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