The First Asians in IthacaThe city of Ithaca is located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of Central New York . Nearby, the exquisite Lake Cayuga empties its waters at its northernmost reaches into the legendary Mohawk Valley and the historic Erie Canal. Situated on the southernmost shores of Lake Cayuga is the City of Ithaca. Ithaca is aptly known by the description, "Ithaca is Gorges." This gem of a city is surrounded by waterfalls and deep gorges. Ithaca is also home to two famous institutions of higher learning -- Cornell University and Ithaca College. Complementing the beauty and education is the region's renown for its openness to new spiritual movements; support for freedom, suffrage, and emancipation; and as a refuge to the poor, exiles, refugees, immigrants, and minorities. These three elements -- the natural beauty, educational excellence, and egalitarian and inclusive openness -- mark Ithaca as a place of wonder, inquiry, and humanity. The First Asian: Kanaye Nagasawa (1852-1934)Asians have come to Ithaca ever since 1867, many attracted by the educational opportunities and openness of the Finger Lakes region. The first recorded Asian was Kanaye Nagasawa. His story is magical, heroic, and tragic. Nagasawa, a son of a samurai family of the Satsuma clan of southern Japan, left Japan in 1864 at the age of 12 and boarded illegally an English boat to study Western science in Glasgow and Aberdeen, Scotland for several years. During his time in Great Britain, he befriended Lady Oliphant and her son Lawrence, who were disciples of Thomas Lake Harris, a utopian religious leader. These two disciples introduced Nagasawa to Harris. Harris had established a utopian community called The Brotherhood on the shores of Lake Erie, and he sent Nagasawa in 1867 to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York to study viticulture so that the community might prosper by making wine. Nagasawa was one of the first eight Japanese in the United States. He was accompanied by four other Japanese fellow clan members who had escaped Tokugawa Japan to learn more about the West, even though contact with the West was expressly forbidden by the Japanese Emperor at the time. These five had been part of a group of fifteen Japanese young men who were smuggled out of their homes in Satsuma by the leader of the clan (the Satsuma clan was one of the major clans historically responsible for the modernization of Japan; they were instrumental in the restoration of the Emperor and the toppling of the Tokugawa Shogunate). In 1865, these young men were smuggled out of Kagoshima harbor, debarked in Hong Kong, and then cut their hair, bought western clothes, and changed their names. It was then that Hikosuke Isonaga, son of a wealthy Confucian scholar, stone carver, and astronomer from a Samurai family, became for the rest of his life Kanaye Nagasawa. Nagasawa was the youngest of the group, and was the only one who did not return to Japan after the Meiji Restoration. The rest who went back became very important in the government of the emerging nation. Others in the group who lived with Harris at his Brocton colony went home and were named ambassadors to the United States, Russia, and France or became professors of the first Western-style university of Japan, called Tokyo Imperial University. Nagasawa elected to stay with "father Faithful" of the Brotherhood of New Life, and lived at Brocton, New York, near the shores of Lake Erie. It was during these years, when he was sixteen and seventeen years old, that Kanaye Nagasawa attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. When Kanaye was eighteen, Thomas Lake Harris made a momentous move. He left for Santa Rosa, California and built there a new colony that would become the new headquarters for his "Brotherhood." The site he chose, located on the outskirts of Santa Rosa, was named "Fountain Grove: The Eden of the West." Nagasawa was selected by Harris to be the among the elected few of the leadership, and his was the task of cultivating grapes and sustaining the colony. The land purchased was a 1,500 acre estate on the outskirts of Santa Rosa in the beautiful Sonoma and Napa valleys. Eventually, the utopian community disbanded, and Nagasawa was given by Harris the entire estate, now totaling over 2,500 acres of prime agricultural land (today, the most expensive homes and all of the major corporate businesses in Santa Rosa stand where his land is located). He eventually built what would be called the "Roundbarn Ranch," exemplified by a unique round barn that stills stands today. Local denizens and the growing Japanese community of Sonoma County, California came to know him as the "Wine King" of California. He was the first Californian to introduce California wines to England, Europe, and Japan. On weekends, he would invite local dignitaries and Japanese embassy officials to his lavish enormous estate and house. There they were given the finest entertainment and foods. By the turn of the century, Nagasawa was known as "Baron of Fountaingrove." In his huge house, the rooms downstairs were filled with books encompassing literature and art from all over the world. He was known to have read hour after hour, all in English. His prolific letters and writings would eventually be donated to the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1934, he passed away, and left his estate to his wife and children. Due to discriminatory Alien Land Laws that forbade Japanese nationals from owning land or businesses in California, Nagasawa was forced to leave part of the ownership of Fountaingrove in the hands of a non-Japanese trustee. In 1942, under F.D.R.'s Executive Order 9066, his heirs lost this beautiful land. His descendants were incarcerated throughout the war years in the Japanese American internment camps, and Fountaingrove was confiscated by the trustee (a court case was entered to fight the confiscation, but the heirs lost the case). Today, the lands lost by Nagasawa would be worth billions of dollars, but the descendants who survived the traumas of World War II living in the camps who were still living in 1988 would each receive the pittance of $20,000 for compensation for their lost land. Recently, Nagasawa's descendants living in the San Francisco Bay Area and many of the descendants of the Japanese families who had worked with the Nagasawa family at Fountaingrove celebrated Nagasawa's historic achievements at a community reception honoring his memory. The history of Kanaye Nagasawa is a truly Asian American story of pioneering spirit, triumphal achievement, bittersweet soil, and reconciliation. Riokichi Yatabe (1851-1899)In 1867, "Riokichi Yatabe" (actually properly known in Japan as Yatabe Ryokichi) enrolled in botany at Cornell University. He becomes the first Asian to graduate from Cornell University. He returns to Japan to become the first curator of the Tokyo Botanic Garden, initiates the Department of Botany at Tokyo Imperial University, and founds the modern teacher education program in Japan with his appointment as the first principal of the Upper Normal School, Tokyo Imperial University. In the late 19th Century, he argues for the complete abolition of Kanji (Chinese characters) and the adoption of Romaji (Roman characters) for the written language of Japan. He is unsuccessful in his efforts, but Japan becomes forced to reduce the tens of thousands of Chinese characters to a more tractable number, ensuring greater access to education and learning in Japan. C. H. WingIn 1870, a Professor of Chinese descent, named C. H. Wing, teaches at Cornell University. IAAA is researching further to find out more about his background. He is the first Asian to teach at Cornell University. Ithaca 1873 Ithaca, 1873. Cornell University is at the bottom lower right. Lee Family Chinese Laundry - The First Asian American Business in Ithaca, New YorkIn 1872, the Y. Lee family, probably a member of the Lee Family Association, establishes the first Asian American business on Aurora Street in Ithaca, New York. It is a Chinese laundry, catering to the local clientele as well as Cornell University. Depicted below is an etching made of a typical Chinese laundry during the 1870s. Chinese immigrant workers went into the laundry enterprise after the construction of the railroads. Facing intense discrimination throughout the United States, Chinese Americans found that employment associated with "feminized labor," such as cooking, cleaning, and serving, became the primary means for survival in the United States during the 19th Century. IAAA IAAA News Links |