Fisherman, Businessman, Father of U.S. Army Veterans and the wife of Tito Rodriquez

Isekichi was the father of eleven children, including two sons who served with distinction in the U.S. Army in World War II, a son who supervised the construction of the Sears Tower in Chicago, and a daughter, who married Tito Rodriguez, a popular singer and bandleader from Puerto Rico.

After his arrival in the U.S., he worked in the fishery and fish processing industry in northwestern Washington state, at Port Blakely, Anacortes, Bellingham, and Lummi Island.

Ancestry

Isekichi was the son of Jenkichi and Fude Kunimatsu, natives of Fukuoka-ken, Japan, where his mother Fude still resided in 1930 at Oda, Fukuda-mura.

Marriage

Isekichi married Yukeno (or Yukino) Kanzaki in Fukuoka-ken, Japan by 1898.

Yukino, a native of Fukuoka-ken, was from a large family of at least eight children, including a brother Gunchiro and a younger sister Fuyu, who also moved to western Washington state, and who close remained to Yukino.

Isekichi and Yukino had their first child in Japan.

Immigration to the U.S. in 1900

Isekichi and Yukino immigrated to Tacoma, Washington on 8 April 1900, when they arrived on the S.S. Olympia sailing from Kobe, Japan. They had never been to the U.S. before so their trip must have been a big adventure for them. They were accompanied by several Kanzaki relatives, including Busaburo Kanzaki, aged 42 years, 10 months; Torakichi Kanzaki, aged 35 years; Asataro Kanzaki, aged 30 years, 9 months; Kinzo Kanzaki, aged 20 years, 10 months (his future brother-in-law); and Yasu Kanzaki, age 41 years, 10 months, wife of Busaburo. Asataro had a flower store in Alameda, California.

In Washington state, Isekichi worked in the fish processing industry.

Life at Port Blakely, Kitsap Co., Washington (1900-1910)

Judging from the births of their children, Isekichi and his family resided at Port Blakely for about 10 years, where there was a fairly large Japanese population that worked at the mill and a salmon cannery. Unfortunatley, he has not yet been located in other records, apart from the ships manifest for his wife in 1909, when she returned to Port Blakely after a visit to Japan. We also have marriage and census records showing that his in-laws Kenzo and Fuyu Okubo lived at Port Blakely between 1907 and 1910.

Life at Anacortes, Skagit Co., Washington (1910-1921)

By 1910 Isekichi and his family settled at Anacortes by 1910 where their daughter Umeko was born, and where he worked for the Robinson Fisheries Co.

They were enumerated on Oakes St. in the 1 May 1916 Anacortes School Census.

The 1 May 1917 Anacortes School Census shows the family at Anacortes with children Kenzo and Mae in school.

In June 1917 his daughter Shizuya visited her grandmother Fude KUNIMATSU at Asakura-gun, Fukuoka-ken, Japan, returning July 1917 on the Chicago Maru from Kobe, Japan to Seattle. Her father, I. Kunimatsu, c/o Robinson Fish Co., Anacortes, Washington.

The 1918 Anacortes School Census and his WWI draft registration card for 1917-1918 lists his occupation as foreman of Japanese workers at Robinson Fisheries, and provide his birthdate.

The photos included here of the Robinson Fisheries plants at Anacortes are contemporaneous with Isekichi's employment there. The large codfish processing plant where Isekichi supervised a crew of Japanese workmen was located on the wharf. His brother-in-law, Kenzo Okubo, also worked at the same plant in 1920, indicative of the close connection between the Zanzaki sisters, Yukino and Fuyu, and their families, at Anacortes.

In early July 1920, Isekichi and his family returned to Anacortes from Yokohama, Japan, following a visit with his mother, Fude Kunimatsu, at Asakura-Kawamura, Fukuoka-Ken, Japan.

The manifest for the Hawaii-maru lists them as Isekichi, fisherman, 41, Yukino, housewife, 39, Umeko, 10, Saburo 5, and Shiro 2; as well as his niece, Toshiko KANZAKI, 15 years, 7 months, the daughter of Yukino's sister, Fuyu Okubo.

The family was enumerated in the 1 May 1921 Anacortes School Census, when children Kenzo, Satyu Sano, Almay (Ume), and Sabro were counted. Shiro and Isamu were too young to be counted. At the time Isekichi worked for Robinson Fishery and the family lived in Robinson Fishery housing.

Move to Bellingham, Washington in 1921

City directories reveal that Isekichi and his family moved to Bellingham later in 1921 where they operated the Holly Tea Parlor at 433 West Holly Street. They lived in a large two-story house at 2630 Walnut St. until 1926, which was an easy walk from the parlor (see photo).

In November 1925, Isekichi, Yukino, and their children Tsune, Isamu, and Takeko left Seattle for a visit to his mother, Fude Kunimatsu, at Oda, Kukuda-mura, Fukuoka-ken, Japan.

They returned to Seattle six months later, on 26 May 1926, listed as Isekichi, merchant, 47, Yukino, housewife, 45, Tsune, 14, Isamu, 5, and Takeko, 1. They were shown as residents of Beach, Washington.

In 1927, Isekichi and Yukino rented a large two-story house in Bellingham on 1406 H Street (see recent photo of the house). It too was located an easy walk away from the restaurant.

After Yukino’s death later in 1927, his in-laws Kenzo and Fuyu Okubo moved from Anacortes into the Kunimatsu's house and assumed the care of Fuyu’s sisters’ youngest children in addition to their own six. They also managed the Holly Tea Parlor.

Bellingham city directories in 1928 and 1929 show that Isekichi and his family lived with his Okubo in-laws at 1406 H Street.

In 1929, Isekichi, his son Kenzo, and daughter, Takeko, left Bellingham for a long visit to Fukuoka-ken, Japan, to visit his mother, F. Kunimatsu, and other relatives. His daughter, Takeko, was left with relatives in Japan and returned at the end of 1931.

On 30 May 1930, Isekichi, merchant, 51, and his son Kenzo, returned on the Empress of Canada from Manila, Philippine Islands, arriving at Vancouver, British Columbia. They listed their address at Bellingham as 1406 H St., where his family shared the house the Okubo family. Interestingly, for his contact in Japan he listed his wife, C. Kunimatsu, at Fukuoka-ken, Japan. Thus, he may have remarried during this visit to Japan.

Smuggler's Cove on Lummi Island

Following his wife's death in 1927, he managed the Japanese American fish fertilizer plant at Smuggler's Cove on Lummi Island, Whatcom Co., Washington, where he, and his eldest son, Kenzo, were enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Census.

The plant made fertilizer from fish offal obtained from fish processors and canneries. No doubt that this was a smelly job. The photo of a scow loaded with fish offal from a cannery for transport to a fish fertilizer plant illustrates part of the process.

A Seattle Times article stated that Isekichi and his son Kenzo were arrested by U.S. immigration officers in a sting at the fish fertilizing plant in July 1931, accused in the smuggling of Japanese laborers in through Canada. The outcome of the investigation and trial, if any, is not currently known.

For mysterious reasons, when his daughter Takeko returned from Japan in December 1931, the ships manifest lists Isekichi's address as 600 Holly St., Bellingham, which the address of the Sunrise Cafe operated by his Okubo in-laws.

Poulsbo, Washington (1932-1934)

In 1932 his son Kenzo lived at Beach on Lummi Island, Whatcom Co., Washington [Bellingham Directory, 1932].

Isekichi died of pulmonary tuberculous at King County Hospital #1, Seattle in September 1934 [Washington State Vital Records, Deaths}. His death certificate listed his residence as Poulsbo, Washington, and his occupation was listed as that of a common laborer.

Following Isekichi's death, his minor children Saburo, Shiro, Isamu, and Takeko were raised by his sister-in-law, Fuyu (Kanzaki) Okubo, at Bellingham, and later at the Tule Lake and Heart Mountain Segregation Centers during the war.

Isekichi and Yukino's eleven children (the last ten were born in Washington state):

1. Mitsuko (born in 1898 in Fukuoka-ken, Japan).
2. Kenzo "Kne" (1901-1981; born at Port Blakely).
3. Shizuyo (1903-1988; born at Port Blakely).
4. Jitsuko (1907-1992; born at Port Blakely).
5. Umeko "Ume" "Mae" (1910-1971; born at Anacortes).
6. Tsune "Jean" (1911-1951; born at Anacortes).
7. Jiro or Giro (Mases) (1913-1913; born at Anacortes).
8. Saburo "Sab" (1915-2002; born at Anacortes).
9. Shiro (1917-2002; born at Anacortes).
10. Isamu "Eke" (1921-1944; born at Anacortes).
11. Takeko "Tobi Kei" (1925-1984; born at Bellingham).

By 1991, Jitsuko, Saburo, and Shiro were the only surviving children. Sab and Shiro both died in 2002.

Biography by Tom Brocher, updated 12 March 2021.