Shizuko Harunaga nee Shizuko Hada or Shizuko Okada was my paternal grandmother.  She was married to Manki Harunaga and had three boys, Yoshiaki (13 Dec 1913-8 Jun 1995), Toshio (3 Jan 1925-4 Nov 2011) and Shizuo (17 Feb 1928-9Aug 2011).  Shizuko died giving birth to Shizuo in 1928.  I have always been drawn to her, probably because until the NHERC Heritage Center in Honokaa sent me photographs of Grandmother Shizuko, I didn't even know what she looked like.  Easter Vacation 1966, I went to visit my college mate's family in Hilo and they were nice enough to take me out to Honokaa to visit Grandmother Shizuko's remains at the Hongwanji Temple.  Grandmother Shizuko's half brother, Dr. Haruto Okada of Honokaa returned the favor by inviting my college mate's family and I to brunch with his family in Hilo.

Grandmother Shizuko's story started in the recently obtained Hiroshima-ken October-December 1897 Passport Book.  According to the Passport Book, Grandmother Shizuko was 1 day old when her parents went to apply for their passport on 27 Dec 1897.  Her parents Itoyo (Besho) Hada and Hisaji (or Kyuji) Hada were 19 and 25 years old respectively.  The Hada family boarded the Riojun Maru on/about 12 Jan 1898 and arrived in Honolulu on 26 Jan 1898.  Their immigration indexes indicate that Hisaji (Immigration renamed him Kinji) is a contract laborer who arrived with wife, Itoyo (Immigration renamed her Itayo) and daughter Shizuko.

 I was not able to obtain the ship manifest for the Riojun Maru that arrived in Honolulu on 26 Jan 1898.  It would have noted to which plantation the Hada family was contracted to work at.  However, I did find the 1900 census for the family and they were living in Hamakua, HI.  Hisaji was a laborer and Itoyo was a cook.  From all indications they were living in the Honokaa area.

 There are no more records for the family until Itoyo (Besho) appears in the birth records of Hawaii as having given birth to Yoshiko Okada on 15 Dec 1901.  I assume that Hisaji died sometime after the 1900 census was taken on 19 Jun 1900.

 Grandmother Shizuko's future husband, Manki Harunaga arrived from Kumamoto, Japan on 13 Aug 1901 on the SS Gaelic.  From all indications he did not arrive as a laborer for any of the plantations.  The 1910 census indicated that he managed the livery stables in Honokaa.  It also indicated that Manki Harunaga and the Toshitaro and Itoyo Okada family shared a house.

 10 Oct 1904 Grandmother Shizuko's half-brother Haruto Okada was born in Pa'auhau.  His future is planned from his birth because he is sent by his parents to Central Grammar School in Honolulu (graduated in 1918) and then on to Urbana High School in Illinois (graduated in 1921).  He then attended the University of Illinois School of Medicine and graduated with an MD in gynecology in 1927.  Haruto continued his education in Japan studying surgery.   In the 1930 census, he lived with his parents and worked for Dr. Koshiro Tofukuji (pg 69 Hawaii Sugar Days by Wayne Subica).   In 1937 when Dr. Tofukuji left for Maui, Dr. Okada built another hospital which he operated until 1956 ( Paniolo House Stories: From the Kupuna of Waimea, Hawaii, Vol 1, by the Friends of the Future, 2005). 

Grandmother Shizuko and Grandfather Manki were married sometime early 1913.  Their first son, Yoshiaki was born on 13 Dec 1913.  They continued to live in the same household with her parents Toshitaro and Itoyo Okada in Honokaa.

 NHERC Heritage Center in Honokaa was able to find a few pictures of what they thought were Grandmother Shizuko and Grand-aunt Yoshiko taken sometime between 1912-1915 but they are so faded and over exposed that there is no way to distinguish their facial features.  The only reason they happened upon one of the series of photos was because Dr. Haruto Okada had noted on one that it was his sister Shizuko.

 Apparently, Grandmother Shizuko and Grandfather Manki socialized a lot with the Honokaa community.  NHERC Heritage Center found a few in their collection of weddings and hospital openings that indicate that they were invited to them, but they are not in the photos.

 Grandfather Manki continued to work for the livery stables in Honokaa, but he developed an interest in Japanese movies.  He worked as a "benshi" (Japanese silent movie narrator) and took Japanese movies to various areas of the Big Island.  In 1920 he leased land from A.O. Henderson of Honokaa to build the Honokaa Theater (known by old timers as the Japanese Theater).  He operated the theater with his partner M. Fujino until 30 Jul 1934 when he sold the business to H. Tanimoto.

 3 Jan 1925, Grandmother Shizuko gave birth to Toshio (my dad).  The couple were happy with their two sons.   NHERC Heritage Center Honokaa has not been able to find childhood photos of either Yoshiaki or Toshio.

 Grandfather Manki continued to work for the livery stables until about 1926 (Honolulu City Directory entries for 1912-1926).  Between 1926 and 1934 his owned and operated the Honokaa Theater and continued to travel around the Island of Hawaii showing his Japanese movies.

In 1927 Grandmother Shizuko became pregnant with Shizuo.  Her health deteriorated rapidly.  The doctors, including her brother Haruto recommended that she abort the child.  Grandmother Shizuko did not want to do that because her rationale, neither her sister Yoshiko nor her brother Haruto had any children.  Grandmother Shizuko gave birth to a 7-month old baby Shizuo on 17 Feb 1928 and died.

Grandfather Manki never remarried.  He continued to reside in the same household as his in-laws in Honokaa and raised his two sons, Yoshiaki (who became a dentist in Honolulu) and Toshio (who became a lawyer in San Jose).  His son Shizuo was adopted by his sister-in-law, Yoshiko and her husband Takashi Nishimoto and raised in Hilo, HI.  In order for Shizuo to matriculate to college, Yoshiko and Takashi moved to Los Angeles. After World War II, Grandfather Manki moved from Honokaa to live with his son Yoshiaki in Honolulu until Yoshiaki was drafted into the Army in 1953.  He then decided to move back to his birth place in Kumamoto, Japan and died in 1973.