Senryu (pronounced sen-dyu) is a three-line Japanese poetic form shaped during the Edo period of Japan. It is associated with the famous poet Basho (1644-1699). It is like haiku in form, but senryu poems are about human nature, foibles of human actions, and can be funny or jokey. Poems authored by Yukiko Abo and Miyoko Sato are on display at the Shelton Timberland Library through June 30th and will be at the North Mason Timberland Library from July 2-31st.
Abo and Sato’s poems offer a window into their emotional lives and everyday experiences as Nisei oyster laborers in Oyster Bay. Cultural anthropologist, writer, and artist LLyn De Danaan, Ph.D. will offer an opening presentation "Senryu Poets of Oyster Bay: Alien Enemies Act & Executive Order 9066" and will be joined by guest speakers including the Olympia Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League at North Mason Timberland Library on Tuesday, July 8th at 12PM.
De Danaan writes:
“One day, when I was deeply involved in writing the story of an Indigenous oyster farmer named Katie Gale who lived and worked on Oyster Bay in the late 1800s, Ron Abo called me. Mason Historical Society staff had mentioned my work to him. He urged me to tell the story of his family, too. I was eager and honored by the invitation.
Yukiko Abo, Ron’s mother, a noted senryu poet, and other family members including Joe and Mary Abo, welcomed me to Yukiko’s home. They told stories, shared photographs, and showed me documents from their time at the Tule Lake concentration camp. Our collaborative work was published in COLUMBIA: The Magazine of Northwest History.
Today, the story of the Japanese Americans who labored in the oyster industry on Oyster Bay both before and after WWII has taken on new relevance.
The Abos and others of my neighbors, including Nancy Motomatsu and her family and the Satos, were among the 120,000 Japanese descent people forcibly relocated to and incarcerated in one of the 10 camps established after Executive Order 9066 signed by Franklin Roosevelt on February 19, 1942.
Two thirds of those incarcerated were American citizens.
Shelton Timberland Library is currently displaying the story of this agonizing history. The photographs and panels especially honor the senryu poets of Oyster Bay. Yukiko Abo and Miyoko Sato and others wrote senryu regularly with their teacher, Bay resident, Takeji Minegishi. Their poetry became a foundation for a story of creativity and resilience among hard laboring members of a maritime shellfish community.
The library exhibit encourages visitors to learn to write senryu and to post their own work as an homage to the tradition of this fabulous community of writers.”
Reference
Columbia-The Magazine of Northwest History, Vol. 25 No. 4, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA.
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