Milton Atsushi Murayama (April 10, 1923 – July 27, 2016) was an American novelist and playwright. A
Nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
, he wrote the 1975 novel ''All I Asking for Is My Body'', which is considered a classic novel of the experiences of
Japanese Americans
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
before and during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Biography
Murayama was born in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii to Japanese immigrant parents from Kyushu. When he was about 12, his family moved to a
sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
camp at Pu'ukoli'i. (This was a company town of several hundred workers and their families that no longer exists.) Murayama's experiences there provided the material for his novels. After graduating from high school in Lahaina in 1941, he attended the
University of Hawaiʻi
The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...
. He served in the
Territorial Guard after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
, but was abruptly discharged with other Japanese Americans. He soon after volunteered with
Military Intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
. As a native speaker of Japanese, he was sent to Taiwan as a translator to help facilitate the surrender and repatriation of Japanese troops there.
He returned to Hawaii in 1946 and completed his B.A. in English and philosophy at the University of Hawai'i that year. He then attended
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
under the
G.I. Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
, earning a master's degree in Chinese and Japanese in 1950. After completing his postgraduate work at Columbia, Murayama moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked at the Armed Forces Medical Library from 1952 to 1956, before moving to San Francisco.
[
While still at Columbia, he completed the first draft of his first novel, ''All I Asking for Is My Body''. A story ("I'll Crack Your Head Kotsun") that became the first chapter of the novel was published in the ''Arizona Quarterly'' in 1959. It was reprinted in 1968 in ''The Spell of Hawaii'', a Hawaii literary anthology. ''All I Asking for'' was not particularly well received when it was first published in 1975, but it won the ]American Book Award
The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...
of the Before Columbus Foundation
The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, "dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of contemporary American multicultural literature". The Foundation makes annual awards for books published in ...
in 1980,[ and when it was reissued by the University of Hawaiʻi in 1988 it received critical acclaim. Murayama received the Hawai'i Award for Literature in 1991.][ It has remained in print ever since, and has become a cult classic. The novel, including the title, is written in modified ]Pidgin
A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...
and is considered dialectically authentic while still readable by non-Pidgin readers.
His second novel, ''Five Years on a Rock'' (1994) is a prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
to the first novel; it covers the years 1914 to 1935, while ''All I Asking for'' goes from 1935 to 1943. Both novels relate the experiences of the family of Oyama Isao and his wife Ito Sawa, immigrants to Hawaii from Japan, and their many children, including sons Toshio and Kiyoshi. Much of the dialog is in the creole used by the Japanese-Hawaiians of the author's acquaintance. The novels seem to be fictionalized autobiography. The chronologically earlier novel is told from the point of view of Ito Sawa, and the later one from that of her son Kiyoshi.
A third novel in the series, ''Plantation Boy'', was published in 1998. Toshio (now going by the Americanized name of Steve) is the narrator. Like the first two novels, it was published by the University of Hawaiʻi Press. A fourth novel, ''Dying in a Strange Land'', was published by the University of Hawaiʻi Press in 2008.
The character Toshio is based largely on Milton Murayama's brother, Edwin Murayama. His life story of a plantation-boxer-turned-architect forms the basis of "All I Asking For Is My Body" and "Plantation Boy."
Murayama died in July 2016 at the age of 93.
''All I Asking for Is My Body''
''All I Asking for Is My Body'', Murayama's most famous novel, illustrates the plight of a poor Japanese American family living in Hawaii during the cusp of World War II. The novel is divided into three parts, which follow the narrator Kiyo as he grows up in the sugarcane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...
plantations in Hawaii. In the first section, "I'll Crack Your Head Kotsun", Kiyo befriends an older boy whose mother is a prostitute for the camps; Kiyo is confused by his parents' resistance to their friendship. In the second section, "The Substitute", Kiyo explores the various spiritual belief systems of the people around him. In the third and longest section, "All I Asking for Is My Body", Kiyo's oldest brother, Tosh (Toshio), clashes with their parents when they expect him to fulfill his " filial duty" to repay the family's debt and when they refuse to allow Tosh and Kiyo to enroll in high school. Tosh claims that the money was stolen by his grandfather and that therefore it is not up to him to repay it; moreover, he argues that filial duty must be earned and that the parents haven't earned it. Tosh, and then later Kiyo, pick up boxing and are quite good at it, even to the point where Tosh is offered to box professionally. However, the importance of family and filial piety are illustrated by Tosh turning down a boxing career in order to help his parents. Still, Tosh goes along, giving the parents a combination of his and his wife's earnings. Kiyo, observing these problems, realizes he must resist being subservient. He eventually joins the Army, with the three-part goal of getting away from home, proving his loyalty to the United States, and using his salary to help his family. The novel ends with Kiyo winning enough money in a barracks gambling match to help Tosh pay off the debt.
Works
Novels
*''All I Asking for Is My Body''. Honolulu: 1975. Reprinted by the University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1988. .
*''Five Years on a Rock''. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1994. .
*''Plantation Boy''. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1998. .
*''Dying in a Strange Land''. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2008. .
Short Stories
*"I'll Crack Your Head Kotsun." In ''The Spell of Hawaii''. Edited by A. Grove Day and Carl Stroven. Honolulu: Mutual, 1968.
Drama
*''Yoshitsune''. 1977.
*''Althea''. date uncertain.
*''All I Asking for Is My Body'', based on his novel. 1989.
References
External links
Short biography and a discussion of his works
Some biographical details
(the play).
Review of ''Five Years on a Rock''
from ''MELUS''.
Review of ''Five Years on a Rock''
from ''Kirkus Reviews''.
at Booklines.Hawaii.com
from Honolulu Star-Bulletin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murayama, Milton
1923 births
2016 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American dramatists and playwrights of Japanese descent
American male dramatists and playwrights
American male novelists
American novelists of Asian descent
American writers of Japanese descent
Columbia University alumni
University of Hawaiʻi alumni
Novelists from Hawaii
American Book Award winners
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers