| From Samurai to Grape King -
A Japanese Pioneer in California |
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Paradise Ridge Winery is situated
on a small rise overlooking the hills of Santa Rose in Sonoma County,
about 50 miles north on Highway 101 after you cross the Golden Gate Bridge.
Different from nearby wineries popular with tourists, this winery has
no visiting tours or a fancy information desk. When you ask for a tour
at the tasting counter, an employee will unlock the door to the Kanaye
Nagasawa exhibit on the floor below.
Kanaye Nagasawa was born in 1852 as the fourth son of a samurai retainer
of the Satsuma Clan. At the young age of 13, while Japan was still closed
to the outside world, he left for Great Britain by secret order of his
clan to study the civilization of the great powers of the West. After
various experiences, Nagasawa went to America, where he succeeded through
samurai spirit and hard work in cultivating grapes and producing wine
in California. As the owner of the extensive Fountain Grove vineyards
and winery near Santa Rosa, Nagasawa was given the honorary title of "Grape
King" by the local residents. The photographs and personal items
of the Grape King are exhibited quietly in a corner of the present-day
Paradise Ridge Winery, which was later built where his winery once stood.
Of the original buildings, only the unique round barn is left as a reminder
of the splendid grounds of that time.
Last year, the Consulate held in October a special exhibit on the life
of Kanaye Nagasawa. In addition to items on loan from the permanent exhibit
at the Paradise Ridge Winery, it contained items from the City of Santa
Rosa and relatives of Nagasawa. We were also able to hear a commemorative
lecture by Mr.Akira Kadota, professor emeritus of Kagoshima Prefectural
College, who is a leading scholar in Nagasawa studies. In a year in which
we celebrated the 150th anniversary of Japan-U.S. relations, it provided
an opportunity to reflect upon the great achievements of this pioneer
and his significance today.
As the first Japanese national to reside permanently in the United States,
Nagasawa clearly found his own path as a pioneer in California. As the
first successful Japanese wine maker, he was able to build his Fountain
Grove Winery into one of the ten largest wineries in California. The
first wine exported from California to England came from his winery.
In the period when Nagasawa settled in California, between the Gold Rush
of 1849 and the completion of the Transcontinental Railway in 1869, California
was an energetic and vigorous place. It was also a period when racial
discrimination was becoming active and soon given form through such measures
as the Chinese Exclusion Act. Extending over 60 years, Nagasawa's life
in California foreshadowed in many ways both the adversity and the success
of the Japanese immigrants who followed. Today, 300,000 Japanese Americans
in California contribute and give life to the diversity so prized by
the state, and we can trace the beginnings of that to Kanaye Nagasawa.
While those whom Nagasawa accompanied in leaving Kagoshima for England
and America (including such figures as Arinori Mori and Naonobu Samejima,
who were active in the new Meiji Government) returned one by one to Japan,
Nagasawa stayed in Santa Rosa, where he endured the anti-Japanese movement
at the beginning of the 20th century and eventually died at the age of
83. After his death, his extensive holdings passed into the hands of
strangers because he could not bequeath his land under the existing anti-Japanese
land laws. Why was Nagasawa so strongly attached to this place on foreign
soil? Perhaps he was motivated by a sense of responsibility towards those
who shared his joys and sorrows in this land and by a sense of mission
to make his business a success. If so, one can see in this attitude the
same strong determination that characterized many of the first immigrants,
or Issei, from Japan.
In the Japanese Cemetery in Colma, just outside San Francisco, lie many
first-generation pioneers from Japan. Starting with nothing, they worked
really hard, and some earned such names as "rice king" and "potato
king." Through the efforts of these pioneers and those in both Japan
and the United States who continued the work they began, the Japanese
presence in California is large. Japan is the leading foreign investor
in California, with 25% of total foreign investment, and Japanese firms
in the state employ more than 140,000 Californians. Japan is the largest
market after Mexico for California exports, receiving 13% of the state's
total exports. Last November, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chose Japan
as the destination of his first economic mission abroad, reflecting the
Japanese presence in this vibrant state.
As a pioneer of Japanese immigration, Nagasawa contributed to the growth
of exchange between the people of Japan and the United States by opening
the door for Japanese immigrants. From approximately 1,000 in 1890, the
number of Japanese in California increased to 40,000 twenty years later,
and they became respected in the communities they joined for their honesty
and integrity. The seed planted by Nagasawa has born fruit not only in
the success of Japanese Americans in general, but also in the close relationship
that now exists between the citizens of Kagoshima and Santa Rosa. There
are 435 sister-city relationships between Japan and the United States,
but California leads all other states with 95, and it has a very vigorous
exchange with Japan at the grass-roots level. In this, too, we can see
the rich history of Japanese Americans in California and the state's
relationship with Japan, which all began with Kanaye Nagasawa.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Japan Society
of Northern California, and a commemorative event is planned. 100 years
ago, when Nagasawa, the Japanese pioneer, was 53, the Japan Society of
Northern California was formed with a sense of mission to build a bridge
linking Japan and the United States. We can trace the beginning of this
mission which continues today back to the life of Kanaye Nagasawa in
California.
(This article first appeared in Japanese in the March, 2005, issue
of "Gaiko Forum")
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