| Takiye Kondo, midwife. age Furuzawa’s time had finally come. Her son, Hidetoshi, was about to be born. So the Oakland, CA, resident got herself to 2328 Buena Vista Avenue, where an Alamedan lived.
On May 2, 1912, Hidetoshi Furuzawa was born, under the experienced eye of
Takiye Kondo, midwife.
Kondo likely birthed many dozens of Nisei babies in Alameda, CA. No one knows how many.
Her experience as a medical professional came well before she arrived in America. She lists herself as a nurse on the shipping manifest of the S. S. Kaga Maru, the vessel that first brought her to the United States in 1908 (page 4).
Her education did not stop there, however. She graduated from the Chicago (Illinois) College of Medicine on May 30, 1916.
Two years later, the State of California listed her as a credentialed professional at 2212 Encinal Avenue in Alameda.
At a time when Japanese may not have had access to mainstream healthcare, or may not have felt comfortable in an unfamiliar environment, the value of a midwife in the community was immeasurable.
A midwife like Takiye provided mental and physical comfort beyond medical care, someone an expectant mother could trust and confide in.
For an Issei woman to graduate from a major medical institution in America is an accomplishment beyond rare.
To simply call her highly educated would do her a disservice. The roadblocks set by men to keep women from accomplishing anything requiring higher education were formidable.
Credit goes to her husband, Umetaro, who supported his wife’s calling. As a gardener, he was the default breadwinner of the family... or was he?
Unfortunately, Alamedans would have to learn to do without her services. With the outbreak of World War II, the Kondo’s were taken to Gila River Camp 2, in Arizona.
While there, she suffered an aortic aneurism and died in Rivers Community Hospital on March 9, 1945.
She lived just an hour and a half after being admitted. She never saw freedom again.
Husband Ume |
