Community History

Palos Verdes Judo Dojo

by Ansho Mas Uchima

In order to teach their youngsters about their Japanese heritage, the parents of the Palos Verdes community donated money from their meager incomes to build a Japanese school and a judo dojo. The construction was completed in 1934.

Toshitaka Yamauchi, the head judo instructor, was chosen by Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo in Japan, to promote the sport in America. Yamauchi was head instructor at Moneta Dojo in Gardena and at the Palos Verdes Dojo. The assistant instructor was Setsuzo Ota. It is interesting to note that Ota-sensei wrestled professionally at the Olympic auditorium in Los Angeles. During the matches, Lucy Banning became infatuated with Ota and pursued him so persistently that Ota finally married her. Lucy came from a wealthy Wilmington family [Phineas Banning]. Shortly after their marriage, Lucy passed away from illness. It is reported that Ota inherited only a paltry amount since most went to her relatives and lawyers.

Some of the outstanding Palos Verdes judo students of this period were the Ishibashi brothers (Katsumi and Ichiro) and their cousin, Masaichi Ishibashi, Uyeno brothers (Kenichi and Kenzo), Shiro Motoike, Nishinaka and Joe Ohno. Both Mas and Ichiro attained a black belt rank of 2nd dan. During internment at Poston Relocation Center, Kenzo Uyeno and Joe Ohno started a judo dojo for internees.

Written & ©2006, Ansho Mas Uchima
(Permission granted to JAHMP for this edited excerpt from his book:
Fighting Spirit, Judo in Southern California, 1930-1941)

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A Judo Profile of Katsumi Ishibashi

by Ansho Mas Uchima

James Katsumi Ishibashi was born in 1919 to Tomizo Ishibashi and Umeno Iwahashi from Wakayama prefecture in Japan. His father, Tomizo arrived in the United States and moved from place to place. Tomizo finally settled in Palos Verdes in about 1906 where he grew vegetables. Tomizo had four brothers who were the early settlers along the Palos Verdes southern coastline. They engaged in dry farming since there was no irrigation system available. The moisture from the fog and mist from the ocean were adequate to grow the plants. Some of the vegetables grown were celery, cucumber, peas, tomatoes, and strawberries.

Katsumi helped on the family farm in his youth and started to train in judo at the Palos Verdes Dojo with his brother, Ichiro and cousin, Masaichi Ishibashi. They all grew up in the Palos Verdes area and attended the same schools.

In 1935, Katsumi and Masaichi joined the Japan Judo Study Tour Group (Kengakudan) led by Yamauchi-sensei. The tour group visited Kodokan, the main judo headquarters in Tokyo, and participated in tournaments in Hiroshima, Kumamoto and Kagoshima.

In the Spring of 1937, Katsumi and Ichiro represented the Palos Verdes Dojo in a Seinen group team tournament of the Grand Judo Tournament held in Little Tokyo [Los Angeles]. The other team members were Nishinaka, Kenichi Uyeno, Ichiro Ishibashi, Katsumi Ishibashi, and Shiro Motoike. The team competed against the Glendale Dojo team, but lost 3 to 0 and was eliminated from the tournament. Katsumi eventually reached the rank of 3rd dan.

Katsumi moved to Allington near Riverside where he worked. He was drafted into the Army while interned at Poston II in Arizona with his family. Katsumi served until 1947. After Army life, Katsumi returned to Palos Verdes and started his own farm. In the early 1960s, Katsumi operated a fruit and vegetable stand named "Deliciously Yours" on the public street near his home. Katsumi retired in 1997 and passed away at the age of 83. Yvonne, Katsumi's daughter, continued the stand after her father's death. It is now closed.

Written & ©2006, Ansho Mas Uchima
Permission granted to JAHMP for this edited excerpt from his book:
Fighting Spirit, Judo in Southern California, 1930-1941

Palos Verdes Ranches

Recollections by Tadashi Kadonaga

"During the harvest season, everybody in the family worked. Both of my brothers helped on the ranch, but I did not like physical work. I decided I was more suited to selling tomatoes at the roadside. After school and during summer vacation, I opened a roadside stand under a tree on the Pacific Highway. Small baskets full of tomatoes were a dime and large ones were a quarter. On weekdays, I made $2-$3 and weekends were much more.

To be a child in the farm is rough. We were ignored from any parental care during infancy because Mother also worked hard in the ranch from dawn to dusk. We did not have electricity. We used kerosene lamps and wood stoves. There was one gas lamp in the kitchen. There was a icebox instead of a refrigerator. We had manually operated phonograph and battery operated radio. We also had a crystal radio set with earphones. The barn was connected to the chicken yard. We had over 100 chickens roaming around the chicken house and barn with horses. Chicken eggs were available daily and anytime we wanted to eat a chicken we needed to kill one.

Our house was in a beautiful location. We were surrounded by ranches and they were green depending on the season. To the southwest, we can see the Pacific Ocean with Santa Catalina Island in the distance beyond the [Pt. Vicente] Lighthouse. There were rolling hills from the east to the south. Our ranches were in layers. First ranch was relatively flat at the house level to the cliff overlooking the ocean, then, the second level was toward the hill east of the Pacific Highway and the third level was on top of the hill. Undeveloped areas were beautiful with cacti and wild flowers from the spring, snakes including rattlesnakes were also present and at night occasionally howling of coyotes could be heard in the distance. Jack rabbits were often seen and butterflies all over."

Excerpts from ©2006, "Falling Leaf," by Tadashi Kadonaga

Ranch Layouts

• Aki Ranch 4 Layout
• Kawashiri Ranch Layout
• Seo Sepulveda Ranch 2 Layout

White Point Hotel and Hot Springs Resort

Tajimi Tagami's classy White Point Hotel and Hot Springs drew Issei-Nisei families from all over Los Angeles in its ten-year history. The Red Car (streetcar line) and city buses provide easy access from downtown Little Tokyo to San Pedro. Shuttle buses did a run to White Point.

Construction began in 1917 on Sepulveda coastline who used local farmers to help clear the beach area. The resort consisted of a 50-room two-story hotel with a ballroom dance floor, billiard room, restaurants featuring American and Japanese food, an outdoor pavilion for performances and three salt water pools that at one time included sulphur baths. Anchored three miles offshore, fishermen were taxied out for a day of fishing aboard the Sierra, known as Endo's Barge.

An ideal place for prefectural picnics, the pavilion featured traditonal musicians and dancers on stage. Relays races and prizes were held for the children. Various organizations chose White Point for annual meetings. For the local ranch families, it was an all-in-one resort in their coastal backyard.

Natural events in the late 1930's accelerated White Point's decline. Storms had caused damage to swimming enclosures and parts of the hotel. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake closed down sulphur vents that were piped into the mineral baths. The pools were closed. The only bright spot was when the hotel housed the 1932 Japanese Olympic swim team who used local waters for practice. They went on to win gold and silver metals. Hachijiro Shioji, a later owner and former San Pedro fisherman witnessed its glory and sad decline.

By 1941 White Point fed the public's war hysteria when newspapers alleged that it was a prime site for signaling the enemy. Today visitors can see gun batteries dug into its white cliffs accessed by underground tunnels from Fort MacArthur above who took over the area.

Now called the Royal Palms State Beach, it preserves portions of Royal Palms resort, built by Roman Sepulveda in the same era. At the main entrance, a large fountain from the White Point Hot Springs reminds Japanese Americans that they were there, too.

©2006, JAHMP

Based on news articles by J. Takasugi, based on reports by Sumi Seo Seki.

White Point Ranch Structures

TYPICAL WHITE POINT RANCH STRUCTURES:

White Point Ranches, 1912-1941
Along Paseo del Mar, San Pedro, area, Western Ave to west
Acres: approximately 50-100 acres per ranch
Main crops: tomatoes, beans & peas, celery
Ranch leaseholders: Midori Seo family, Yasukichi Kawashiri family
Landowner: Roman Sepulveda
Coastal ranch leaseholders: Midori Seo , Yasukichi Kawashiri, George Aoto, Fukuzumi, Teiji Takemiya & others

Typical ranch structures:

• Ranch house, sometimes a second house for relatives
• Barn & horse corral
• Garage
• Seasonal or year-round workers' quarters
• Japanese style bathhouse, usually detached from house
• Chicken coop
• Goldfish pond
• Transplant garden
• Home use vegetable/flower garden
• Produce platforms for pick up deliveries
• Storage/equipment area
• Outhouse or indoor bathroom
• Fields surrounded the house. Additional field plots in other areas

Two unusual Kawashiri ranch additions were: a fish drying hoisted very high to avoid flies and a canary aviary. Most buildings were self-built by the family or with community help and considered the leaseholder's property. The Kawashiris moved their ranch buildings 3-4 times within the Palos Verdes Peninsula area. The final move came in 1941 when the ranch was dismantled and relocated to another PV ranch site to consolidate the family after a death.

The Seo house was built by the landowner. When neighboring Fort Mac Arthur expanded during World War II, the Seo structures were razed. Only ranch remnants left today are a partial foundation of a fish pond and bushy remains of olive, fig trees.

©2006, JAHMP

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