- M – Bando Mitsusa
- K – Karen Kimura
- S – Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto
- M
- My men students were all Issei, uh-huh. From Japan, of course.
- S
- Had they ever learned odori before camp?
- M
- Oh no, no! To learn odori was their very first challenge, I guess, uh-huh. And their costumes we made, the material we bought from the canteen, so it was like a cotton top with cotton lining, too, so you can imagine how heavy the kimono would be.
- S
- Who made the kimono?
- M
- Oh, there were Issei ladies in camp who could do…
- K
- Like Mrs. Naito, Mrs. Yamasaki…
- M
- Mrs. Naito, Mrs. Yamasaki, …all those ladies could sew. But you can imagine how heavy the kimono would be.
- K
- But they weren’t sewn by machine, right, they’re all hand made.
- M
- All hand made.
- K
- Hand sewn.
- M
- And so, when the three men would dance on stage, you can imagine, they would be so nervous, the kimono would be shaking like this (fluttering her hands).
- S
- What kind of dance did they do?
- M
- Oh, authentic.
- S
- I mean, do you remember the title?
- M
- Like “Kini no Kuni”(?), “Washi no kuni, sa”(?) … (hauta songs, “Kii no kuni” and “Washi ga kuni sa”)