Remembrance from Emily Biederman

I send to you and all your family my deep sympathy on Sohei's passing.

It was sad news for me to hear of his death, and without even thinking, I wrote in my journal that day, "Beautiful Sohei is gone."  But of course so much will remain in remembrance of him, in all his refined sensitivity, intelligence, kindness and artistic nature.

I knew him through my friendship with Valeria who was a colleague with me in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  There we became close friends while working together in the Department of Asiatic Art.  After Valeria moved to New York, we kept in touch and I visited her and Sohei there, and sometimes even stayed with them in their home as well.  It was always a joy to see  Valeria with Sohei.  He cared for her so well and devotedly, and he made her very happy.  And of course I am deeply indebted to Valeria that through her I came to know such a fine and rare person as Sohei.

I would like to thank you for your kindness in letting me know of Sohei's passing.  I regret that I could not attend Sohei's memorial service, and that I received your letter too late to email you for that.  I assure you that Sohei will always be remembered by me with gratitude and admiration.

Once again, I send to you and your family my sincere sympathy and condolences.

Remembrance by Jennifer and Stephanie Wada

Sohei Hohri was a true friend to our family.  He and Steve and Takako Wada met in Paris when they were all there on the G.I. bill after WWII, and they became part of the circle of Japanese-American artists when they returned to New York City.  To Steve and Taxi’s daughters, Stephanie and Jennifer, Sohei became a friend as well; we knew him as the kind, gentle, and brilliant fellow who would engage us in conversation as readily and thoughtfully as he would our parents.  His kindness and loyalty became ever more apparent as the years went by; when Steve and Taxie became infirm, Sohei would regularly call and visit, often with Valeria, even though we knew such visits were increasingly difficult for them.

We miss Sohei very much.  At his memorial, his family gave us a copy of the speech he gave at Steve’s memorial in 2011; it says a lot about Steve, but also a great deal about Sohei himself:

My name is Sohei Hohri.

Steve, you are a friend.

I first met you and Taxi in Paris at the Atelier Fernand Léger.

Steve, you taught me to cherish three things:  the eye, the hand, the heart:  the eye to look long, and closely at the strange, startling, beautiful world about us; the hand to draw, draw, draw, draw, draw; the heart, listen to it and it will tell you:  it is good, it is finished, it is done.

Steve, you remain a teacher.

Steve, you remain a friend.

Memorial - by Al (Lefty) Hyosaka

John & I met in the fall of 1946 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina where we were
undergoing basic training.  We continued our journey together with 20 other
Nisei soldiers to Japan as part of the WW2 other forces.

John was a scholar and I remember he always carried a book in his hand.
He had a great sense of humor that went along with his great smile.

I am blessed to have known him and i will miss him!

Al (Lefty) Hyosaka

From left to right:  Joe Tsunemitsu (deceased)/Nobe Inouye(deceased)/Al/John (Sohei)
I couldn't recall the soldier seated in front row.  I do have this exact photo.
Brings back memories of those days.

My Most Singular Uncle - Sylvia Hohri

A Remembrance

The Eagle, a fragment by Alfred Lord Tennyson:

“He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

“The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from the mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.”

This poem so admired by my late uncle is one of many he committed to memory. Perhaps it was the vivid imagery, drama and brevity that appealed to him. Sohei appreciated the pithy aphorism.  He quoted, with a chuckle, from The Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes: “Life is nasty, brutish and short.” I remember his frequent request of me, “Sylvia, in a nutshell, please, a nutshell.” So, Sohei, I’ll try to keep it brief.

How can I ever describe the legacy left by my most singular uncle? His avid book collecting and extensive reading and re-reading, his  memorization of Shakespeare, Dante, Tennyson and Lincoln, among others,  his lifelong drawing and calligraphy practice, his community engagement, his 30+ year dedication to an august institution, love of the ocean and Chinese food, daily walks with, and devotion to, his dear wife, Valeria,  and his lightness of being. Ahh, this was a life well-lived!

In some ways it seems his private life as a book collector and his professional work as a librarian/curator were so closely intertwined they became who he was: all those books of literature, philosophy, history, natural science, and sailing that he read, and aspired to read. Remembering his large-scale ambition acts as a guidepost and inspiration. The pursuit of knowledge is probably what kept him going and also, humble.

Did The University of Chicago play a part in making the man? As a fellow alumna, I can only say, most certainly, for that is where I discovered the life of the mind, in particular, scholarship, its challenges and satisfactions.

But his reading of Les Miserables happened before college, in high school and, of all places, Manzanar concentration camp. You could only take what you could carry so he must have really wanted to take this book. I’ve been reading it recently as a way to stay close to Sohei. I recommend it to you, for it will remind you of him in so many ways:  its elegance, dignity, compassion, and awareness of suffering wrought by the powerful on the vulnerable, particularly, children.

I can’t think of my uncle without also remembering my father, William Hohri, to whom Sohei was a lifelong great friend. Their friendship probably began in the orphanage when my dad was three and Sohei, five. They were there because their parents had tuberculosis and were confined to a sanatorium for several years, leaving their children to fend for themselves. When reunited with his mother, my father had no recollection of who she was. The bond had been broken. But Sohei looked after his kid brother and was with him in camp, telling the classic tale of Jean Valjean to the children gathered around him nightly. Years after camp, from the halls of the University, Sohei wrote to his brother. He encouraged my father to apply, and so he did, changing the course of his life for the better.

My childhood memories of Sohei recall magic tricks – the multiplying bunnies and disappearing dimes, and his gentle way of saying, “Calm, calm” when my sister and I got too rambunctious. I recall his fondness for cats, especially Ra and Thoth, named after the Egyptian gods of sun and moon, and the mysterious Roofus who lived as an invisible, yet well-fed, presence above the apartment shared with Valeria.

In his last remaining months. Sohei was calling his friends to let them know he was in the nursing home. Some would start crying and railing against nursing homes. When I called him in February to wish him a happy birthday, marveling at his 90 years longevity, he replied, “It’s no big deal.”  He seemed quite content with what was happening and accepting of old age. Perhaps he was thinking of what Victor Hugo wrote, “To include in one’s life some sense of mortality is the law of the sage.” His wise words to me and, I believe, for all his friends, were, in a nutshell, “Be strong. Be calm. Be grateful.” 

Sylvia Hohri, July 18, 2015, Japanese American United Church, New York City

Eternal Father, Strong to Save

Eternal Father, Strong to Save
(Navy Hymn)

read by Ed Andrews at Sohei's Sea Burial on July 20, 2015

Verse 1: Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!


Verse 2: O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!


Verse 3: Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!


Verse 4: O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe'er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Yachting NY Times article

YACHTING

YACHTING; Cup Maneuvers in Library

By BARBARA LLOYD

Published: October 30, 1988

The library at the New York Yacht Club on West 44th Street is a quiet enclave with more than a century of yacht-racing history on its shelves. But the courthouse battles engulfing the America's Cup have turned it into something else, a kind of end zone for the legal teams looking for material to bolster their cases. If researchers wore uniforms, there would be different-colored jerseys at every table.

Attorneys from both the San Diego Yacht Club's cup defense and Michael Fay's New Zealand challenge have taken advantage of the New York club's hospitality, as have journalists and historians. They come and go alone or in pairs, poring through antique volumes in search of evidence. New Zealand charges that the San Diego Yacht Club's defense of the America's Cup with a catamaran is invalid. Fay says the series was a mismatch: multihull against his monohull challenger.

Sohei Hohri, the library's curator, has been instructed by the club's legal advisers to stay impartial. ''We are trying hard to be neutral,'' Hohri said in a recent interview. ''I have been told, 'Duck, keep your head down.' They'll be looking to seize on anything.''

In the early days of litigation, not all the attorneys knew each other. Hohri, a club librarian for 30 years, watched with trepidation one day as a team started discussing strategy out loud. He ran over to them and pointed out that the opposition was sitting at the next table. Ground Rules for Research

''I obviously can't tell one side what the other side is doing,'' Hohri said. ''Both sides have made noises about me helping the other. But I think it's just a ploy to try and make me nervous about being careful.''

The club has set up ground rules. Anyone working on a case has free access to books on the shelves and is allowed to copy pages.

If an attorney asks to see minutes of past New York Yacht Club meetings, there is a procedure. The investigators are searching for papers that date to the late 1880's, a historical period at the crux of the controversy. They want to know what was considered a fair match when the Deed of Gift, which governs cup racing, was drawn up in 1887.

The minutes of club meetings are locked in the New York Yacht Club's office safe. Club rules prevent the legal teams from thumbing through the historical documents. But Hohri will research a certain date, and make copies available after they have been scanned for proprietary information by the New York club's legal advisers. Whatever is distributed to one team is then passed to the other. Both sides are cautious about material they ask for because they know that it will be given to the opposition. 'It Was a Parade'

John Rousmaniere, an America's Cup author and historian, is a frequent visitor to the library. He produced a paper this month calling the race series in San Diego a mismatch. The New York Yacht Club submitted Rousmaniere's work to the New York State Supreme Court in response to a recent judicial request for the club's viewpoint. Justice Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick had asked the opinion of interested parties; the New York Yacht Club held the America's Cup from 1857 to 1983. New York concluded that San Diego's defense was illegal.

''Everybody could see that it was not a race, it was a parade,'' Frank V. Snyder, the New York club's commodore, said last week. ''We looked at the Deed of Gift, which said this was supposed to be a friendly competition. It was neither friendly, nor a competition.''

The New York club asked Justice Ciparick to void the September race series, which San Diego's Stars & Stripes catamaran won in a 2-0 sweep over New Zealand. Snyder said the club had submitted Rousmaniere's treatise for its historical merit. As a club member and historian updating his ''America's Cup Book,'' Rousmaniere had received permission from the New York Yacht Club for access to the library archives.

''I told him O.K., but give me a brief memo on what you find,'' Snyder said. ''He came back two weeks later with this 25-page piece of art.'' Compromise Suggested

Rousmaniere spent two days in the library last month going through material, some of which had apparently had not been seen by the other researchers. ''I was very nervous about that,'' Rousmaniere said. ''If anybody had been there while I was looking through those documents, I would have asked for a private room. But no one was.''

Officials of Sail America, the San Diego Yacht Club's event organizer, say there is nothing new in the Rousmaniere paper. John Marshall, a Sail America trustee, says his group has suggested a compromise to Justice Ciparick: settle the dispute by an international yachting jury rather than the courts.

The legal machinations are likely to go on into next year, and with them, a continued run on the New York Yacht Club library.

Memorial Video - created by Otsu Hohri Yee

Sohei and Valeria, Union Square New York City

Manzanar Children's Village Reunion: Talk by "John" Sohei Hohri, May 24, 1992

Sohei Hohri: An Appreciation by the New York Yacht Club

Heartfelt condolences - by Robert (Bobby) Yamahita

My heart-felt condolences for the great loss of jOHN SOHEI HOHR,I a vey special individual, who accomplished so much during his lifetime who will be greatly missed by Valeria, family and friends.

I was a resident of Children's Village (CV)  in Manznar and lived at the Salvation Army Orphanage in San Francisco for Japanese American orphanage for three (3) years prior to that. 

 I met John(Sohei) in the summer of 42 at CV when he was looking after the younger boysand I among many others sat in to listen to his story telling of Les Miserables and other stories by James Fennimore Cooper and also to see his sketches and drawings.  Did not want to miss his story telling.  Also, met his late younge brother, William who use to visit CV at various times who also accomplished much during his lifetime.  Most notably, initiating the redress movement for those interned in the ten (10) permanent camps.

I last met Sohei in at the Japanese American Historical Museum in east Los Angeles, In he late 80's, I believe, when retired Professor Emeritus,

Mr. Arthur Hansen arranged a panel about CV and Sohei was one of the panelist.

Unfortunately, we did not keep in touch after 45 when I left CV for Milwaukee, WI area, so even though I lived in north New Jersey towns from 55 to March of 69, we were never in conact ( really missed out during a large portion of our earlier life.

My very good wishes and continued good health to all.

Sincere Regards,

Robert (Bobby) Yamahita

A message of condolence - by Harold Landon

Dear Sylvia:

I attended Ralph Emerson Junior High School when Sohei did and we have communicated ever since – 76 years. Most of our actual meeting together occurred while we attended University High School in 1940 and 1941. While John was at Manzanar we communicated by post card and letters.

The Japanese in America, living through the unwarranted relocation camps, are the bet example of a forgiving attitude experienced in my lifetime.  Sohei and his family were among the leaders of that approach. Of all the Christian teachings, the act of forgiveness was illustrated to me by Sohei and is one of Jesus’s important teachings. My family and my wife’s sister, Arleen Nelson, are all thankful for the opportunity of our friendship with Sohei.

Fondly yours,

Thelma Jo and Harold Landon

Remembrance - by Michael Ishii

He was a true sage among men. What was always so unique about him was the gentle and deep human intelligence that he always quietly conveyed as a light forward for us all. He never sought the spotlight but rather put his own spirit and heart towards the places where his light was needed most- like caring for orphaned children who were the most alone in the WWII camps. I understand why they wept decades later when they were reunited with him. He offered love in the darkest of places to those most vulnerable. Bodhisattva/Guardian Angel. He was not a man of pretense or ego, but he was deeply special and we were blessed to be here during his time.
Thank you, Sir. Know now if you didn't realize it before the magnitude of your life and the difference you made. We will never forget.
Well done. Your life was a work of the most humane and human art.
Rest in Peace.

Remembrance - by Kristin Engelbretson

I feel so lucky to have had Sohei as my uncle. I am so happy that he married my Aunt Valeria (a.k.a. Aunt Honey).  He took very good care of her and I am very grateful to him for that.

The first time I met Uncle Sohei, I had arrived very late at night and took a bus to meet him and Aunt Honey.  After getting off the bus, I could see them sitting across the street all alone in front of a building holding hands.  I thought they were adorable.

It seems like they had a special kind of love....my daughter Alyssa once told me that Uncle Sohei told her that on the day he met Valeria, he didn't stutter anymore. I also heard that sometimes they would speak to each other in poetry.  I would have loved to have heard that.  Uncle Sohei was always curious about our lives and asked us many questions. I wish I would have asked him more questions.

I loved how he would send drawings of his cats, as well as self-portraits of him and Aunt Honey in their letters to us. Those drawings are my treasures. I feel so proud to have had Sohei as my uncle and am missing him very much.

Kristin Engelbretson
Portland, Oregon

Remembering Sohei - by Martha Akagi

Dear friends and family of Sohei,

Constancy is a virtue rooted in love that comes from the heart.
Over the years, Margaret's brother and Saeko Katherine Akagi's Hohri uncle, our dear Sohei
has kept in touch with our family by mail and phone. We have saved all his letters.
The care with which he has communicated has always touched our hearts.

So giving.
He has played a special role in my life as my haiku mentor:

"Write 50 a day. AH!"
"You have it in your heart. Don't listen to them. Don't obey me."

So humble.
When I sent him our book published by the Boston Haiku Society, thanking him
for being being my mentor, he wrote back:

Marthahaiku---
                thankyou
... .
... .
... !
                thankyou
                        Sohei
September 26, 2013

With a drawing of a bird holding the message,

Not too high,
Fly.
See new.

October 3, 2013
Marthahaiku Again, thankyou


I will miss him very much. He remains in our hearts.

After the loss ...
Breeze gently lifts
The petals

Martha Rice Akagi

Sincerely,
Martha and Kate Akagi and the Rice family

A message of condolence - by Kazuye Suyematsu

Over the years, with the regularity of the passing seasons, I would receive phone calls from Sohei.  Long conversations would follow, ranging widely; the economy and politics,  literature, art, how living was in New York in a 5th floor apartment with Valeria, his cats, and his books, and countless other topics.  I found his pursuit for revelations to be endless.

Always wanting to keep me informed, any news item that might be of interest was forwarded to me with a beautifully penned letter accompanying the clipping.  I learned the value of keeping in touch by his example.

I came to know Sohei in May 1992 at the Children’s Village Reunion in Rosemead, California.  And I also came to know that the sensitivity of his response to all that he encountered was enormous. 

The richness of his life, the need for sharing a spirit which was so much a part of him, and his willingness to be that link that bound us all to a greater hope for a beautiful life are the gifts his life has brought to us.  I will forever be grateful to him for his friendship.  I mourn his departure.

My sincere condolences to you, Valeria, and to all in his family.

Remembrance - by Jeannine Engelbretson Windt

Valeria’s brother, Kenneth, was my dad and she has always been known to her nieces and nephews as “Aunt Honey”.  Aunt Honey and Uncle Sohei were famous for sending us unique Christmas gifts and were always the ones we opened first.  For my daughter’s first Christmas, they gave her and her dad matching Diana Nyad marathon swim goggles, she was 5 months old.  They gave my Dad a “Grandpa” action figure.  When my stepdaughter Jennifer graduated from law school, they sent her a beautiful pen as a gift and when she wrote to thank them she mentioned she didn’t want to use it as she was afraid she might lose it, so for Christmas that year, they gave her a Snoopy pen. 

We have a collection of beautiful books from them that range from cowboy boots to feng shui, the topic was always relative to whatever was going on in our lives at the time.  We also have a file at home labeled “Aunt Honey and Uncle Sohei”.  In it are a collection of cards and letters we’ve received over the years that included personalized drawings, poems, and bits of insight.  The drawings of the cats are a personal favorite. 

We were able to visit them in New York many years ago.  When we got off the elevator in the lobby of our hotel, they were waiting for us holding up a sign that said, “Jim and Jeannine”.  They took us to The Stage Deli where we had the biggest sandwiches in the world but they were prepared and had brought with them a Tupperware container to take home the leftovers.  Uncle Sohei always crossed the street holding his hand out in front of us to make sure the crazy taxi drivers didn’t run us over. 

A few years ago, Jim and I drove from California to Florida and sent them a post card from almost every stop we made.  This was a very small attempt to thank them for being so thoughtful to our family.

Uncle Sohei was a true renaissance man. 

Jeannine Engelbretson Windt

Crossing the Bar

Crossing the Bar
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

read by Sylvia Hohri at Sohei's Sea Burial, July 20, 2015

Sunset and evening star
   And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
   When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
   Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
   Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
   And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
   When I embark;

For though from out our bourne of Time and Place
   The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
   When I have crossed the bar.

Memorial Program

Saturday, July 18th, 2015
Japanese American United Church
New York City

Certain faculties of mankind are directed towards the Unknown:
thought, imagination, prayer. The Unknown is an ocean. What is
conscience? It is a compass in the Unknown. Thought, imagination,
prayer, these are great mysterious radiances. Let us respect them.
Where do these majestic radiances of the soul go? Into the
darkness—that is to say, towards the light.
From Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo

Program
Welcome 
Otsu Hohri Yee
 
Reflections from Family & Friends
My Most Singular Uncle - Sylvia Hohri
New York Yacht Club Days - John Rousmaniere
Sohei Hohri is an Inspiration - Tsuya Hohri Yee
A Gentle Man by Leslee Inaba Wong - read by Otsu Hohri Yee
 
Community remembrances
 
Fisherman’s Family Prayer - Ed Andrews
 
Closing
Otsu Hohri Yee

[Otsu presiding over the memorial service at the Japanese American United Church]

Sohei Hohri is an Inspiration to me - by Tsuya Hohri Yee

Sohei Hohri is an Inspiration to me –

Sohei and Valeria are an inspiration to me.  They carried out the heroic daily work of reinvigorating and reinventing their creative intimacy with enthusiasm and determination. This work included drawing and sending thank you cards and love notes to each other from the same apartment, and sitting together in the World Plaza sharing their observations the hundreds of differences between two pigeons.  Their world was rich with nature, color, craft, cats, and love. 

What fills me with the most inspiration and awe is thinking about his love for young people. For there was no one who respected and understood the mind of a young person the way Sohei did.  I know this because I was one of the lucky ones to receive his devoted affection and care for my whole life. 

But I was not the only child to receive that attention.  Sohei once said that in all of America’s shameful, illegal internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans, the most shameful episode remains the internment of the orphanage children, taken not only from orphanages but even from foster homes. They were put into an orphanage, prettily called ‘Children’s Village’ in the Manzanar internment camp.

Sohei spent a lot of time with the children there.  The children would listen with rapt attention to his stories, famous tales told from memory and follow him around camp asking for more stories. He was careful to always leave the tale on a cliffhanger to keep them eager for the next part.   I like to imagine the kindness and dedication of Sohei as a young adult to spend that time with orphans telling them stories, feeding their minds and imaginations with tales of adventure while they endured not only the hardship of camp life but also the pain of being without their parents. In those moments during the storytime, I think he helped them feel free.  And loved.

From what I hear, at the Children’s Village 50 year reunion in 1992, people wept with emotion when they heard his voice and since his death, we’ve heard heartfelt remembrances from the orphans now grown of how he touched their lives so deeply.  Today, we are also filled with emotion as we think on the long, beautiful, and generous life of Sohei Hohri.  Thank you.

Tsuya Yee, July 18, 2015

New York City

Sohei Hohri was a gentle man - by Leslee Inaba Wong

IN MEMORY OF SOHEI HOHRI

Sohei Hohri was a gentle man.

He embodied the best qualities of Japanese Americans. He was honest. He valued his integrity. He was complexly talented. He worked hard with great detail and commitment. And he was humble.

I remember a dinner with the Hohri brothers, William and Sohei. The occasion: the launching of one of William’s book in New York City.  A Chinese restaurant. A round table. William talking. Sohei next to him listening, agreeing, supporting. Proud of his brother’s accomplishments. I thought, this is how it must have been all their lives. Sohei –the, ‘I’ve-got- your- back- brother’.

He was part of us, part of the energy that galvanized the East Coast Japanese Americans for Redress/Reparations and continued into the Day of Remembrance Committee. We could count on him. Always. “Sohei, can you make certificates of appreciations to honor those who made our program happen?”  And they appeared. Beautiful. Hand lettered each one. True works of art from the artist in the man.

Years later I heard from a person from an entirely different part of his life. “You know Sohei Hohri? He was the librarian for the New York Yacht Club. He retired recently and is so highly regarded.” When I mentioned this to Sohei, he responded:  “A boat, wind, and water. That is all you need. Those three things, a boat, wind, and water.” He was not a yachting man. I don’t know if he ever set foot in a sail boat. But he vicariously enjoyed and respected the sport, condensing what other people spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours into its three basic elements.

Our New York Japanese American community is a geographically dispersed community. There is no central Little Tokyo, no J-Town. What centers us, our pillars, are people. The Kochiyamas, the Wadas, the Yuzawas, the Kanezawas, all helped bring us together and anchor us.  Sohei Hohri was one such pillar.

It was Taxi Wada who said to me, “Sohei Hohri is a gentle man.”  He will be missed.

With love and respect,

Leslee Inaba-Wong

June 30, 2015

 [Sohei and grandniece Tsuya at New York Day of Remembrance, 2003. Japanese American United Church]

Obituary

John Sohei Hohri

February 4, 1925 - June 6, 2015

Artist, librarian, curator, book collector, calligrapher, animal and nature lover, lifelong student of history and philosophy, beloved son, brother, husband and uncle, John Sohei Hohri was born in Los Angeles, California, the fifth of six children to Daisuke Hohri and Asa Hohri (Utsunomiya). He was older brother to William Hohri (1927-2010) who was the leader of the National Coalition for Japanese American Redress. He graduated from Ralph Waldo Emerson High School, Westwood, CA in 1940, two years before the U.S. government interned his family at Manzanar. At Manzanar Children's Village, the camp orphanage, he became a favorite storyteller, notably retelling the classic historical novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo and stories from The Odyssey by Homer.

Hohri served in the U.S. military starting in 1946 and was awarded two medals: World War II Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal Japan. He later went on to graduate from The University of Chicago with a BA in philosophy. In the '50s he traveled to France to study with noted abstract painter Fernand Leger.

After his return to the United States, he began a more than 30-year career as librarian and curator of the New York Yacht Club. He also created gold-leafed scrolls presented to upper rank competitors for America's Cup. Upon his retirement in 1989, the Club recognized his decades of outstanding service by naming a special room in his honor, Sohei Hohri Rare Book Room.

An avid book collector, Hohri acquired some 30,000 volumes over his lifetime in subjects ranging from art history and philosophy to natural sciences, poetry and literature, including a special interest in children's books.

He is survived by his loving wife, Valeria Engelbretson, brother Takuo and an extended family of nieces, nephews, grand and great grandchildren.