Photograph of Shinsuke Sugimoto's Funeral
date: label: date made
content: circa 1945
notes: label: Description
content: This is a photograph of Shinsuke Sugimoto's funeral. Shinsuke's coffin and his funeral attendees are pictured in front of the Buddhist Hall in the Amache, Colorado Prison Camp.
label: Description
content: Shinsuke Sugimoto was an Issei and was born in Kyoto, Japan on September 10, 1884. Shinsuke lived in Japan for 20 years before immigrating to the United States in 1906 when he was 22. He was primarily an insurance salesman and lived in Los Angeles, California before being forcibly relocated to Tuna Canyon Detention Station in Tujunga, California, then to the Alien Detention Santa Fe prison camp in New Mexico. Shinsuke’s family was forcibly relocated to the Santa Anita Assembly California and then to Granada Relocation Center in Colorado. Shinsuke Sugimoto was 58 when he joined his family at the Granada Relocation Center.
label: Description
content: These relocation centers were prison camps that those of Japanese descent were forcibly relocated to in World War II following the events of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that authorized the removal of anyone seen as a threat to national security, although only mostly those of Japanese descent were affected by this. 110,000 people of Japanese descent were relocated to these camps in Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, Idaho, Arkansas, California, and Colorado.
label: Description
content: Shinsuke married Misao Toyama from the Kumamoto-Ken Prefecture of Japan and they were married on July 22, 1918 in Marysville, California. They had four children: Kathleen, Mary, Roy, and Paul. Shinsuke was the Secretary of the Japanese Association of Marysville. The Sugimoto family relocated from Marysville to Boyle Heights in Los Angeles in 1928 and taught kendo, a Japanese martial art using bamboo swords.
label: Description
content: It is believed that because of Shinsuke's kendo expertise, he was considered a danger by the U.S. government was one of the earliest detainees arrested after Executive 9066 was issued on February 19, 1942. Shinsuke was brought to the Tuna Canyon Detention Station in Tujunga, California. He told his family that he was arrested so suddenly that he barely had time to get dressed and was worried about an unfinished tax return.
label: Description
content: On March 12, 1942, Shinsuke was sent to the Santa Fe camp in New Mexico. He instructed his eldest son Roy to sell their belongings. His wife and family were sent to the Santa Anita assembly center and they lived in the horse stables until they were relocated to the Granda/Amache camp in Colorado, where they finally reunited with Shinsuke.
label: Description
content: Shinsuke's daughter Mary, and her husband Yoshio were sent to Rohwer, Arkansas. Shinsuke's son Paul attend Amache Camp school. On March 24, 1945, just two months short of his family's release from the camp, Shinsuke passed away at age 61 in Amache.
label: Description
content: Shinsuke's funeral was on March 30, 1945 inside the Amache Prison Camp. Shinsuke had a Buddhist funeral service.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Colorado, Granada
topic: label: Subject
content: World War II
label: related event
content: World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: gift of Donna Sugimoto
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0280.35
label: accession number
content: 2016.0280
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0280.35
objectType: label: Object Name
content: photograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 9 1/2 in; 21.59 cm x 24.13 cm