page_title: Manzanar
section_title: Recreation
hierarchical_section_title: Manzanar / Life in camp / Recreation
caption_attribution_description: Ansel Adams: Baseball game at Manzanar War Relocation Center, Owens Valley, California, 1943. Summary: Japanese Americans observe an amateur baseball game in progress; one-story buildings and mountains in the background. Seventh in a series of pictures from Ansel Adams' stay at the Japanese-American relocation camp in 1943.
context_page_description: Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. It is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California's Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, approximately 230 miles north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites.
  Since the last of those incarcerated left in 1945, former detainees and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a National Historic Site to ensure that the history of the site, along with the stories of those who were incarcerated there, is recorded for current and future generations. The primary focus is the Japanese American incarceration era, as specified in the legislation that created the Manzanar National Historic Site.
context_section_description: People made life at Manzanar more tolerable through recreation. They participated in sports, including baseball, football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, football, softball, and martial arts. A nine-hole golf course was built at the camp. Lou Frizzell served as the musical director, and under his mentorship Mary Nomura became known as the "songbird of Manzanar" for her performances at dances and other camp events. Theatre performances—for internees, camp administration and WRA staff, and even for some members of the surrounding communities—included original productions by internees as well as traditional Japanese works of kabuki and noh.
  Internees, many of whom were relocated from their landscaping businesses in the Los Angeles area, personalized and beautified their barren surroundings by building elaborate gardens and parks, which often included pools, waterfalls, and rock ornaments. Competitions were often held between landscapers as they created gardens in the public spaces of the camp (such as between barracks). The camp administration even allowed some gardens to be created outside the camp. These helped create a sense of community and gave the internees a place to heal. Remnants of some of the gardens, pools, and rock ornaments are still present at Manzanar, and there are plans to restore at least some of them. 
  One of the most popular pastimes for those incarcerated at Manzanar was baseball. The men there formed almost 100 baseball teams, and the women formed 14. Regular seasons were established, teams were divided into leagues, and championship games were held. The teams included both professional and amateur players. Some of the players viewed playing baseball as a way to prove their loyalty to America, treating it like wearing an American flag. Photographer Ansel Adams took his photo (right) as part of his effort to show how those incarcerated at Manzanar "overcome [their] sense of defeat and despair."
  Many Japanese cultural celebrations were continued, though the official photos allowed out by the WRA rarely showed them. The New Year tradition of mochitsuki—pounding glutinous rice into mochi—was regularly covered by the camp newspaper. Craftsman in the camp carved geta for many of the residents, though the official photography only pointed out that they were useful for keeping above the dusty ground.
caption: A baseball game at Manzanar, 1943
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