Colorado governor Ralph Carr, Colorado was one of the only Western states to welcome World War II U.S. internment camp refugees, many of which established businesses, like restaurants, in Denver and the surrounding area.
Shinto’s family noodle factory, the “Denver Noodle Factory,” served a number of these businesses sprouting around the 1940s and 1950s.
Shinto said that even the internment camps were ordering noodles from her father’s factory before they closed as well.
A Denver housing project forced the noodle factory to close, according to the Colorado Japanese American Women’s Quilt Project book, allowing more time for Shinto’s mother to learn ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. This is represented in the quilt square with [describe the flowers].
Pam, Shinto’s daughter who is now in her early 60s, was not a sewer, so she asked her mother to make a square for her. It features the Japanese term “gaman” (我慢) which describes patient perseverance.
While Pam does not remember the first exhibition 30 years ago, she did remember many of the original, now deceased quilters who added squares, which made the reopening particularly poignant.
“You kind of forget about the people that did a quilt square that have been gone so long until you see their square again,” said Pam.
“But then you say, ‘Oh, I remember her, I remember that story,’ so it’s kind of like reminiscing.”
In an opening ceremony event last April, JARCC welcomed over 100 guests to view the quilts and hear from some of the original quilters.
“It was really fun to see lots of the quilters coming back… it was like a big reunion,” said John.
“Some of them didn’t even remember that they did a square,” said Terry, “and it was really great to see the stories come out and for those families who didn’t even know about their ancestor’s histories, to be able to learn about them.”
JARCC is the official caretaker of the quilt project and has privately stored the collection for the past three decades.
In recognition of the 30th anniversary and in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, Fujisaki Sauter and JARCC partnered with John and Terry Sauwatari Hall, who helped develop the new multimedia elements like an updated booklet, an audio tour and a short explainer video with interviews of the contributors, and coordinated the current exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden.
The updated book includes pictures of each quilt square matched with statements from the quilters. This information is included in an audio tour available for museum patrons walking between the full pieces.
The current exhibit will be available until July 19, though Fujisaki Sauter said that JARCC is working on taking the collection on the road to display at other locations across the state and country.
“This project became more than anything we would have expected, and we want as many people to see it as possible,” said Fujisaki Sauter.
“It is a history and a storytelling project that I hope will travel on so other people can enjoy these stories.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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