Wilfred Chomatsu "Tsuky" Tsukiyama (March 22, 1897 – January 6, 1966) was an attorney, Territorial Senator, and chief justice of the

Supreme Court of Hawaii The Supreme Court of Hawaii is the highest court of the Hawaii, State of Hawaii in the United States. Its decisions are binding on all other courts of the Hawaii State Judiciary. The principal purpose of the Supreme Court is to review the decis ...

. He was the first

Japanese American 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 ...

elected to the Territorial Senate of Hawaii, and the first to serve as a state Supreme Court Justice in the United States.

Early life

Tsukiyama was born in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

on March 22, 1897. His parents, Koken and Hide, were Japanese immigrants who worked on the

sugar plantations 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 ...

. He graduated from McKinley High School in 1918. After graduation, Tsukiyama served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When the war ended, he left the army and enrolled in

Coe College Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associat ...

, where he studied pre-law. He went on to get a J.D. degree from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

Career

After graduating from law school in 1924, Tsukiyama returned to Hawaii and became an attorney at Huber, Kemp, and Stainback. In 1929 he became the Honolulu deputy attorney. He was promoted to City and County attorney in 1933, but returned to private practice in 1940. During the 1930s Tsukiyama spearheaded a movement to encourage Japanese Americans who had

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

with Japan to renounce their Japanese citizenship. This was because after the sugar strikes during the 1920s, many white Americans were concerned about the loyalty of Japanese immigrants to America, otherwise known as the "

Japanese Problem The Japanese Problem, also referred to as the Japanese Menace or the Japanese Conspiracy, was the name given to racial tensions in Hawaii between the European-American sugarcane plantation owners and the Japanese immigrants hired to work in the ca ...

". This reached a fever pitch when Pearl Harbor was attacked and

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 ...

broke out. Tsukiyama volunteered for military service, but he was denied because of his age. Instead, he became active in the Emergency Service Committee. In 1946 Tsukiyama ran for a seat in the Territorial Senate as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. He was elected Senate president in 1949 and served in that capacity until 1954. He strongly supported Hawaii's statehood, which was enacted in 1959. He ran for the United States Senate that year, but narrowly lost to

Oren E. Long Oren Ethelbirt Long (March 4, 1889 – May 6, 1965) was an American politician who served as the tenth Territorial Governor of Hawaii from 1951 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Long was appointed to the office after the term o ...

. Instead, Governor

William F. Quinn William Francis Quinn (July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 12th and last governor of the Territory of Hawaii from 1957 to 1959 and the first governor of the State of Hawaii from 1959 to 1 ...

appointed him to the Supreme Court of Hawaii. In September 1963, Tsukiyama was awarded the

Order of the Sacred Treasure The is a Japanese order, established on 4 January 1888 by Emperor Meiji as the Order of Meiji. Originally awarded in eight classes (from 8th to 1st, in ascending order of importance), since 2003 it has been awarded in six classes, the lowest ...

, 2nd class, by the

Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial House of Japan, Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his positio ...

. Tsukiyama fell ill and resigned from the Supreme Court on December 31, 1965. He died on January 6, 1966. He is buried at the

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (informally known as Punchbowl Cemetery) is a national cemetery located at Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu, Hawaii. It serves as a memorial to honor those men and women who served in the United Stat ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsukiyama, Wilfred Chomatsu 1897 births 1966 deaths American jurists of Japanese descent United States Army personnel of World War I American military personnel of Japanese descent Coe College alumni Hawaii lawyers Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent Hawaii Republicans Justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court Members of the Hawaii Territorial Legislature People from Honolulu University of Chicago Law School alumni Chief Justices of the Hawaii Supreme Court Burials in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers

Early life

Career

See also

References