Outgoing - "Letters No. 2" -- [1947-1950]

This file contains a textual record.

The file consists of draft personal letters written by Tsutae Sato in Japanese on Japanese writing paper (genkoshi) in 1947. The draft letters are mostly to his former students and include thank you letters for their hospitality during his visit, gifts received, responses to the letters received, and mourning letters.

Some letters indicate Tsutae Sato moved to his current residence in Alberta with 62 boxes of books and he was loaning them to his former students as requested (sent by mail). A few letters were written regarding the death of his former student who went to Japan, was attending a prestigious university (Keio University), but died in the War while fighting for Japan. The draft letters also indicate that, although the Japanese language school was closed in December 1941, his former students continued to send letters and gifts to Tsutae Sato.

Letter to Kayano Kamishi, dated January 1947. (1996.170.1.11.2)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Lettere to Ichijiro Tanaka, dated January 1947.(1996.170.1.11.3)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Letter to Shigeru Yasuura, dated January 1947. (1996.170.1.11.4)

Thanking for the welcome received in a village, also notifying the activities of some Japanese Canadians on voting right and human rights.

Letter to XX(illegible)bei Kobayashi. No date. (1996.170.1.11.5)

Thank you letter for hospitality. Reference to Basho's poems.

Letter to the Members of Lillooet Gakuyukai (Alumni Association), dated March 7, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.6)

Thank you letter for the welcome party and the gift of a blanket.

Letter to Kiri Koyama, dated March 17, 1947 (1996.170.1.11.7)

Response to a letter received.

Letter to Yoshiko Motomochi, dated March 27, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.8)

Response to a letter received. Thanking for the hospitality. Sending the books requested.

Letter to Ayako Kobayahi, dated March 30, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.9)

Response to a letter. Thanking for the hospitality at her home. Praising her, her husband and in-laws.

Letter to Shigeki (?) Tokunaga, date March 30, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.10)

About the death of his son, Masahide who was in Japan, in the war.

Letter to Tatsue Hori, dated April 2, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.11)

About the death of her daughter.

Letter to Shigeru Sato, dated April 7 1947. (1996.170.1.11.12)

Encouraging him for starting new insurance business.

Letter to Nobuko Ohkuma, dated April 19, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.13)

Response to a letter and photo received.

Letter to Shigejiro Inoue, dated April 25, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.14)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Letter to Sora(?)goro Kato, dated April 25, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.15)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Letter to Sotojiro Takada, dated April 16, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.16)

Regarding the success of his son, Minoru.

Letter to Kohichiro Miyazaki, dated May 10, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.17)

Thanking for the hospitality when Sato visited last year. Providing update.

Letter to Jujiro (or Kotojiro) Hori, dated May 26, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.18)

Thanking for the letter and photos received. Providing update.

Letter to Fuseo Toda, dated May 30, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.19)

Response to the letter received. Food and life in Alberta.

Letter to Azuma Maeda, dated May 30, 1947. (1996,170.1.11.20)

Response to the letter received. Inquiry about some Japanese books.

Letter to XXXX Ozawa. No date. (1996.170.1.11.21)

Regarding the death of his son Ikuo.

Letter to Shosaku Watanabe, dated June 2, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.22)

Sympathy letter for the death of his daughter Yoshiko.

Letter to Eijiro Muroto, dated June 122, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.23)

Response to the letter and photo received. Thanking for the hospitality during Sato's visit.

Letter to Meinosuke Ishihara, dated June 14, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.24)

Response to letter from Japan. Explanation of what happened to the Japanese Language School.

Letter to Tetsu Nakamura in Japan, dated June 19, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.25)

Providing update. Seeing him on Times as well as Vancouver newspaper as an emerging movie director.

Letter to Fuji Okumura, dated June 16, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.26)

Sympathy letter for passing of her husband. Message to her oldest son and Sato's former student Shigeharu.

Letter to Hisayoshi Uenaka, dated June 30, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.27)

Providing update.

Letter to Toshie Okuno in Japan, dated July 5, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.28)

Response to a letter received. Encouraging her work in Japan and informing that Sato saw her family during his visit of the eastern part of Canada. Providing updates on her former classmates.

Letter to Naokichi Takimoto and his wife, dated July 14, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.29)

Congratulating the marriage of their daughter.

Letter to Yoshiharu Sugimoto in Japan, dated July 15, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.30)

Update on his father.

Letter to Mitsugu Shimokura, dated October 2, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.31)

Declining his recommendation to start a dry cleaning business.

Letter to XXX Ishihara, dated August 30, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.32)

Letter from Vancouver while doing the school disposal related business. Informing that Sato is unable to visit Ishihara on the way back to Lacombe.

Letter to Takeo Arakawa. No date. (1996.170.1.11.33)

Informing Sato's visit to Vancouver from August to October after the Military left the Japanese language school building.

Letter to HiroXX Fujita, dated October 18, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.34)

Congratulating the marriage of his son.

Letter to Hajime Suzuki, dated October 19, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.35)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Letter to Shigeko Isomura, dated October 18, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.36)

Thanking for their care while Sato was in Vancouver. Praising her husband.

Letter to Hirobei (?) Kobayashi, dated November 1, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.37)

Thank you letter for hospitality.

Letter to Toshiko Furukawa (Kishimoto) in Japan, dated November 5, 1947. (1996.170.1.11.38)

Response to a letter received. Providing update on her former classmates and teachers.

Letter to Einosuke Kamiyama, dated December 18, 1947.

Sympathy letter for death of his son.

Letter to Toyomatsu Kimura, dated December 19, 1947.

Thanking for the turkey he sent. Describing how the turkey he sent last year was enjoyed on Christmas Day by seven people including unexpected guests.

Letter to Hikotaro and Aseo Toda. No date.

Thanking for the mochi, yokan, kazunoko and ginger they sent from Los Angeles.

Letter to Shotaro and Yuki Chikamori, dated December 29, 1947.

Thanking for the chocolates and vase received. Also responding to the letters received during the summer as well as describing the letter from his parents in Japan.

Letter to Ikuko Yamaie, dated December 21, 1947.

Response to her Christmas card and photo.

Tsutae Sato was born in 1891 in the small village of Tanagura machi, Fukushima-ken, Japan. Mr. Sato attended the primary school of the village, followed by studies in Chinese classics at a private school. A short term Normal School opened and he continued his education there. After graduating at the age of sixteen, Tsutae found employment as a teacher at a local primary school. He only taught at this school for one year when he decided to pursue his own academic career by enrolling at Aoyama 師範学校 Teacher Training School (or Normal College) in Tokyo where he studied for four years from April 1909 to March 1913. After graduation, he again worked as a teacher, this time at Shibuya Primary School for four years. While teaching there he received an invitation for employment from the Vancouver Japanese Language School which he accepted and arrived in Vancouver in 1917. Tsutae was the fifth principal of the school. There were about 150 students registered at the Vancouver school when Mr. Sato took over as principal. However, the enrollment rapidly increased especially after 1936 to over 1,000 in 1941, when the school was ordered by the Canadian government to close in December 1941.

Mr. Sato's wife, Hanako, was born in 1901 in Wakayama-ken Japan, but moved to Tokyo when she was only a year old. Then her family moved to Niigata when she was about kindergarten age, and a few years later to Toyama. Her father was a medical doctor, and the family moved with him from one city to another as he frequently relocated. Finally, however, the family settled down in Tokyo. Hanako was a graduate of Tokyo Women's Teacher Training School (current Tokyo Gakugei University) and, like Mr. Sato, taught at a Primary school in Tokyo. In 1921, Hanako came to Canada as a teacher on the invitation of the Japanese Language School of Vancouver, four years after Tsutae arrived. Tsutae and Hanako had known each other and they were married just prior to Hanako's departure for Canada in 1921.

As part of their accomplishments, Tsutae and Hanako were responsible for upgrading and improving the quality offered by the Japanese Language School. They were also the ones primarily responsible for the establishment of the Japanese Canadian Language Schools Federation, as well as for the addition of a larger school building.

The Japanese Language Schools Federations functioned until 1941 when the Pacific War broke out. It fostered a peaceful and harmonious relationship between Japanese schools, thus strengthening the Japanese community as a whole.

During the forced uprooting, Mr. and Mrs. Sato spent eleven years at Lacombe, Alberta, from 1942 to 1952. During this time they managed to travel to practically all of the places where their former students resettled in order to comfort them and encourage them.

In 1952, the Satos returned to Vancouver and resumed their roles as the Principal and teacher of the Vancouver Japanese Language School, until 1966, when they retired.

Mr. Sato's contribution to the society of Canada as a whole was recognized by the Canadian government on July 1978, when he was named a member of the Order of Canada.

Hanako Sato died in Vancouver, May 4, 1983; Tsutae Sato three weeks later on May 23, 1983.

No digital copies of the records were acquired by the Landscapes of Injustice Research Collective between 2014 and 2018.