Group Media & Photos

Buddhist ministers from Hawaii, Santa Fe Internment Camp, ca. 1943. Bottom Row (L-R): Daishin Ikejiri, Kogan Yoshizumi, Zenkai Kokuzo, Ninryo Nago, Ryoyu Kitajima, Nozaki (not from Hawaii), Shunjo Shiratori, Teizen Imamura. Middle Row: Tetsuo Tanaka, Ikeda, Shoyu Kitajima, Shuzui Hino, Taigaku Ueshima, Gijo Ozawa, Ryuko Tachibana, Gyokuei Matsuura. Top Row: Kenko Yamashita (not from Hawaii), [Mitsuomi] Yamane, Kozan Nishizawa, Tetsuei Katoda, Ryudo Kubota, [Tessui] Hanada, Koetsu Morita. JCCH/Joan Oya Collection.

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Barracks 62, Santa Fe Internment Camp, ca. 1943. Row 1 (L-R): Rev. Shunjo Shiratori (8th), Rev. Tetsuo Tanaka (9th), Takejiro Nakagawa (11th), Koshi Tatsuhara (12th). Row 2: Ryuichi Moribe (1st), Rev. Kogan Yoshizumi (2nd), Katsuichi Wakimoto (8th). Row 3: Yoshio Koike (6th), Futoshi Ohama (8th), Nekketsu Takei (10th), Kazuto Taketa (15th), Masaichi Kobayashi (18th; OR: 6th from R). Row 5: Yuichi Nakamura (2nd), Usaburo Katamoto (5th). JCCH/ Usaburo Katamoto Archival Collection.

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Santa Fe Internment Camp, November 1943. Row 1: Mamoru Suga (3rd from R). Row 2 (L-R): Usaburo Katamoto (2nd), Yoshio Koike (7th), Katsuichi Wakimoto (12th). Row 3 (L-R): Sadato Morifuji (2nd), Yuichi Nakamura (4th), Futoshi Ohama (5th), Kazuto Taketa (8th), Tetsuo Tanaka (9th), Kogan Yoshizumi (11th). Top Row: Isoo Kato (5th), Mannosuke Komu (8th), Kodo Fujitani (12th/3rd from R). JCCH/Joan Oya Collection.

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Members of Barrack 65, Santa Fe Interment Camp, ca. 1945. Rev. Tetsuo Tanaka (1st Row 3rd from L), Rev. Shigeo Fujino (2nd Row, 3rd from L). JCCH/ Nancy M. Fujino Collection.

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Religious group. Santa Fe Internment Camp, October 1945. Bottom row (L-R): Kogan Yoshizumi (3rd), Gendo Okawa (6th), Tetsuo Tanaka (7th), Yoshio Koike (8th). Row 2: Aisuke Shigekuni (3rd from L). Back Row: Minoru Murakami (2nd from R). JCCH/Joan Oya Collection.

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Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico. Left to right: Rentaro Degawa (1st), Tetsuo Tanaka (3rd), Tazo Mende (5th). 

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Internment Locations

Arrested: March 1942

Sand Island Internment Camp, Honolulu, Oahu Island

Third Transfer Group: May 1942

One hundred and nine Hawaii men (mostly Issei) were sent on the third transfer ship for incarceration in U.S. Army and Department of Justice camps on the Mainland. The internees were sent together from camp to camp. Some were paroled to War Relocation Authority camps and reunited with family members under confinement, others were 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 - March 1944

Jerome Concentration Camp, Arkansas

March 1944 - May 1944

Tule Lake Segregation Center, California

May 1944 - January 1945

Santa Fe Internment Camp, New Mexico

January 1945 - December 1945

Returned to Hawaii: December 1945

Arrived in Honolulu with about 775 other internees aboard the military troopship the Shawnee.

In addition to Tetsuo Tanaka, many other Soto Zen ministers throughout the islands were arrested and incarcerated during the war. They included the sect's bishop, Zenkyo Komagata, along with priests Shunan Fujisawa, Zenkai Kokuzo, Gyokuei Matsuura, Koetsu Morita, Hozui Nakayama, Kosan Nishizawa, Gijo Ozawa, Taiyu Toda, Sokan Ueoka and Kogan Yoshizumi. Also incarcerated was the nun Kanzen Ito of the Mantokuji Soto Mission in Paia, Maui.

In the spring of 1944, Tetsuo Tanaka was paroled from the Department of Justice's Santa Fe Internment Camp and sent to the War Relocation Authority's Jerome Concentration Camp, where he was reunited with his family. A couple of months later, the Tanaka family was transferred to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. While there, Tanaka was reported to have participated in "pro-Japanese demonstrations," and for this, his parole was revoked and he was sent back to Santa Fe, where he remained for the duration of his incarceration.