Sadao Oka's Display Box
notes: label: Description
content: This small wooden box was one of Sadao Oka's most prized possessions during his time in Poston concentration camp. Within this box he kept the small amount of tools and materials he was allowed, old paints, and wooden birds that he was carving. Now some of the many birds he carved are on display on the top layer of the box, but many others were given as gifts or were kept somewhere else. Mr. Oka adopted the art of woodcarving when he was forcibly put into an incarceration camp. He joined a carving class and quickly picked up the art form. He spent much of his free time focused on making the most lifelike wooden birds he could, and he soon perfected his skills and mastered carving and painting small details into the already small birds. He used this art to stay determined and persevere through all the trials of segregation, as did many others, and by doing this, the energy and emotion that is shown through these painstakingly detailed birds is evident.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: used
content: United States: Arizona, Poston
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
label: See more items in
content: Executive Order 9066
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Jane Oka
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0117.083
label: accession number
content: 2016.0117
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0117.083
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 1/2 in x 9 in x 4 in; 29.21 cm x 22.86 cm x 10.16 cm