Discover Nikkei Logo

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/series/silk/

Silk


Nov. 4, 2019 - Oct. 4, 2020

Not much is known about the women of the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Farm Colony, including Jou Schnell, the Japanese wife of the colony’s founder John Henry Schnell. Silk is a fictional account which imagines what life may have been for these women and men in 1869–1871.

Author’s Note: The nonfiction sources used for this fictional creation included Daniel A. Métraux’s The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Farm and the Creation of Japanese America, Discover Nikkei articles, and Gary Noy’s Sierra Stories: Tales of Dreamers, Schemers, Bigots, and Rogues.

Read Chapter One >>


Stories from this series

Thumbnail for Chapter Twelve—A Japanese Girl
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Twelve—A Japanese Girl

Oct. 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

For the past two days, Okei’s teeth chattered, all day and all night. It was as if a spirit had entered her body and she had no control over it. “I don’t want to die here, Sakurai ojisan,” she said to her constant companion, Matsunosuke “Mats” Sakurai. Both of them had joined the Veerkamp household after the Schnells had disappeared. Since Francis and Louisa had so many young children, Okei was supposed to help lighten the matriarch’s load. As it …

Thumbnail for Chapter Eleven—In the Dark Night
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Eleven—In the Dark Night

Sept. 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

The sounds of the explosions seemed to get louder every day. Kintaro felt his whole body shake as the booms seemed close to shattering his ear drums. His roommate, Makoto, had disappeared in the night. There was no one to retrieve him from his dark thoughts. He was afraid to sleep because he didn’t want to be caught off-guard. That’s what happened in the Boshin War. He had closed his eyes for a few minutes and then—BAM! A projectile tore …

Thumbnail for Chapter Ten—Lost Samurai
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Ten—Lost Samurai

Aug. 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

Shin: To become a person who is trusted, and who can trust others. —a principle of the Aizu people As the Wakamatsu colonists began to leave Gold Hill, Matsunosuke “Mats” Sakurai began to have vivid dreams from his past in Aizu. It was almost as if the celestials were populating his world in his sleep to compensate for the ones who left in reality. Gone were the Saitos, the young couple whose marriage seemed to be strained by the complaints …

Thumbnail for Chapter Nine—Pickles and the Promised Land
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Nine—Pickles and the Promised Land

July 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

Matsugoro Ohto wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he and his fellow carpenter, Kuninosuke “Kuni” Masumizu, took a break from their woodworking project inside the Veerkamp family’s barn on Gold Hill. Led by the family’s German patriarch, Francis, the Veerkamps were plentiful. By last count, Matsugoro thought that there might be at least six children, all boys. His fellow Japanese countryman, Kuni, was more than twenty years younger than him. Kuni, in fact, was about the same age …

Thumbnail for Chapter Eight—Death of the Mulberry Tree
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Eight—Death of the Mulberry Tree

June 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

Keiko Shinshi hadn’t been feeling well for days.  Her husband, Tatsutaro, thought it was because the last mulberry tree in the colony had died. Their silkworm room seemed like a gravesite, with the remains of shriveled up caterpillars lining the floor. A few cocoons were hanging from trees branches that his wife brought in. It was quite a barbaric process, with the cocoons being dropped into boiling vats of water so that the silk exteriors could be removed. In other words, …

Thumbnail for Chapter Seven—A Night in San Francisco
en
ja
es
pt
Chapter Seven—A Night in San Francisco

May 4, 2020 • Naomi Hirahara

Among the Japan-born Wakamatsu colonists, Makoto and Kuni were the strongest English speakers. As a result, when the colony’s founder, John Henry Schnell, announced that he would be taking a trip to San Francisco to meet with some Japanese envoys, as well as do research into future agricultural exhibitions, he asked these two men to accompany him. Makoto was elated. He had a visible scar in the middle of his face, a remnant from a failed battle to save their …

We’re looking for stories like yours! Submit your article, essay, fiction, or poetry to be included in our archive of global Nikkei stories. Learn More
Discover Nikkei brandmark New Site Design See exciting new changes to Discover Nikkei. Find out what’s new and what’s coming soon! Learn More
Author in This Series

Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries, which have been published in Japanese, Korean and French, feature a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. Her first historical mystery, Clark and Division, which won a Mary Higgins Clark Award, follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books, including the award-winning Terminal Island: Lost Communities on America's Edge (co-written with Geraldine Knatz) and curated exhibitions. She has also written a middle-grade novel, 1001 Cranes. Her follow-up to Clark and Division, Evergreen, was released in August 2023 and was on the USA Today bestseller list for two weeks.

Updated October 2024

Discover Nikkei Updates

NIKKEI NAMES 2
Vote for Nima-kai Favorite!
Read the stories and give a star to the ones you like the most! Help select our Community Favorite.
NIMA VOICES
Episode 17
November 12
5pm PDT | 7pm PET
Featured Nima:
Graciela Nakachi
Guest Host:
Enrique Higa

Presented in Spanish
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT
We’re on Instagram!
Follow us @discovernikkei for new site content, program announcements, and more!