Hardship and Romanticism in the Lives of Japanese Immigrants in Hawaii: A Study of Holehole Bushi

English translation of the prose

AI-assisted English translation of the prose; quoted poems remain in Japanese. The Japanese original remains authoritative.

Suffering and Romanticism in the Footsteps of Japanese Immigrants in Hawaii: Focusing on Holehole Bushi

Author: 河合洋人

All the research prose and notes are translated. Quoted song lyrics remain in Japanese, as do names without verified English forms and the bibliographic citations. Historical assertions, word derivations and citation details are those of the source; apparent discrepancies are identified after the bibliography rather than silently corrected.

Introduction

Few records convey the cultural activities of the early period of Japanese immigration to Hawaii. During the so-called government-contract immigration period, when Japanese people migrated to Hawaii under the immigration agreements made between the Japanese and Hawaiian governments from 1885 to 1894, their principal purpose was to earn money away from home. To finish a three-year labor contract, return to Japan with a large sum and make a triumphant homecoming was also their greatest romantic dream.

Working conditions in Hawaii were by no means easy, and many fell into hardship through drinking and gambling. There was almost no time to devote to artistic activities such as painting or music. Holehole Bushi arose spontaneously, as though threading its way through the gaps in those long working hours.

Besides the hardship of labor, Holehole Bushi embodied a resigned outlook on life, mixed with daily anxiety, impatience and despair. People sang to distract themselves from their frustration, or from the emptiness produced by poverty. These Japanese laborers had to cut their living expenses as far as possible in order to send money home. Consequently, once living and clothing costs had been deducted from their pay, only a trifling sum remained. To forget the hardship of daily labor and console themselves in their helpless circumstances, they composed verses expressing their thoughts each day and sang them to tunes long familiar in their hometowns.

One person who studied Holehole Bushi over many years was Jack Y. Tasaka (田坂養民). (1) In his book Holehole Song, Tasaka writes: “Holehole Bushi was sung by Japanese immigrants who settled on the sugar plantations of the Hawaiian islands, burning with homesickness, seeking a faint hope amid the hardships of long hours under the blazing sun and the suffering of everyday life, and trying to console their aching hearts.” (Tasaka 62) Former Hawaii Hochi editor-in-chief Morita (森田利秋) likewise writes: “This song arose spontaneously from the gathering together of people's wish to appeal, at least through song, about their suffering and sorrow.” Holehole Bushi vividly reflects how harsh the conditions in which Japanese immigrants in Hawaii were obliged to work and live then were.

1. The intersection of suffering and romantic aspiration

This paper focuses on the work songs sung among Japanese immigrants in Hawaii, reconsidering their living and working conditions through the words found in those lyrics. It also seeks to infer, from the standpoint of romanticism, how the immigrants understood their own circumstances in Hawaii. More specifically, it infers their lives from the words in Holehole Bushi lyrics and the ways in which those words are combined.

When Japanese people crossed to Hawaii as government-contract immigrants, their main work was growing sugarcane on plantations. (2-1) Hawaii's principal export at the time was sugar made from that cane. The plantations were constantly troubled by labor shortages. In the early days, most plantation workers were Indigenous people. They lacked immunity to infectious diseases said to have been brought in by foreigners, however, and as a result the labor population continued to decline.

To solve this problem, the Hawaiian government and the planters brought in immigrants from abroad as labor. At the same time, to prevent workers from uniting, they assembled groups from several countries of origin and put them to work within the same plantation. Workers were managed by number rather than name. Working conditions were severe: even a slight delay in arriving at the assembly time could result in a reduction in wages. (2-2) Here arose days in which “suffering” and “romantic aspiration” intersected.

2. Daily pressures, hope and longing in work songs

“Holehole” is a Hawaiian word referring to the task of stripping dead leaves from sugarcane stalks. Women and children often performed this work. Sugarcane leaves, however, have innumerable fine prickles, and many workers suffered severe blisters when these pierced their skin. Holehole was also carried out during the day under a blazing sun, surrounded by tall sugarcane. In other words, the workers labored in heat with no breeze. From these circumstances, Holehole Bushi can be regarded as a kind of work song made to help people forget the hardship of repetitive labor by singing about it.

As time went on, however, the immigrants' main occupations changed. From around 1910, increasing numbers left plantation labor to open shops in Honolulu and other towns or take work that was less physically demanding. Rather than being sung to distract people from the harshness of plantation labor, Holehole Bushi came to be sung more often in restaurants and similar places in place of ozashiki banquet songs. Japanese immigrants sang it while recalling the plantation labor they had once endured, celebrating their present success and progress. Tasaka considers that it was from this time that the tempo of Holehole Bushi changed from a slow, oiwake-like style to the lively, fast style of a banquet song with accompanying refrains. (Tasaka 135)

3. The diversity of Holehole Bushi

There are several theories about the origins of Holehole Bushi. According to Tasaka, it originated in the rowing or boatmen's songs of the Seto Inland Sea, one reason being that most early immigrants came from its coastal areas. (3) In other words, Japanese immigrants brought to Hawaii popular songs often sung in their hometowns, and supplied lyrics using the local language—Hawaiian—English and Japanese, including its dialects. (4)

Looking at the lyrics of Holehole Bushi, several characteristics can be observed. First, a number have lyrics closely resembling work songs from other regions. (Tasaka 48) Also, almost all the verses follow a seven-seven-seven-five rhythmic pattern, the same as the form known as dodoitsu. This is thought to be because dodoitsu was popular in Japan in 1885, when government-contract immigration began, and some immigrants were already familiar with it. Dodoitsu itself has the quality of reflecting the unvarnished realities of ordinary people's lives. Holehole Bushi may therefore be considered Hawaii's dodoitsu. (Tasaka 143)

The following classification groups tendencies according to the origins of words found in Holehole Bushi lyrics.

(1) “Suffering” and “romantic aspiration” in plantation-related lyrics: holehole, kachiken, hohanamen and other terms

Japanese immigrants were ordered to work six days a week, for approximately ten hours from 6:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (5) Their lives were inevitably centered on work. Some took up a guitar or ukulele in the little time available after work, singing Holehole Bushi for relaxation or peace of mind. The descriptions of Hawaii they had heard at home made it sound like paradise. Everyone was excited by the claim that three years of work would let them return home with 400 yen. This equaled what a woman working in a silk factory could earn by working every day for ten years. (Takaki 65) Many boarded emigrant ships enticed by such stories. But in many respects the real Hawaii was quite different from what they had heard. The discrepancy was particularly great in working conditions. In Japan, people could decide for themselves how to distribute their tasks, and workers could stop and sit down when they wished. In Hawaii, by contrast, hardly any rest was permitted during the stipulated working hours. These different conceptions of work led many immigrants to regret coming to Hawaii.

(2) Lyrics depicting immigrants’ living conditions, and romantic aspiration

As described above, the lives of the early Japanese immigrants were extremely frugal. They had crossed to Hawaii believing employers' claims that clothing, food and housing would be guaranteed. The reality, however, was far removed from that ideal. Only enough food to sustain life was supplied, and they had to pay for additional provisions themselves. Clothing other than work clothes likewise had to be bought at their own expense, further burdening the household budget. To cut expenditure to the limit, some made slits in burlap sacks and pulled them over their heads in place of clothes.

(3) Lyrics using kane, wahine and other terms from married life

Most Japanese immigrants brought their spouses over from Japan. This was because the immigrant population's gender ratio was imbalanced, with a surplus of men. (6) In the form of marriage known as “picture brides,” negotiations proceeded through a single photograph showing the prospective partner's appearance and a letter stating only the person's character and the qualities sought in a spouse. Often photographs were passed around among several candidates for years. Thus the couple first saw one another's true appearance at the port. As a result, some were disappointed or indignant to find someone very different from the person they had imagined.

(4) Other expressions of romantic aspiration intersecting with suffering

The following discussion classifies Holehole Bushi by its characteristics and considers the Japanese immigrants' suffering, nostalgia and other matters connected with romanticism in light of their background.

1. Holehole Bushi containing words connected with plantation work

　　 つらいホレホレ　こらえてするよ　故郷にゃ女房や　子までいる
　　 今日のホレホレ　つらくはないよ　昨日届いた　里だより

As explained above, holehole is the task of stripping leaves. At the same time, it was harsh work under a blazing sun, with innumerable prickles piercing the skin. The laborers were not permitted to stop work midway, except when a scheduled ship arrived from Japan. For immigrants who were not allowed even to drink water or sit down for a rest during work, it is easy to imagine that the scheduled ship was literally a vessel of rescue. (7)

ハー　朝も早よからヨー　べんとう箱肩に　ホレホレ通いも飯ママの種

As already noted, workers began plantation labor at 6:00 a.m., so they had to rise earlier still to prepare themselves and their lunches. Portable lunches called “bento” still exist in Hawaii today; this is a custom that Japanese immigrants brought there. There is something that resonates even now in the touching efforts of workers heading for work early in the morning to earn their living.

可愛い砂糖っ子　預かる心　撫でて育てて　二年越し

At that time, growing sugarcane took approximately eighteen months from planting the seedlings to harvest. The feelings with which workers painstakingly cultivated the cane must have been much like those of raising a baby. (8-1) Long hours of labor, in pursuit of a dream not yet fulfilled.

根には培つちかい　草取りのけて　すぐなキビをば　育てたい

The workers' heartfelt treatment of the cane as their own child comes through. Tsuchikau means to heap earth around the roots of plants. Growing sugarcane seedlings are short and may have to compete with weeds for sunlight. Cane that grew crooked as it emerged through gaps in the weeds in search of light would, it is thought, have lost value because it was difficult to crush. In carefully removing troublesome weeds to prevent that possibility, and hoping the cane would grow straight and strong, the workers' devotion to it becomes apparent. (8-2)

ホウハナメンの流せる汗は　キビの甘味の　汁となる

“Hohanamen” is a compound of Hawaiian and English. “Ho” is English “hoe,” “hana” is Hawaiian for “work,” and “men” is English for workers: the term refers to those engaged in clearing land. As noted above, the care with which weeds were removed had a considerable effect on the growth of the sugarcane. (9)

智恵をしぼって　工夫をこらし　煎じつめたる　ミル機械

To refine sugar from sugarcane, the stalks first had to be crushed to extract the sugary liquid held among their fibers. (10) Sugar mills were often located in the middle of the cane fields, with cut stalks brought in from different areas. Inside the mills, a constant roar came from the crushing machinery and other equipment. Boilers produced great quantities of steam, and heat enveloped the workers. Some workers even described the mill as “the hold of a steamship.” (Takaki 93)

追って来なされ　文句はやめて　口でホレホレ　するじゃなし　　
　追っていかりょか　お前のあとに　わしにゃ増し金　あるじゃなし (11-1)　
　十センもらって　引っ張るやつは　犬に食われて　死ねばよい　(11-2)

Workers often engaged in sabotage in resistance to employers who forced them to work for low wages in harsh conditions. Although plantation overseers were present to watch them, it was impossible to monitor everyone's work in fields covered by tall sugarcane. Plantation managers tried to solve this problem by paying extra wages to obedient workers. Some workers ingratiated themselves with the overseers and managers. Their role was to lead the other workers and increase productivity, and in hybrid English they were called “hippari-men”—men who pulled the others along. Since the other workers received no additional pay even when their workload increased, they deeply resented these hippari-men. (12)

4. Looking back over one’s personal history

国を出るときゃ　笑顔で出たが　今日もカチケン　生いき地獄

“Kachiken” derives from English: it is an altered pronunciation of “cut cane,” meaning the work of harvesting sugarcane. To obtain the greatest efficiency in harvesting, the machete had to be aimed at the base of the cane, where it was buried in the earth. Cutting even slightly higher wasted that portion of the cane and brought severe reprimands from the overseer, the luna. Before kachiken, the fields were also set alight to burn off the dead leaves. Although workers withdrew beforehand, there is an account of workers' children who were still playing in a field and were burned to death. The scene could indeed be called hell itself.

ハワイハワイと　来てみりゃ地獄　ボーシが閻魔で　ルナは鬼　(12-2)

“Boshi” means the plantation manager and “luna” the plantation overseer. Some immigrants had come after hearing Hawaii described at home as a heavenly paradise. When they actually began working, however, they were given insufficient breaks and spent their days being driven by overseers. Confronted with reality, they likened their circumstances to those of sinners subjected to endless torment.

地震　雷　こわくはないが　ルナの声聞きゃ　ぞっとする　　
　ゴーヘ　ゴーヘと　せきたてられて　ルナを殴った夢をみた　　
　雨がしょぼ降る　カンカン出鐘　追いたてルナの靴がなる　　　
　ルナの目玉に　ふたしておいて　ゆっくり朝寝が　してみたい

Many luna were Portuguese or Russian drifters, and they treated workers like draft horses. (Tasaka 45) Before the American Civil War they had supervised enslaved people in the American South. After the war, with emancipation, they lost their work and drifted to Hawaii.

Many Holehole Bushi verses concern the luna. “Gohe” also derives from English, “go ahead,” expressing the way workers were hurried along. Their days were driven by bells announcing when to rise and when to begin work. As already described, many plantation overseers, or luna, were Portuguese and Russian drifters. Workers were not permitted to defy them and could only swallow their tears of frustration. It is not that none resisted and wrestled a luna to the ground. But when they did, they were subsequently put on trial and found guilty. (13)

急ぐパウハナ　キビの葉がからむ　ころびゃ身を刺す　キビのいが

“Pau hana” means the end of work. When the long working day ended, laborers hurried from the fields back to camp. Some, however, apparently rushed so desperately to get out of the fields that they cut themselves on sharp sugarcane leaves. Hearing the bell announcing the end of work was the workers' dearest wish. (14)

Many Holehole Bushi verses have the character of songs of resentment against plantation overseers. Their content reveals how harsh working conditions then were for the immigrants.

(1) Lyrics depicting immigrants’ living conditions

明日はコロコロ　三日はきまり　赤い毛布で　カラボーシ

“Korokoro” is Hawaiian for a trial, while “karaboshi” is the English word “calaboose,” a jail. As noted earlier, trials in Hawaii were generally matters of form, with immigrants found guilty and sentenced to three days in jail almost as a fixed rule. Some, however, thought it preferable to be in jail rather than be forced into harsh labor. They even appeared in court having prepared blankets in advance for their rest. (Tasaka 76)

しょう油飲んだが　待つ間にさめて　果てはコロコロ　カラボーシ

Many would resort to any means to get a day off. Some tried to induce a high fever by drinking soy sauce in order to feign illness and miss work. By the time a doctor examined them, however, the symptoms sometimes had already subsided and the pretense was exposed. They would then face the trial described above and again be ordered to spend three days in jail.

(2) Lyrics using kane, wahine and other terms associated with married life

夫カネはカチケン　わしゃ　ホレホレよ　汗と涙の　共稼ぎ

“Kane” means husband in Hawaiian. Women and children often did the leaf-stripping work, which required comparatively little strength. Conversation during labor was prohibited in almost every task, but was permitted in holehole alone. (15) As a result, many Holehole Bushi verses speak from a woman's perspective. (16)

ハナワイすましてヨウ　キャンプに戻りゃ　にくやマウカにゃ夫婦星

“Hanawai” is the work of irrigating sugarcane. “Mauka” means north, particularly the northern part of Honolulu. On the way back to camp after hard work, two stars could be seen clearly side by side above the northern mountains. Even the stars were a married pair, yet the singer had no wife to care for his tired body. The sorrow and loneliness of the unmarried man come through. (17)

カネはマウカで　水当て仕事　ワヒネはダンブロで　浮気する

“Wahine” means wife, and “danburo,” from “down blow,” refers to the lower camp. In other words, while the husband is working at watering the sugarcane, the wife is unfaithful with another man. The immigrant population's gender ratio was extremely imbalanced, with an overwhelming proportion of men. Local dwellings were also crudely made, with roofs of dried sugarcane leaves laid in rows and walls of boards merely coated with white lime. Married and unmarried people sometimes shared a room in such makeshift huts, leaving virtually no time for a couple to develop affection. Many sought to exploit this opening to take another man's wife for themselves: the camp was a world in which the strong preyed on the weak. There are also records of people wearing revealing clothes to adapt to Hawaii's warm climate. Moral and sanitary conditions in the immigrant camps were extremely poor.

5. Despair accompanied by black humor

頼母子落として　ワヒネを呼んで　人に取られて　ベソをかく

Tanomoshi refers to a tanomoshi-ko, a form of mutual-aid association. Participants contributed a fixed sum each month, drew lots and the winner received the accumulated amount. Immigrants often used tanomoshi to raise the capital for opening a shop. These lyrics vividly express the sorrow of a man who goes to such lengths to establish himself, finally brings a woman over, and weeps when she is taken by someone else. (18-1)

旅行免状の　裏書き見たか　間夫をするなと　書いてない
　明日はサンデーじゃ　遊びにおいで　カネはハナワイ　わしゃ家に　(18-2)
　宅で朝から　首尾してお待ち　きっとバンバイ　行くわいな　　　(18-3)
　カネはマウカで　水当て仕事　ワヒネはダンブロで　浮気する
　カネがフウフウすりゃ　出て来いワヒネ　連れて行きます　ホノルルへ　(18-4)

It took some time for affection to develop between a man and woman brought into an almost compulsory marriage on the basis of a single photograph. Meanwhile, some women became attracted to other men, or were approached by them, and left their husbands.

三十五仙の　ホレホレしよより　パケさんとモイモイすりゃ　アカヒカラ

“Pake” is Hawaiian for a Chinese person, and “moimoi” means spending a night together. “Akahi kara” refers to one dollar. (19) Wages varied according to the task and the worker's sex. For holehole, regarded as comparatively light work, men were paid 70 cents a day and women 35 cents. Chinese workers had been recruited to Hawaii earlier than the Japanese, and many had already moved from plantation work into other occupations and were living in relative comfort. Even desperately working at a painful task such as holehole brought only a limited income. Some women therefore thought that selling their bodies to wealthy Chinese men would bring a far greater return.

(3) Other examples

行こかメリケン　帰ろか日本ジャパン　ここは思案の　ハワイ国　（20-1）(20-2)

Immigrants at the time contracted with planters and immigration companies to work on the same plantation for two to three years. After Hawaii was annexed by the United States and mainland law came to apply there as well, workers became free to enter employment contracts. In other words, each worker had to find a workplace for themselves. Should they give up on life in Hawaii and go to the mainland to find better-paying work? Or should they abandon immigrant life altogether and return home? Continuing to work in Hawaii remained an option too. The lyrics reveal the conflict of immigrants confronted with this situation, obliged to make a decision about their lives yet unable to decide. (21)

わたしゃ苦労を　千人小屋よ　主に逢うのも　今七日

Immigrants were not permitted to land immediately after their ships reached Honolulu. They were held in an immigration depot until they were assigned to plantations in different areas. “Sennin-goya,” the thousand-person barracks, refers to this depot. Large enough literally to accommodate a thousand people, it stood in the Kakaako district near Honolulu Harbor. Immigrants held there temporarily to check for infectious disease and assess their abilities were supplied with provisions and cooked for themselves. If someone failed an examination, their detention could be extended by a week or two until that person's treatment was decided. The immigrants were compelled to wait with both hope and anxiety until their assignments were settled and they were released.

Conclusion

Immigrants who had crossed to Hawaii primarily to earn money away from home practiced painfully severe economy every day in order to send money back. They lived at a level where buying alcohol to drink could put them into deficit. Singing Holehole Bushi released the psychological suffering—the dissatisfaction and pent-up frustration—accumulated through daily labor. Whether these Japanese immigrants made such work songs to convey the realities of their lives to later generations can only be a matter of conjecture. In the result, however, we can discern their unvarnished inner feelings in the lyrics. Work songs such as Holehole Bushi, in particular, may be understood as workers setting their frank emotions directly to melody.

One reason for the spontaneous emergence of Holehole Bushi may be that, before leaving Japan, immigrants heard successful people's accounts and regarded Hawaii as an ideal country. Japan at that time experienced repeated famines and changes in the balance of supply and demand caused by increasing trade with foreign countries. These influences produced large numbers of poor farmers whose lives had become drastically impoverished. Amid that poverty they heard of going to Hawaii. Plantation workers were being recruited in Japan, and in those accounts Hawaii was described as though it were paradise on earth. Such stories deeply stirred the hearts of the poor. There were also several people said to have made fortunes in Hawaii and returned home in triumph. Their stories spread through the poor farming population in no time. To them, emigration to Hawaii was like a spider's thread suspended from heaven. Many chose to stake their future on success in a new land, despite some anxiety, rather than remain in Japan and starve. Bearing people in whom anxiety and expectation were intermingled, the emigrant ships set their course for Hawaii.

At first, most Japanese immigrants came to Hawaii to earn money temporarily, intending to return after a two- or three-year contract. Some saved money within the number of years originally planned and returned home in triumph. Others, unable to accumulate savings however many years passed, ended in despair and hanged themselves. Many also declined into drinking, gambling and “bribery” to distract themselves from the hardship of life. The gap between the successful people of rumor and those who had fallen by the wayside was stark. To distract themselves from the uncontrollability and misfortune of lives they could do nothing about, they sang Holehole Bushi and consoled themselves.

The frequent appearance in Holehole Bushi of lyrics evoking suffering, nostalgia and romanticism may thus be explained by the extent to which the ideals and realities of Hawaiian immigration are symbolized in them. They vividly express the sorrow of people whose expectations and hopes on coming to Hawaii to pursue success in a new land were crushed by the gap between those dreams and the reality of long hours, heavy labor and low wages. At the same time, they convey the strength of human beings striving to survive and move forward even in such harsh circumstances.

Holehole Bushi was created and sung chiefly by the first generation of Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. It can hardly be said, however, to have been passed on smoothly to later generations. Although more than a hundred verses are said to have been made, only around forty survive. As one reason, Yamazaki (山崎俊一) of NHK writes in his account of his reporting that Holehole Bushi contains “not a few lyrics connected with abundant harvests and making money, some of them quite bawdy.” Consequently, “among the first and second generations there are people who think it shameful to sing such songs,” and many lyrics have not been handed down. (Yamazaki 101) There must also have been a considerable number of first-generation immigrants who did not want to recall a past filled with bitter experience and humiliation.

There are therefore likely to be other lyrics besides those I have examined here that carry the first generation's suffering, homesickness and romanticism. I intend to continue investigating the materials as a subject of research.

Hawaii's development today is remarkable. There is no room to dispute its status as a major tourist destination attracting visitors from all over the world. Yet we must never forget that behind it lay Japanese immigrants' days of effort and endurance, marked by blood and sweat.

Notes

(1) Tasaka was a Kibei Nisei, a second-generation Japanese American who had returned to the United States after living in Japan, and experienced internment at Honouliuli in Hawaii. Many people of Japanese ancestry were placed in camps on the US mainland during the Pacific War. For a long time, however, it was said that Japanese immigrants had not been interned in Hawaii, for reasons including the need to retain the labor force. Recent research has shown that internment of Japanese Americans also occurred in Hawaii. Tasaka was himself one of those who experienced it there.

(2-1) Other work to which immigrants might be assigned included road construction and railway construction. Working conditions, however, were even worse than on plantations, and these were extremely dangerous jobs, especially because safety was not secured. Cases included falling to one's death from a bridge under construction and being buried alive in earth and sand. These were highly dangerous occupations in which workers could lose their lives. Although plantation cultivation was heavy labor, its tasks could be called comparatively easy alongside those more dangerous occupations.

(2-2) Workers were called not by name but by number. Each carried a plate, called a bango tag, stamped with an identification number. The tags differed in shape according to the worker's country of origin, so an overseer could identify workers simply by looking at them. When wages were paid, workers were called by the number on their tag to receive the money. Some felt intense anger at not being addressed by their own names.

(3) As another reason, Tasaka notes that rowing songs were sung widely not only by fishermen but also by boatmen traveling up and down Hiroshima Prefecture's Ota River and by farmers. In any case, work songs sung in the places from which the early Japanese immigrants came are considered to have become the roots of Holehole Bushi.

(4) Many immigrants came from provincial areas. Even among Japanese people, communication was sometimes difficult because they could not understand one another's dialects. In Hawaii, a hybrid language was mainly used as a means of communication among immigrants in place of Japanese. Called pidgin English, it mixed Japanese, English and Hawaiian. For example, people said 「トウデイね、ミイのボーシがね、エッとフウフウでのお・・・」, meaning that their boss had become very angry that day. [牛島秀彦105]

(5) Workers traveled from the camps where they lived to the plantations where they worked on foot, by horse-drawn wagon or by light-rail vehicle. By 5:30 a.m. they assembled at the waiting place. The plantation manager or overseer divided them into groups of about twenty to thirty and led them to work. A thirty-minute lunch break was provided from 11:30 a.m. [R.Takaki 88]

(6) One account gives the ratio as five men to one woman. (牛島秀彦110)

(7) Ships regularly came to Hawaii carrying assistance supplies and letters from the immigrants' hometowns. One representative ship was the Kinau, whose name appears in several Holehole Bushi verses. Letters from wives, children and parents left at home were a tremendous source of emotional support for immigrants struggling in a foreign land far away. These verses convey their earnestness as news from home encouraged them to look ahead and endure their work.

(8-1) We can see the affection with which they tended the sugarcane so laboriously, as if raising their own children.

(8-2) As in (8-1), this is understood as an expression of the wish that the cane grow well, like one's own child.

(9) The meaning is that sweat, the evidence of the workers' hardship, turns directly into sugarcane juice. One can almost see them laboring in the belief that their suffering and effort will be rewarded.

(10) The early crushers performed poorly and gave a low yield. The words convey the workers' struggle to improve machinery and increase yield under those conditions.

(11-1) Many Holehole Bushi verses contain dialect forms found in present-day Hiroshima Prefecture, such as “-ryo” and “washi.” This is because many early immigrants came from Hiroshima. Cotton was its main industry at the time, but when cheaper cotton began to be imported into Japan, Hiroshima's spinning industry declined. Many people in fishing also lost their fishing grounds through the effects of improvement and reclamation work on the Ota River and construction of Ujina Port. As exchanges with other countries began after the Meiji Restoration and Japan's industrial structure changed greatly, people forced out of work found a way through their difficulties overseas.

(11-2) Ten sen here means ten cents.

(12) Holehole Bushi reveals the intersection of plantation managers' intentions and the workers who opposed them. The “plantation workers” of the time feared workers' solidarity. Incidents in which workers collectively went on strike for better treatment or damaged facilities occurred frequently. In those circumstances, provoking clashes among workers was one of the managers' objectives. The hatred of workers who flattered such powerful people is readily apparent.

(13) Judges in Hawaiian courts at the time were bribed by plantation managers, and disputes arising on plantations received judgments favorable to management. The police were similarly bought off. When violence occurred, they sometimes arrested and detained those involved without even establishing the facts.

(14) One reason workers hurried back to camp in this way was the bath. Some people operated Japanese-style communal baths in the camps. The hot water, however, was not replaced during the day, so the later one entered, the dirtier the water in which one had to bathe. Workers therefore raced back to camp at full speed to be first in the bath. (Takaki 132–133)

(15) Plantation managers prohibited conversation during work partly to prevent workers from communicating. Many managers and overseers could not understand what the workers were saying. By prohibiting conversation itself, they sought to stop workers from banding together.

(16) This Holehole Bushi verse is written from the wife's perspective. Husband and wife are combining their strength to overcome the harshness of life in Hawaii. In fact, the proportion able to save from meager wages and return home in triumph was higher among married couples than among single people. Single people had no one to admonish them, stand beside them and offer emotional support, and many were ruined by drinking, gambling and prostitution.

(17) The stars shine beside one another as if they were husband and wife. The singer contrasts this scene with his own situation, with no one at his side. The loneliness of a single person comes through.

(18-1) Some men lost their wives as security for debts, most of which had been incurred through gambling. Some also treated wives like commodities, buying and selling them with other people. (牛島秀彦110)

(18-2) “Sande” is “Sunday.”

(18-3) “Banbai” is “by and by,” meaning before long or in due course.

(18-4) “Fufuu” means to become extremely angry in Hawaiian.

(19) A popular song that appeared before this Holehole Bushi contained the following lyrics, retained here in Japanese: “三十五仙でョー　ハナハナよりも　パケさんと　モイモイすりゃ　アカヒマヒ　アカヒマヒ”. “Akahi mahi” means 75 cents. Prices rose as time passed, and plantation workers' wages gradually increased along with them. In terms of earnings, however, prostitution brought far more than plantation labor. Exploiting this situation, some brothel owners went to camps where they had singled out a bride, tempted her with large sums and led her to their establishments.

(20-1) The word normally means America, but here it refers to the mainland, the continental United States.

(20-2) Sometimes it is sung as “Nihon” rather than “Japan.”

(20) Here the verse captures the conflict between immigrants' aspiration to go to the mainland for greater economic success and their wish for reassurance through returning home to see how the parents or spouses they had left behind were faring.

Bibliography

Bibliographic citations reproduced as printed in the original, retaining Japanese titles for identification:

1. Jack Y. Tasaka, 「ホレホレ・ソング」, 日本地域社会研究所, 1985.
2. R.Takaki, Pau Hana: Plantation life and labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920. (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1933.), (ロナルド・タカキ〔富田虎男・白井洋子訳〕), 『パウ・ハナ－ハワイ移民の社会史－』, 刀水書房, 1986.)
3. 牛島英彦,「行こかメリケン帰ろかジャパン」, サイマル出版会, 1978.
4. 芳賀武, 「ハワイ移民の証言」, 三一書房, 1981.
5. 土井彌太郎, 「山口県大島郡　ハワイ移民史」, マツノ書店, 1980.
6. R. Willson, B. Hosokawa, 猿谷要監訳, 「ジャパニーズ・アメリカン」, 有斐閣, 1982.
7. 前山隆,　「ハワイの辛抱人」,　御茶の水書房,　1986.
8. 布哇日系人連合協会, 「ハワイ日本人移民史」, 布哇日系人連合協会, 1964.
9. 暁烏敏, 「ハワイの印象」, 香草舎, 1934.
10. 山崎俊一, 「ハワイ出稼人名簿始末記－日系移民の100年」, 日本放送出版協会, 1985.
11. F. J. Turner(著), 松本政治、嶋忠正（訳）, 「アメリカ史における辺境」, 北星堂書店, 1973.
12. 亀井俊介, 「アメリカ文学史講義２」, 南雲堂, 1998.
13. 明石紀雄・飯野正子編著,「エスニック・アメリカ（新版）」,有斐閣, 1997.
14. 有賀夏樹・紀平英作・油井大三郎編,「アメリカ史研究入門」,山川出版社, 2009.斎藤真,「講座アメリカの文化３―機会と成功の夢―」, 南雲堂, 1969
15. 有賀貞,「アメリカ史概論」, 東京大学出版会, 1987.

Source-text notes: the conclusion prints 買収 (“bribery”); this has not been silently changed to a different word. Note(12) prints “plantation workers” as those fearing workers' solidarity, although its surrounding discussion concerns management. The body cites(21), while the corresponding final note is numbered(20); a lyric also cites(12-2), for which no separately numbered note appears. The bibliography's dates, spellings and differing forms of names—including1933 for Pau Hana and 牛島英彦 / 牛島秀彦—are reproduced as printed. These are source discrepancies, not editorial corrections.