Group Media & Photos
Scientific Seminar, Western Clothing Sewing Workship, ca. 1926. Rev. Ryuten Kashiwa (back row, 4th from L). JCCH/ Haruki Kai Family Collection.
Buddhist ministers at a restaurant. Front Row (L-R): Rev. Chiro Yosemori, Rev. Ryuten Kashiwa, Rev. Kodo Fujitani, Rev. Kanmo Imamura, Rev. Ryoshin Okano. Back Row: Rev. Konin Matano (3rd), Rev. Hakuai Oda (6th). JCCH/Rev. Hakuai Oda Collection.
United Japanese Society, April 1941. Row 1 (seated, L-R): Totaro Matsui (2nd), Osuke Shigemoto (4th), Kumaji Furuya (5th), Taichi Sato (7th), Koichi Iida (9th), Kyoichi Miyata (12th). Row 2: Yasutaka Fukushima (5th), Sawajiro Ozaki (9th), Sadasuke Terasaki (13th). Row 3: Isoto Dewa (3rd). Row 5: Ryuten Kashiwa (2nd from R). JCCH/ Harriet Masunaga Collection.
Santa Fe Internment Camp, July 1943. Bottom Row (L-R): Ninryo Nago (5th), Rev. Kodo Fujitani (8th). 2nd Row: Matsujiro Otani (1st), Tsuruichi Sarae (3rd), Katsuichi Kawamoto (6th), Ryuten Kashiwa (10th). 3rd Row: Ryuichi Ipponsugi (1st), Yasutaro Soga (3rd). 4th Row: Kazuyuki Kawano (3rd), Rev. Tenran Mori (5th). Top Row: Hirouemon Yamamoto (2nd). JCCH/Takuzo Kawamoto Collection.
Buddhist priests from Hawaii. Santa Fe Internment Camp, April 1944. Bottom row (L-R): Rev. Kogan Yoshizumi, Rev. Hozui Nakayama, Rev. Shinri Sarashina, Rev. Enryo Shigefuji (Fresno, Calif.), Bishop Ninryo Nago, Rev. Chikyoku Kikuchi, Rev. Shutetsu Uyenoyama, Rev. Konin Matano, Rev. Yutetsu Matsui, unknown, unknown, Rev. Doro Kanda. Middle row (L-R): Rev. Dojin Ochi (Los Angeles), Rev. Ryuko Tachibana (Los Angeles, formerly of Hawaii), Rev. Daishin Ikejiri, Rev. Gendo Okawa, Rev. Suijo Kabashima, Rev. Tenran Mori, unknown, Rev. Ryuten Kashiwa, Rev. Josen Deme, Rev. Hakuai Oda, Rev. Taizen Imamura, Rev. Hosho Kurohira, Rev. Shunjo Shiratori, Rev. Bunpo Kuwatsuki (Los Angeles), unknown, Rev. Shodo Kawamura. Top row (L-R): Rev. Zenkai Tatsuguchi, Rev. Jikai Yamasato, Rev. Kenryu Hasegawa, unknown, Rev. Kenju Ohtomo, unknown, Rev. Gikyo Kuchiba, Zenko Saigusa, Rev. Kodo Fujitani, Rev. Kenjo Ohara, Rev. Giko Abiko (Calif.), Rev. Nisshu Kobayashi, unknown. JCCH/Rev. Hakuai Oda Collection.
Painting exhibition, Santa Fe Internment Camp, July 1944. 1st Row: Setsuzo Toyota (4th from L), Aisuke Shigekuni (3rd from R). 2nd Row (L-R): Yuichi Nakaichi (2nd); Rev. Nisshu Kobayashi (3rd); Yoshio Koike (4th); Rev. Kogan Yoshizumi (5th); Julian P. Langston, Santa Fe camp administrator (6th); Lloyd Jensen, Officer-In-Charge (7th); Masao Ikeno, art instructor (8th); Koshi Tatsuhara (10th/4th fr R). 3rd Row: Rev. Hakuai Oda (3rd); Soichi Obata (4th); Rev. Josen Deme (5th); Rev. Ryuten Kashiwa (10th/2nd fr R). 4th Row: Osuke Shigemoto (4th), Yasutaro Soga (8th), Masayuki Chikuma (10th), Katsuichi Miho (12th), Koichi Iida (14th/4th fr R), Yoshinobu Kato (15th/3rd fr R). JCCH/Rev. Hakuai Oda Collection.
Tamaki Hatamiya Sugaya, "Reverend Ryuten Kashiwa," Amache Concentration Camp, ca. 1945, charcoal. JCCH/Tamaki Hatamiya Sugaya Collection.
Internment Locations
Arrested: December 1941
Sand Island Internment Camp, Honolulu, Oahu Island
This internee was among 109 men (mostly Issei) who were sent on the third transfer ship for internment in U.S. Army and Justice Department camps on the Mainland. The internees were sent together from camp to camp, with some paroled to War Relocation Authority camps to reunite with family or transferred for repatriation to Japan.
Angel Island Detention Facility, California
June 1942
Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Texas
June 1942
Lordsburg Internment Camp, New Mexico
June 1942 - June 1943
Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico
June 1943 - November 1944
Amache (Granada) Concentration Camp, Colorado
November 1944 - September 1945
Returned to Hawaii: November 1945
Arrived in Honolulu with 450 other internees aboard the military troopship the Yarmouth.
Born in Fukui Prefecture, Ryuten Kashiwa was recruited as a young Buddhist priest by the Reverend Yemyo Imamura of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. In 1918, he settled in Waialua, Oahu, and with his wife, Yukiko, reared eight children.
Two of Kashiwa's sons served in the U.S. military during World War II. Lester Tetsuro Kashiwa, then a student at the University of Michigan Medical School, became the first Hawaii-born draftee of the war, serving in the army's medical corps. Genro Kashiwa volunteered in March 1943 for the newly created segregated unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He fought with distinction in France -- in the liberation of Bruyeres and in the rescue of the lost Texas battalion -- and in the Italian campaign. For his valor, Genro Kashiwa would receive two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart; and in 2011 at the age of 87, the French government would bestow on him its highest civilian award, the Legion of Honor.
Following Ryuten Kashiwa's return from internment, he became the first postwar bishop of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission. After his retirement, he returned to Japan but his descendants remained in the islands. In 1960, eldest son, Shiro Kashiwa, became the first attorney general of the state of Hawaii.